Peter Prudden (1601–1656) was an English
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
who assisted in the foundation of
Milford, Connecticut
Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, between New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the Vill ...
. After education at the
Merchant Taylors' School, he was a student at
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...
. He arrived in
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
on June 26, 1637 with
John Davenport and
Theophilus Eaton
Theophilus Eaton ( January 7, 1658) was a New England Colonies, New England colonist, politician, merchant and financier, who took part in organizing and financing the Puritan migration, Great Puritan Migration to America. He was a founder ...
. After Davenport and Eaton formed
New Haven Colony
New Haven Colony was an English colony from 1638 to 1664 that included settlements on the north shore of Long Island Sound, with outposts in modern-day New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The colony joined Connecticut Colony in 16 ...
, Prudden and a small group of settlers purchased a tract of land called Wepawaug from local Native Americans. Prudden was ordained as the first pastor of the Congregationalist church at Milford on April 8, 1640. He is buried in Milford, Connecticut.
He was invited with several of his followers to settle in
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham ( ) is a New England town, town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
First settled by E ...
, but declined the invitation.
[*] They had offers to settle in other places as well, including in
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...
, and were seeking to build a community that was both spiritually and commercially successful.
[
]
See also
*Connecticut Colony
The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritans, Puritan congregation o ...
References
*Lillian E. Prudden,
Peter Prudden: A Story of His Life at New Haven and Milford, Conn. with the Genealogy of Some of His Descendants
' (1901)
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prudden, Peter
1601 births
1656 deaths
Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood