Early Puritan religious leader of the party which founded Milford, Ct. (History & genealogy of the Hubbell family. 3rd ed. Compiled & edited by Harold Berresford Hubbell, Jr., & Donald Sidney Hubbell. 1980. Brooklyn, NY : Theo. Gaus, Ltd., pg. 44).
Educated at Merchant Taylor's School in London (1616-1617) and Emmanuel College in Cambridge, England (1620), he preached in Hertfordshire, England (about 25 miles from London) until 1637, when he vacated his post due to persecution.
Shortly thereafter, he sailed from London arriving in Boston in June of 1637. His first wife, Jane Thomas, daughter of William Thomas, Gent. of Wales, must have died prior to coming to America. While in Massachusetts, he married his second wife, Joanna Boyse, on July 2, 1637. She was the daughter of Rev John & Joanna (Stowe) Boyse.
Rev. Prudden declined an invitation to settle as pastor at the church in Dedham. Instead, he removed first to the colony of New Haven and then to a tract of land purchased from the Indians called Wepawaug (Milford) with a flock of settlers from New Haven to start a church and settlement. On April 8, 1640, he was ordained pastor of the Milford church.
Rev. Prudden was given homelot #40, the eastern end of which was called "Peter Prudden's Garden" and was used as the first burial ground at Milford. It was used for this purpose until 1675 when the area was expanded into the what is now the Milford Cemetery. Rev. Prudden, himself, was buried in his garden.
His wife, Joanna, appears to have been the mother of his nine children. His will was dated November 8, 1681 and his inventory was taken on March 22, 1682. Those mentioned in his will included his two sons, Samuel & John, and daughters: Joanna, Elizabeth, Abigail, Sarah, Mildred, children of his late daughter Mary Walker.
After his death, the widow, Joanna, married Capt. Thomas Willett and Rev. John Bishop. She died in Stamford in 1683 (findagrave.com)