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John Bruen (1560-1625) was an English Puritan layman, celebrated in his t i m e f o r p iety.
Bruen was the son of a Cheshire squire of Bruen Stapleford; the elder J o h n B r u en was three times married. John was when young sent to his uncl e D u t t o n at Dutton, where for three years he was taught by the schoolma st e r J a m es Roe. The Dutton family had by charter the control of the min s t r e l s of the county. Young Bruen became an expert dancer. 'At that tim e , ' h e s a id, 'the holy Sabbaths of the Lord were wholly spent, in all p l a c e s a bout us, in May-games and May-poles, pipings and dancings, for i t w a s a r a r e thing to hear of a preacher, or to have one sermon in a ye ar . '
When about seventeen John Bruen and his brother Thomas were sent as gen t l e m e n-commoners to St. Alban Hall, Oxford, where they stayed about two y e a r s . H e left the university in 1579, and in the following year was mar r i e d b y h is parents to a daughter of Mr. Hardware, who had been twice m a y o r o f C hester. Bruen at this time hunted, and with Ralph Done kept fo u r t e e n couple of hounds.
On the death of his father in 1587 Bruen's means were reduced; he got r i d o f h i s d ogs, killed the game, and disparked the land. His children w e r e b r o ught up strictly, and his choice of servants fell upon the sober a n d p i o u s. One of these, Robert Pashfield, had a leathern girdle, which s e r v e d h im as a memoria technica for the Bible, marked in to portions fo r t h e b o o ks, with points and knots for the smaller divisions.
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Abt 1560 - 1626 (66 years)