Obadiah Bruen

Bef 1606 - Aft 1679  (> 74 years)

• Name	Obadiah Bruen
  Birth	Bef 25 Dec 1606  [1, 2]
  Baptism	25 Dec 1606	St. Andrew's, Tarvin, Cheshire, England   [1, 2, 3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Aft 1679	Newark, Essex, New Jersey   [1]
  Alternate death	Abt 1681	Newark, Essex, New Jersey   [2]
  Burial	Fairmount Cemetery, Newark, Essex, New Jersey   [5]
  Person ID	I15167	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of LD, Ancestor of TSW
  Last Modified	10 Jan 2024

  
  

  Father	John Bruen,   b. 1560, Bruen Stapleford in Tarvin, Cheshire, England d. 18 Jan 1626, Bruen Stapleford in Tarvin, Cheshire, England (Age 66 years)
  Mother	Anne Fox,   b. Abt 1581   d. Bef 29 Dec 1606 (Age ~ 25 years)
  Marriage	Aft Jan 1597  [1, 6]
  Family ID	F9330	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Sarah Seeley,   b. Bef 22 Oct 1609   d. Aft 1696 (Age > 88 years)
  Marriage	7 May 1633	St. Martin's, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England   [1, 7]
  Children	+ 1. Mary Bruen,   b. Bef 12 Jun 1634   d. 2 Sep 1670 (Age > 36 years)
  Family ID	F9329	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	30 Aug 2019

  
  

• Notes

  One of TSW’s eight proven “gateway ancestors”, and one of LD's five. He was a member of the drapers’ guild in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, although this does not prove that he actually worked as a draper. “He and his family emigrated to New England in 1640, where they lived successively at Marshfield and Gloucester, Massachusetts, and New London, Connecticut. He served as Deputy Judge for New London, 1660, Judge for New London, 1662-6, Patentee of the Royal Charter, 1662, Deputy for New London to the Connecticut Legislature, 1665-6, and Clerk for New London County Court in 1666. In 1667 he and his wife, Sarah, removed to Newark, New Jersey.” [Royal Ancestry, citation details below.] “Obadiah Bruen was born in Bruen Stapleford, England, and immigrated to New England with his wife Sarah in 1640. He settled first at Plymouth Colony, and then at Gloucester, Massachusetts (1642), where he was town selectman (1643) and a representative to the Connecticut General Court (1643-1651). He was one of the early settlers at Pequot (later New London), Connecticut, and served as the town clerk (1651-1666) and as a representative from New London in the Connecticut General Court (1652-1666). His name is the only name from New London to appear on the royal charter for the colony of Connecticut. In 1666, he joined an association to found a colony on the Passaic River called Milford (later Newark, New Jersey). He was one of the signers of the deed to purchase land from the Indians along the Passaic River (July 11, 1667).” [Yale Indian Papers Project.] In 1889 his remains were re-interred in the Founders’ Vault at Fairmount Cemetery.

  
  

• Sources

  [S142] Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families by Douglas Richardson. Salt Lake City, 2013. [S2112] Donald Lines Jacobus, "Ancestry of Obadiah and Mary Bruen." The American Genealogist 26:12, January 1950. [S77] The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester by George Ormerod. Second edition, revised and enlarged by Thomas Helsby. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1882., date only. [S3410] Lineal Ancestors of Susan (Kitchell) Mulford, Mother of Mrs. Susan (Mulford) Cory by Charles Henry Cory. New Jersey, 1937. Given as Volume IV, Part I of an unnamed series of volumes that begins with Volume I, Part I, Lineal Ancestors of Captain James Cory and of His Descendants, also by Charles Henry Cory, also New Jersey, 1937. [S2146] Find a Grave page for Obadiah Bruen. [S2906] Puritans and Pedigrees: The Deep Roots of the Great Migration to New England by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2018., after early 1597. [S3411] "Obadiah Seeley of Stamford, Connecticut", research report to the Seeley Genealogical Society by Frederick C. Hart, Jr. 13 Mar 1999.