Frank Stout. Practically every successful career is actuated by an earnest purpose and an energy of action sufficient to carry out definite plans of accomplishment. Purpose and energy have been the keynotes of the career of Frank Stout, a fine old-time citizen of Champaign County and one of the best known residents in the northwestern part of the county. Mr. Stout is now enjoying the fruits of a well-spent career at his comfortable home in Mahomet Township near the village of Mahomet. Since an early age he has been self-reliant and independent, and owes his prosperity chiefly to the plans which have originated in his own mind and to the energy and thrift which dominated both him and his estimable wife in carrying them out.
Mr. Stout was born in Champaign County, August 27, 1857. He is the youngest of the three living children of Jacob and Louisa (Warner) Stout. His oldest brother, Charles, is a retired farmer in Champaign, a Methodist and a Republican, and he married Ella Heller. The second brother, Jesse, is now retired from farming and a resident of Champaign, is a Republican and a Methodist, and is married and has six children.
Jacob Stout, the father of these children, was born in Ohio, was reared and educated there, and came to Illinois a young man without capital. His first work was done as a farm hand at $18 a month, and he followed this kind of employment steadily for a number of years. For nine years he lived in Missouri and made his first purchase of land in that state. Altogether he made the trip between Illinois and Missouri three times and each time in the emigrant style, with wagons and teams. He finally bought 120 acres in Champaign County, in Scott Township, assumed heavy obligations, but had his property all clear of indebtedness before his death. He began voting as a Whig and was afterwards a Republican, and he and his wife were devout Methodists. His death occurred about 1887, and in the cemetery at Monticello a monument marks his last resting place. His wife was also a native of Ohio, had a common school education and her death occurred in 1862. She is also buried at Monticello.
Mr. Frank Stout had to content himself with a common school education. Most of his career has been spent in Champaign County and his older friends know the quality of his thrift and enterprise as a young man and the diligence with which he worked steadily to achieve the object of his worthy ambition. When he was twenty-two years of age he began working out on farms, and his first wages were $20 a month. In this way he continued some years, and finally felt justified in taking upon himself the responsibilities of a home of his own.
On January 1, 1886, he married Miss Leonora Clapper. When they married they still had success to achieve and they went earnestly to work and gained prosperity without aid from anyone, and all they have enjoyed is directly due to their thrifty energies. Three children have come into their home and it has been a matter of deep satisfaction that they have been able to train them well and furnish them good advantages in schools so as to fit them for worthy positions in the world.
Ernest A., the oldest child, attended school at Mahomet, is still a resident of Mahomet Township, and for the past ten years has carefully looked after his duties as a rural free delivery man. His long service is the best proof of his business capacity. He is a Republican, a member of the Masonic order at Mahomet and with his wife is affiliated with the Court of Honor. He married Miss Hazel Curtis, and their two children are Nadine and Paul.
Samuel, the second son, still claims his parents’ home as his own, but at present is working on the aviation plant at Belleville, Illinois. He is a graduate of the Mahomet High School, of the State Normal University, and has spent one year in the Summer Normal at Menominee, Michigan, also in Normal School at Indianapolis, and one year at the University of Illinois. He has been a very successful teacher and for two years was connected with the high school of Decatur. He is a Republican and a member of the Masonic order.
Nellie B., the only daughter, is still at home with her parents. She spent one year in high school and has received considerable training in music.
Mrs. Stout was born in Champaign County, January 1, 1862, a daughter of Samuel and Frances (Biggs) Clapper, an old and well known family in this section of the state. She is one of five children, four daughters and one son, still living, and all residents of Champaign County. Her father was born in Pennsylvania in 1829 and died in 1908. He was a successful farmer and when only a boy went to Ohio and afterward worked at the tanner’s trade in Indianapolis. He came to Champaign County, where he married, and as a farmer he accumulated eighty acres of good land. He was a Whig and afterwards a Republican, and both he and his wife were devout Methodists. His remains now rest in Riverside Cemetery. His wife was born in Ohio in 1836 and is still living, at the age of eighty-one, bright and active and looking after the duties of her home.
Mrs. Stout had a common school education, and for over thirty years has given her husband, children and her community the value of her capable energy and her well-poised character.
Mr. and Mrs. Stout made their first purchase of land in Newcomb Township, where they bought ninety acres. A year later they sold that and removed to Mahomet, where they have since had their home. They now own thirty-five acres just east of the town of Mahomet, also two lots in that town and one lot in Champaign, and have ten acres in Newcomb Township. These properties represent a sufficiency for all their needs and they have done much to develop and improve the land which has been under their management. Mr. Stout is a Republican, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Mahomet, in which he has passed all the chairs, and he and his wife are both active in the Rebekahs and are leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mahomet.