Maureen Ogden and Mary Marshall Ogden

A notice arrived recently from NJ Conservation Foundation of the Oct. 22 dedication of the Maureen Ogden Preserve in Long Valley, NJ. "Governor Thomas H. Kean will join us to honor Maureen and her outstanding contributions to land preservation and the protection of freshwater wetlands in New Jersey," it declared. Her accomplishments as a Republican representative in the NJ General Assembly, promoting land preservation, the arts, sustainability and human rights, can be found here.

I wasn't able to go to the dedication, but the last name rang a bell, so I sent a letter to Maureen telling her of the Mary Marshall Ogden who with JP Whiton-Stuart first owned what we call the Veblen House, and asked if she might be related. Turns out that Maureen's late husband is descended from David Ogden, who was the doctor on the ship bringing William Penn to America from England.

Meanwhile I had done additional research to clarify Mary Marshall Ogden's connection to the pilgrims, and found her listed as a descendant in the book, "The Ogden Family in America: John Ogden, the Pilgrim and his Descendants". John was born in England in 1609, then immigrated to America in 1641. Mary shows up on p. 337, as part of the 8th generation of descendants, #3110, born Sept. 2, 1874. According to this source, John Ogden "was one of our country's first patriots" and "In 1665 Ogden became one of the original patentees on the Elizabethtown Purchase, the first English settlement in the Colony of New Jersey."

Since William Penn sailed to America in 1682, the link between his ship's doctor David Ogden and our John Ogden is not yet clear. For those like me who know nothing of William Penn, there's an eye-opening timeline describing his life, from years of religious persecution as a Quaker in England to his development of a model government for Pennsylvania.

The book on John Ogden's genealogy begins with a quote of John Q. Adams that fits with Maureen Ogden's career, and just fits in general: "Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity!"