Ogden, John

John Ogden was born on January 17, 1737, in Middleground, part of Orange, New Jersey. He was the eldest child of Samuel Ogden and Phebe Baldwin Ogden. At least two of his brothers, David and Simeon, are also veterans buried in the Old Burying Ground. All three brothers are noted to be descendants of John Ogden, the Pilgrim, and Jane Bond, both born in England, who settled first in Long Island, New York, and later in Elizabethtown, New Jersey.

There were several men named John Ogden living in Essex County during the Revolutionary War. Two, undoubtedly cousins, served in the Army, one as an officer, a lieutenant, and the other as a private, both in Seeley’s Battalion of VanCourtlandt’s Brigade of militia. We believe our John was the private, although, since he had substantial land holdings at the time of his death, we might suspect that he, like many large landowners, could have purchased a Commission as an officer.

John married Elizabeth McGee (perhaps “Magie”) and they had five children who lived past infancy; Samuel, Aaron, Polly, Hannah and Abigail.

John Ogden passed away on April 27, 1797 at the age of 60. We know very little about John, but his Will left substantial cash – still called “pounds” in 1797 – as well as, land west of the Whippany River in Morris County and a salt meadow in Newark that he held in partnership with his sister, Mary, the widow of Adonijah Dod. Seemingly not uncommon, his widow, Elizabeth, was one of his executors, along with Joseph Tompkins and Aaron Kitchel.

John’s wife, Elizabeth died on August 24, 1802 and was buried with him in the Old Burying Ground of the First Presbyterian Church at Caldwell.