The 1850 Census was the first to enumerate all the members of a household by name. It also gave their age, gender, occupation, the state or country in which they were born, and whether they had been married within the year. The 1840 Census provided only the name of the head of the household and then listed the number of free white males and females in the household within the following age categories: 0 to 5, 5 to 10, 10 to 15, 15 to 20, 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50, 50 to 60, 60 to 70, 70 to 80, 80 to 90, 90 to 100, over 100.

In 1850, there were two young men with the surname “TROUT” farming next to one another in Milan Township, Allen County, Indiana. In dwelling 1726, family 1748, was JACOB TROUT, age 20, living with ELIZABETH, age 18. Dwelling 1727, family 1749, showed ANDREW J TROUT, age 22 and MARY, age 19. Both couples were married within the year and all four had been born in Ohio. [NOTE: Though the second couple is shown in Ancestry.com’s transcribed index correctly as “Andrew J and Mary Trout”, Jacob and Elizabeth have been transcribed as having the last name “FUNT”.] These are the only “Trout’s” in Allen County, Indiana in 1850.

ELIZABETH’S parents, CHARLES and SUSANNAH MILLEDGE, nee SMOTHERS, were also living in Allen County, Indiana in 1850. Their family resided nearby in Maumee Township: dwelling 1797 and family 1809 -- CHARLES MILLEDGE, 47, laborer, b. PA; Susannah, 50, b. PA; Isaac, 24, b. OH; Henry, 17, b. OH; John, 15, b. OH; Susan, 13, b. OH; Mahlon, 11, b. OH; Catharine, 8, b. OH; Sarah, 3, b. OH.

The Milledge household had still been in Ohio in 1840. They were enumerated in Radner Township, Delaware County as follows: 2 m under 5 [Mahlon & John], 1 m 5-10 [Henry], 1 m 10-15 [Isaac], 1 m 30-40 [Charles], 1 f under 5 [Susan], 1 f 5-10 [Elizabeth], 1 f 10-15 [Unknown], 1 f 30-40 [Susannah].

The 1840 Census for Allen County, Indiana, however, shows one “TROUT” family. Furthermore, it is a family that could contain our Andrew J [age 12] and Jacob P [turned 10 sometime after June 1840; he was NOT yet 30 in June of 1860 when the census was taken]: 

1840 Census, Allen Co., IN -- Mauran Twp., page 38: JACOB TROUT, 2m 10-15; 1m 40-50; 1f 15-20; 2f 20-30; 1f 40-50.

Recent research has uncovered proof that Andrew was the son of this Jacob Trout and his wife, ELIZABETH (PLATTER). Jacob was the firstborn son of the Appellate Court Judge, GEORGE W TROUT, born in the year 1762 in Bart Township, Lancaster County, PA. George married MARGARET ZIEGLER, a daughter of GEORGE PHILIP ZIEGLER and his wife, ELIZABETH. Judge George moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio in about 1812. Though his son, Jacob, is widely known to have removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana (Allen County), fairly extensive research at the Allen County Library has not turned up a record of his (or his wife’s) death or burial either in Indiana or Ohio.  It is interesting that Jacob P Trout named his firstborn son George Washington and another son Andrew J. To date, however, traditional research has produced no proof beyond the circumstantial to link our ancestor, Jacob P Trout, to Andrew “Jackson” Trout or to the elder Jacob and/or his wife, Elizabeth Platter Trout. On the other hand, the Trout DNA Project has developed some rather compelling DNA evidence that Jacob P and Andrew Jackson Trout did share a common ancestor, though we do not yet know whether they had the same father or whether that common ancestor might have been more distant. Research continues. Click here to access the Trout DNA Research Project website and to learn more about this exciting new genealogy tool.

To examine the descendants of Andrew Jackson TROUT, click the button labeled “Andrew J Trout’s Line” at the top of this page. I have traced this family from Allen County where they lived next door to our direct ancestors, Jacob and Betsy Trout in 1850, to adjacent Huntington County, Indiana, where Andrew and his second wife, ELIZABETH SHUTT, raised their family to maturity in Lancaster Township.

Jacob P TROUT and his family did not remain in Indiana, but rather headed further west with members of Betsy’s family to the newly opened farmland in southwestern Wisconsin. The Jacob and Elizabeth Trout nee Milledge family “tree” is identified in this site as “Jacob P Trout’s Line.”