Below is a letter from Robert Milton Grout detailing his research on the Grout family line.  Some of his source material, as noted, is from The Genealogy of the Descendants of Several Ancient Puritans in 1857 by Rev. Abner Morse.

Separately, here is a note Robert wrote about Sir Richard Groutte, Esq.

Our documented family line begins in England with : I. Sir Richard Groutte, Esq., b. Abt 1562, d. (?), m. (?)  Sir Richard is presumed to be our oldest direct Ancestor of record because he received his Coat-of-Arms from Queen Elizabeth in Walton, Derbyshire England on 28 May 1587 and this Coat-of-Arms was still in the family in 1857. Nothing is really known of this man; where he was from or what service he did that led to his Knighthood. He is said to have been “certified to be a descendant of an ancient family.” It’s also unclear if he was from Walton or was just Knighted there.

Another note from Robert regarding Grout origins in Europe.

Based on what I’ve been able to uncover it seems reasonable to say many of our ancestors lived in Flanders in Belgium.  One problem in picking a location is the many spellings Grout has taken from Goot, Gross and so on due to the tribes of Belgic Gaul being scattered across Europe by Julius Caesar in 53BC.  The surname was changed according to the local custom and when an individual became a noble De or La was added such as DeGroot.  Our ancestors may have belonged to the Grudii tribe, a part of the larger Nevii.  Morse notes that there was an immigration of Flemish weavers to England during the rein of Hanry II  1152-89.

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