Rev. James Prudden and Sibil Mitchell
Husband Rev. James Prudden
Born: 1591 - Kings Walden, Hertsford, ENgland Christened: Died: Aug 1648 - Milford, New Haven, Connecticut Buried:
Father: Robert Prudden (1561-1617) Mother: Mildred (Abt 1565- )
Marriage: 7 Apr 1608 - Kings Walden, H, England
Wife Sibil Mitchell
Born: 1593 - Kings Walden, Hertsford, ENgland Christened: Died: 27 May 1618 - Kings Walden, Herfordshire, England Buried:
Children
1 F Ann Pruden
Born: 8 Feb 1617 - Kingswalden, Hertsfordshire, England Christened: Died: 23 Aug 1684 - Milford, Litchfield, Connecticut Buried:Spouse: Samuel Coley (1615-1684) Marr: 14 Feb 1640 - Milford, New Haven, Connecticut
2 F Elizabeth Prudden
Born: - Kings Walden, Herfordshire, England Christened: 17 Dec 1615 - Kings Walden, Herfordshire, England Died: 29 Apr 1666 Buried:Spouse: William Slough ( -Abt 1648) Marr: 8 Sep 1644 - prob Milford, New Haven, ConnecticutSpouse: Roger Prichard (1600-1670) Marr: 18 Dec 1653 - Milford, New Haven, Connecticut
General Notes (Husband)
A line of Prudden's traces back to mid 15th century in Kings Walden.
James was probably the brother of the Rev. Peter Prudden who was of New Haven and Milford, CT. he was the pastor at Milford 1640-56. First appears on assignment of land in New Haven, Later at Milford. Admitted Milford church 13 Oct 1639, d 1648. Had 2 daugthers. Extract of parish registers of King's Walden, England "burials" 1618; Elizabeth, wife of James Prudden, bur 27 May 1618. He marriedon 7 Apr 1608 Sybil Mitchell, at King's Walden, Herfordshire. He second married Elizabeth. She died at Kings Walden, May 1618. Buried 27 May 1618 in LKings Walden.
PRUDDEN, JAMES, Milford 1639, perhaps br. of Peter, d. 1648. His d. Ann m. Samuel Coley a. 1640; and Elizabeth m. William Slough. JOHN, Jamaica, L. I. s. of Peter, sett. in 1670 as min. there, rem. in 1692 to Newark, N. J. but resign. his charge 1699, and d. 11 Dec. 1725 in his 80th year. He left descend. Eliot says. PETER, Milford, arr. with famous Davenport at Boston and at New Haven spent some time next yr. and the foll. where was gather. the ch. of M. over wh. he was sett 18 Apr. 1640, and d. July 1656, in 56th yr. Was he ever of Wethersfield, as the diligent writer in Geneal. Reg. XI. 102 says? Mather says, he had been a successf. preacher a. Herefordsh. and near Wales; but caution is useful in receiv. the word of M. We kn. nothing, of his parentage or educ. He left good est. here, beside his lds. at Edgton in Co. York, where perhaps he was b. and certain. there m. Joanna Boyse. We must look to Trumbull's Hist. of Conn. for not much. He had six ds. and two s. John, b. 9 Nov. 1645, bapt. 1646, H. C. 1668; and Samuel, the eldest s. wh. prob. was, the propr. at M. 1713; beside Peter, bapt. 1652, d. soon. His wid. Joanna, wh. had m. 19 Sept. 1671, capt. Thomas Willet, and next Rev. John Bishop, in her will of 8 Nov. 1681, names the s. and five ds. Joanna, bapt. 1640; Elizabeth 4 Mar. 1643; Abigail, 167; Sarah, 12 May 1650; and Mildred, 14 May 1653; beside Mary Walker, her d. dec. whose portion was to go to two ch. Abigail, m. 14 Nov. 1667, Joseph Walker; Mildred m. 20 Sept. 1671, Sylvanus Baldwin; but what was the bapt. name of the h. of Mary is yet unseen.
SAMUEL, Milford, eldest s. of the preced. m. 30 Dec. 1669, Grace Judson, d. of Joseph of Straford, had Peter, b. 28 July 1671; Samuel, 14 Aug. 1673; Joanna, bapt. 1676; and in 1685, aft. his d. it is seen that he had Peter and four other ch. in the care of their mo.
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EXCERPTS FROM "THE NEW HAVEN COLONY"
by Isabell MacBeath Calder, published by Yale Univ. Press in 1934:
In the seventeenth century Coleman Street was "a faire and large street, on both sides builded with diuerse faire houses." John Davenport was the son of Henry and Winifred (Barneby) Davenport. He had been baptized by Richard Eaton, vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Coventry on Apr 9 1597. In 1622 he became a member of the Virginia Co. of London. In 1624 he was elected as Vicar of St. Stephens on Coleman St. in London, but before he could begin his duties, he was charged with Puritanism by King James I, which he denied. About 1630 Theophilus Eaton (son of Richard Eaton) took over the house vacated by Sir Richard Saltonstall in Swanne Alley (off Coleman St.) He had served as Deputy Gov. of the Eastland Co. at Elbing. The group received a grant of territory from the Council for New England and as "the Gov. and Co. of the Mass. Bay in New England" on March 4 1629 received a charter from the crown.
Mathew Cradock was appointed the first governor of the company. Sir Richard Saltonstall, Samuel Aldersey, Theophilus Eaton and George Foxcroft represented St. Stephens, Coleman St., in the first court of assistants, and John Davenport, Robert CRANE, Owen Rowe, William Spurstow, Edmund White, all living in Coleman St., and possibly Francis Bright of Swanne Alley represented the parish among the commonality.
In Nov. of 1633, Davenport fled to Amsterdam to escape increasing disapproval of the Crown where the group organized their move to the New World. The group included: John and Elizabeth Davenport (left infant son in care of noble lady); Theophilus Eaton, Anne Eaton, dau. of George Lloyd, Bishop of Chester, and widow of Thomas Yale, the second wife of Theophilus Eaton; old Mrs. Eaton, his mother; Samuel and Nathaniel Eaton, his brothers; Mary Eaton, the dau. of his first wife; Samuel, Theophilus and Hannah, the children of his second wife; Anne, David and Thomas Yale, the children of Anne Eaton by her former marriage; Edward Hopkins, who on Sep. 5, 1631 had married Anne Yale at St. Antholin's in London; and Richard Malbon, a kinsman of Theophilus Eaton. Also many inhabitants of the parish of St. Stephen, Coleman St. Nathaniel Rowe (son of Own Rowe who intended to follow); William Andrews, Henry Browning, James Clark, Jasper CRANE <cranjasp.htm>, Jeremy Dixon, Nicholas Elsey, Francis Hall, Robert Hill, William Ives, Geo. Smith, George Ward and Lawrence Ward.
Others (probably from the neighborhood, but not members of St. Stephens): Ezekiel Cheever, Edward Bannister, Richard Beach, Richard Beckley, John Brockett, John Budd, John Cooper, Arthur Halbidge, Mathew Hitchcock, Andrew Hull, Andrew Low, Andrew Messenger, Mathew Moulthrop, Francis Newman, Robert Newman, Richard Osborn, Edward Patteson, John Reader, William Thorp and Samuel Whitehead. The group chartered the "Hector" of London. On June 26, 1637, John Winthrop recorded the arrival of the group from London at Boston.
In Aug. of 1637, Eaton and several others traveled south to view the area around the Long Island Sound. They left members of their party there over the winter to retain possession. Many from the Bay Colony chose to leave for New Haven with Eaton and Davenport: Richard Hull, William Tuttle and William Wilkes of Boston; Anne Higginson and her family, Jarvis Boykin, John Chapman, John Charles, Timothy Ford, Thomas James, Benjamin Ling, John Mosse and Richard Perry of Charlestown; John Benham, Benjamin Fenn, Thomas Jeffrey, Thomas Kimberly, William Preston, Thomas Sandford, Thomas Trowbridge and Zachariah Whitman of Dorchester; John Astwood of Stanstead Abbey, Hertfordshire and Roxbury; Thomas Baker, John Burwell, Jasper Gunn, John Hall, John Peacock, William Potter, Edward Riggs, Thomas Uffot and Joanna and Jacob Sheaffe of Roxbury; Mark Pierce of Newtown; and Nathaniel Turner of Lynn.
Another company headed by Peter Pruden was a notable addition to the group. *** Perhaps the son of Thomas Prudden of King's Walden, Hertfordshire and a kinsman of William Thomas of Caerleon, Monmouthshire, Prudden was the minister of the Providence Island Company. In 1637 with fifteen Hertfordshire families - among them Edmund Tapp of Bennington, Hertfordshire, James Prudden, William Fowler, Thomas and Hanah Buckingham, Thomas Welsh, Richard Platt, Henry Stonehill and William East - he left England for Massachusetts and went with Davenport's group to Connecticut in March of 1638.
Staying behind in Massachusetts was Nathaniel Eaton, Nathaniel Rowe, Edward and Anne (Yale) Hopkins and John Cotton. Eaton became the "cruel" master of a new college in Newtown. Later he and Anne migrated to Hartford, CT. In 1641 a 3-year mortgage was given to George Fenwick of Saybrook, John Haynes, Samuel Wyllys and Edward Hopkins of Connecticut and Theophilus Eaton, Stephen Goodyear and Thomas Gregson of New Haven for much of Long Island.
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e-mail from Leslie Weymouth, 12/18/05;
It is a little difficult to fully answer your question without giving you a
treatise on the life and times in England during the 1600s.
The fact that the families left wills and also appeared in the Feet of Fines
records, shows that they were reasonably well off for the times. Land was
generally owned by either the King or The Church, although it was
occasionally gifted by the King to families for their support during wars
and the like - hence Lords of the Manor. But usually the land was then
leased out to bring in revenue (known as copyhold). Many of the PRUDDEN
families were copyholders. That meant that they paid a proportion of their
farming revenue to the land holder each year but they had a right to pass on
the copyhold of the land in their will when they died, as long as their next
of kin paid a "Fine" to acquire that right.
So, they were fairly well off. Most of their wills bear this out with cattle
and sheep as well as household goods being left to children and
grandchildren. Although in one will, a lady mentions her servant who was
also called PRUDDEN, so that is how they supported less well off members of
the family, by employing them.
However, because families could be quite large, sometimes there was
insufficient land or money for everyone to earn their living from it. Thus
they then either moved into trades or else went into the church. The man who
later became Rev. Peter PRUDDEN is believe to have been the son of Robert
PRUDDEN who was a Glover. Because he himself would probably been a member of
a guild in London, that is probably why his son was enrolled in the Merchant
Tailor's school (funded by a Guild) in London. Then, after his father's
death and mother's 2nd marriage, although his father left no will, his
mother administered the estate and there must have been sufficient funds to
allow him to enrol at Cambridge University. He was admitted as a "sizar"
which means he had a sort of bursary to enable him to attend. It would
appear that he did not graduate, so I am guessing there were insufficient
funds to enable him to finish his education. However, at that time,
attendance at Oxford and Cambridge Universities was the route into the
Church.
So, he was almost certainly heading in to the Church of England. Now, there
are records in existence which seem to show that he lived (and possibly
married) as a "clerk" in Herefordshire which was an area on the border with
Wales. What this suggests is that he hadn't been able to obtain what was
know as a "living" in the church. Livings were the gift of Lords of the
Manor and basically gave preachers the right to live and earn money from the
lands belonging to the church in a particular parish. So, he possibly hired
himself out as a preacher in churches where the vicar was too lazy to do the
job himself but he wouldn't have had the benefit of job or financial
security.
Whether this led him to become disenchanted with the Established Church or
whether he met a particularly inspirational speaker along his way, he seems
eventually to have become a "Puritan" as they were called who had a very
strict interpretation of the way Christian worship should be conducted.
Certainly several areas of Hertfordshire (his family's home county -
different from Herefordshire where he preached), were known to have a
growing level of Non-conformism to the traditional church.
There are no known records of how he gathered his group to travel to
America, or of who funded the passage, but it is likely one or two among the
party must have had the means. However, the vast majority of the PRUDDEN
family seem to have stayed loyal to the established church.
As to James PRUDDEN, there are few records for him. I do not believe that he
was a brother of Peter, more likely a cousin. There is a record in 1608 in
Kings Walden of him marrying Sybil MITCHELL, the baptism of daugher
Elizabeth in 1615, and Ann in 1617/8 and the death of the wife of James in
May 1618. Now, there is a bit of a gap between the marriage and the first
child baptised in Kings Walden, so whether there are any just missing or
whether they lived and baptised children elsewhere is impossible to know.
James' marriage year seems to show that he would have been about 20 years
older than Peter, so he could even have been an uncle. An Edward and a
Lawrence seem to have been the two men fathering children in King's Walden
between 1570 and 1590, so my guess is he is the son of one of them.
The main reason so much of this is guesswork is that the baptism register
for King's Walden does not appear to start until the 1550s and the first
Luton register went missing and so their records do not start until 1602.
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