Simeon Ogden

Simeon Ogden was the youngest of the three Ogden brothers, who served in the Revolutionary War and were later buried in the Old Burying Ground in Caldwell. Something of great importance to note here is that all of these brothers are descendants “John Ogden the Pilgrim” and his wife, Jane Bond. Both of them were born in England and settled at first on Long Island, and later settled in Elizabethtown in New Jersey.

Simeon Ogden was born on June 27, 1763, in Essex County, New Jersey to Samuel Odgen and Phoebe Baldwin of Milford Connecticut.

During the Revolution, he served in the Essex County Militia, as did his brothers.

He was married to Catherine Corey and had a son, Swain and possibly a child yet unborn at the time of his passing. There is speculation the unborn child, probably born in the Spring of 1790 was Simeon Ogden, Junior. It appears that the family might have had a female slave named Sal, though the Will containing this information is quite faded and difficult to read.

Simeon wrote his Will on March 22, 1790 at the age of 27, describing himself “as weak in body yet sound in understanding and memory”. Whatever ailment caused Simeon to write his Will appears to have taken his life soon after. He died on April 2, 1790. He was laid to rest in the Old Burying Ground at Caldwell. He was the first of the Ogden brothers to be buried in their little area behind the current church, but he was soon joined by his brother David, only 4 months later.

Simeon’s young widow, Catherine, later married a man named Moses C. Edwards and had 6 more children with him.

There is a book called The Odgen Family in America-Elizabethtown Branch and their English Ancestry, John Ogden the Pilgrim and his descendants, 1640-1906 by William Ogden Wheeler published in 1907. This would make interesting reading for those interested in this large family spanning many counties in New Jersey.