THIRTEENTH GENERATION

7324. John Bruen ^{(172)(336) (420)} was born about 1560 in Bruen, Stapleford, Cheshire. He died on Jan 18 1625/26 in Bruen, Stapleford, Cheshire. John Bruen was, perhaps, the most celebrated Puritan layman of his day. Ormerod, in his History of Cheshire, wrote that "He was second son and by survival the heir and oldest of a family of fifteen [actually seventeen] children, one of the few persons in history whose virtues alone, in the rank of a country gentleman, have handed down his memory." And it is clear that he had a magnetic affect on all who met him. The Archbishop of Ireland, although by definition a member of the Church of England, wrote that "In him was the very beauty of holiness and he was of so ample and cheerful a countenance that when I beheld him I was reminded of Moses, whose very face shone as in honoring more than ordinary eminency of grace in his heart."

John Bruen was descended from an old Cheshire family long settled at Bruen Stapleford (it is unknown if his family gave its name to the town or the other way around). In his youth he often stayed with his uncle in Dutton, Cheshire, whose family by charter had control of the minstrels of the county and John Bruen became an expert dancer, a skill he would later disparage. "At that time," he was to write, "the holy Sabbaths of the Lord were wholly spent, in all places about us, in May-games and May-poles, pipings and dancings, for it was a rare thing to hear of a preacher, or to have one sermon in a year."

He attended Oxford at St. Alban's Hall for two years, but did not take a degree. At this time he also enjoyed the hunt and he and another relative, Ralph Done, kept "fourteen couples of large-mouthed dogs." But when he inherited his father's estate, he sold off his pack and disparked the property.

He brought up his children very strictly and made sure that his servants were pious and sober. One, Robert Pashfield, although illiterate, was such a keen student of the Bible that he was able to give the book and chapter for nearly every sentence in it. Bruen always rose early and read prayers twice a day and prayed himself seven times a day. He removed the stain-glass windows of the local church and defaced the sculpture therein. On Sundays, he would lead his servants and children to the church, about a mile distant, and would stop at the houses of his tenants on the way, arriving at church with a throng behind him. He would stay after morning prayers, missing dinner and continuing until after evening prayers.

Bruen maintained open house for like-minded people, and "gentlemen of rank became desirous of sojourning under his roof for their better information in the way of God, and a more effectual reclaiming of themselves and their families." Perkins, the Puritan divine, called Bruen's house, "for the practice and power of religion, the very topsail of all England."

After his first wife died, he lived for a while with his second wife's family, but when he returned to Bruen Stapleford, his house again became a place much visited by people of quality looking for enlightenment. After the death of his second wife, he broke up his household and removed to Chester, until he returned, once again, to Stapleford with his third wife.

John Bruen, while intensely pious, was also very hospitable and charitable. Towards the end of his life, according to the Dictionary of National Biography, "his prayers were twice accompanied by 'ravishing sights.'" Among the Harlein manuscripts is a compilation by John Bruen entitled "A godly profitable collection of divers sentences out of Holy Scripture, and variety of matters out of several divine authors." Numbering fifty-two, these are commonly known as "John Bruen's cards."

At his death, the parish register recorded under burials "25th January 1625 [1626 N.S.]: John Bruen of Stapleford, Esquyer, Nulle pietate secundis.

An Israelite in whom no guyle
Of Fraud was ever found;
A phoenix rare whose virtues fair
Through all our coasts do sound."

He was the subject of a biography, first printed in 1641, under the title of "The very Singular Life of John Bruen, Esq., of Bruen Stapleford, Cheshire, exhibiting a variety of memorable and Exemplary Circumstances, which may be of Great Utility to all Persons, but Principally Intended as a Precedent of Piety and Charity for the Inhabitants of the County of Chester." It was written by "the Reverend William Hinde, Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, and preacher of God's Word at Bunberry, in the aforesaid County." It was reprinted in 1799 in Chester and in New York in 1857. He was married to Anne Fox in 1597 in Tarvin, England.

7325. Anne Fox⁽¹⁷²⁾ was born about 1580. She died in Dec 1606 in Cheshire. Children were:

i. Nathaniel Bruen died on Aug 13 1598.
ii. Samuel Bruen.
iii. Katherine Bruen died after 1637.
iv. Abigail Bruen died on Apr 21 1603.
3662 v. Obadiah Bruen.
vi. Jonathan Bruen.
vii. Debora Bruen.

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