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“Mary” Bunyan
Upon release from his tour of duty as a soldier in the Parliamentary ranks, John Bunyan married his first wife. Her name is speculated to be “Mary:” as it was customary to name one’s first daughter after the mother, and this was the name of the Bunyan’s blind daughter.
Although Mary was monetarily poor, her dowry was of priceless value to John’s future. Mary brought a practical faith to her marriage, as well as stories of her Godly father. Bunyan writes, “She would be often telling me of what a Godly man her Father was, and how he would reprove and correct Vice, both in his house, and amongst his neighbours; what a strict and holy life he lived in his day, both in word and deed.”
The Bunyans were so poor that John once wrote that they did not have “so much household stuff as a dish or a spoon betwixt us both.” But Mary did bring two books that would influence John’s life and ministry. The books were, The Plaine Man’s Path-way to Heaven, Wherein every man may clearly see, whether he shall be saved or damned, written by Arthur Dent; and Lewis Bayly’s book, The Practice of Pietie, directing a Christian how to walke that he may please God.
Their two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, were born in Elstow, where they were baptized before the family moved to Bedford in 1544 to be closer to Gifford’s Church. This is significant because it was the Anglican, or State, Church that upheld infant baptism. This meant that although John joined the Bedford Congregation, Mary seems to have stayed loyal to the state church.
At the time of her death in 1658, Mrs. Bunyan left her husband with two daughters and two sons—Mary, Elizabeth, John, and Thomas.

After the death of his first wife, Bunyan married Elizabeth in 1659. Elizabeth, around the age of 17 or 18, was much younger than the 31-year-old father of four children, John Bunyan.
Her groom was imprisoned shortly after their marriage, yet her loyalty and love for her husband shone brightly as she went before the judges of Bedford to plead Bunyan’s case in August of 1661. Earlier Elizabeth travelled to London to present a petition to the Earl of Bedford requesting her husband’s release, probably her first trip to London. But the petition was denied. In August she went before Judges Hale and Twysden who sat in the Swan Inn in Bedford in the Swan Chamber. Justice Chester and many other members of the local gentry were present to witness the bravery and tenacity of this young bride.
Yet Bunyan remained imprisoned for unlicensed preaching. Even though his time in prison could have been as short as three months if he would relinquish his desire to preach the gospel, to Bunyan it was not only his responsibility to preach but his right and privilege as well. Thus, he moved his ministry to the prison—Elizabeth and the children would visit him, while he continued to write, counsel, and preach.
Elizabeth continued to encourage her husband in his ministry even after the miscarriage of their first child due to the stress and strain of his imprisonment.
During the year of 1666, Elizabeth and John’s daughter Sarah was conceived. Soon after Bunyan was released in 1672 under the “Quaker pardon,” Elizabeth gave birth to their son, Joseph.
In 1676 and 1677, Elizabeth and John were separated by his second imprisonment. On August 31, 1688, John Bunyan died of a severe cold due to overexposure. And in 1692 Elizabeth died, but only after releasing more of her husband’s writings to be published.

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