Complimentary copy sent from the VERMONT DEPT. OF LIBRARIES - Montpelier, Vermont. 11-1-04 (sending this to both Orleans County and QC-ETANGLO because of JUDITH ADELINE SLEEPER b. Stanstead County - history) Newport Express & Standard - Nov. 7, 1924 - Page one. ELLEN BLACK GROUT MRS. GROUT died at 560 West 180th St., New York City, Saturday morning, Oct. 26, 1924, from heart failure, after a lingering illness of over three years which confined her to the house. The body was taken to Newport, her old home, and buried from ST. MARK'S Church, Tuesday afternoon, the REV. R.H. TRILL, rector of the church, conducting the service, and making interesting and appropriate remarks on the life and character of the deceased. The interment was in the GROUT family lot, Newport East main Street cemetery, REV. MR. TRILL reading the committal service. MAYOR LINDSAY, City Clerk SPEAR, FRANK R. SHERMAN, E. J. PROUTY, CHARLIE BROWN, HENRY BLANCHARD, old time friends and neighbors, acted as bearers. The choir sang "Lead Kindly Light: and other favorite hymns of the deceased. ELLEN A. BLACK GROUT, the subject of this article, was born in Galveston, Texas, July 11th, 1852. She was the daughter of CHARLES and MARY (STUBBS) BLACK. Her parents were among the early settlers of Galveston and both are buried in the old city cemetery at Galveston. After the death of MRS. GROUT's parents in 1869 she lived and made her home with the REV. WM. C. SOMERVILLE and wife, then of Houston, Texas. MRS. SOMERVILLE, (Note: JUDITH ADELINE SLEEPER) whose first husband's name was SMITH, was an early settler of Galveston and had been well acquainted with the deceased and the BLACK family, for many years. In 1870 MR. SOMERVILLE, then (continued on page three) ELLEN BLACK GROUT (continued from page one) (page three) pastor of the first Presbyterian church of Houston, Texas, obtained a leave of six months, and accompanied by his wife and MRS. GROUT, then MISS BLACK, came to Stanstead and Coaticook, P. Q., to visit her relatives. During this time the Congregational church at Newport, Vermont, was without a pastor, and REV. MR. SOMERVILLE supplied the pulpit, and became the regular pastor of the Newport church, May, 1871, and with his wife and MISS BLACK boarded at the old Memphremagog House, Newport. On the 25th day of November, 1873, MISS BLACK was married to THEOPHILUS GROUT, then a lawyer at Newport, where they made their permanent home until 1901, when they sold their home on School Street with spacious grounds to the Newport School District, on which lot the present Newport high school building now stands. During the thirty or more years that MR. and MRS. GROUT lived in Newport, she was an untiring active zealous worker in organizing and building Saint Mark's Episcopal church at Newport. MRS. GROUT with the other brave and courageous women of the Episcopal faith took the ground that an Episcopal church could be built and paid for and maintained in Newport, and if the fainthearted husbands could not see their way clear to build it, the women would undertake the task. This was too much for the men, and by the unanimous request of all interested THEOPHILUS GROUT drew up the following articles of association, which was the real beginning of the beautiful little SAINT MARK's church and rectory house on Second St. "Articles of Association of the Mission of SAINT MARK's Church, Newport, Vermont. "We the undersigned citizens of the town of Newport, county of Orleans, state of Vermont, do hereby associate ourselves together as a religious society, under the laws of the state of Vermont, to be known and called as the mission of SAINT MARK's church, Newport. "We associate for the purpose of maintaining the worship of Almighty God, according to the provisions of the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States, in its liturgy, canons and usages, and for doing whatever else may be necessary in promoting the main purpose: "We do hereby adopt, receive and promise entire conformity to the constitution and Canons of the Diocese of Vermont. "Signed at Newport, Vermont, November 8th, A. D. 1879. NAMES "THEOPHILUS GROUT, ELLEN A. GROUT, VICTORIA GROUT, ROBERT J. WRIGHT, M. T. HAMILTON, FREDERICK CHATFIELD, MRS. L. B. CLEVELAND, MRS. M. T. HAMILTON, MRS. W. FULLER, MRS. R. J. WRIGHT, MRS. F. P. DAVIS, MRS. F. CHATFIELD. "Town clerk's office, Newport, Dec. 11th, A.D. 1879. Received for record at ten o'clock a. m., and recorded in Vol. one, page 20, of Newport records in town. Attest: H. S. ROOT, Town Clerk." Immediately after the signing and recording of the foregoing articles of association, the Episcopal ladies formed a guild known as "The Ladies Guild of SAINT MARK's Church, Newport," and the good work commenced. The first year the Ladies' Guild cleared about $800 and within three years had realized around $2000, and a lot was purchased and paid for. On the 5th day of October, 1882, the cornerstone of SAINT MARK's church was laid, with imposing ceremonies by the Right REV. W. H. A. BISSELL, then bishop of Vermont, assisted by BISHOP NILES of New Hampshire, and a large number of visiting clergy and laity from Vermont, Canada and New Hampshire. It was a beautiful and imposing service. To be continued.