The place and date of birth of Owen Felltham are uncertain, but he was probably born around 1602 as the second son of Thomas Felltham, a gentleman and landowner in the village of Mutford, Suffolk. It has been surmised that he received his creditable education, including thorough knowledge of Latin and classical literature, from a private tutor.

Felltham first enters the public record with his marriage to Mary Clopton of Melford, Suffolk, in London on 10 October 1621; their daughter Mary was born in August 1622. Barbara E. Bergquist believes that around this time Felltham was a merchant in London.

In the 1661 edition of his Resolves, Divine, Morall, Politicall, Felltham says that he wrote what became the first edition of the work when he was eighteen; but this claim may not be accurate, and there is no indication what--if any--interval occurred between the writing and the publication of the first edition in...