She was the elder of the two daughters of John Haddon, a well-to-do anchorsmith of Southwark, England, and Elizabeth Clark, his wife. Her parents were loyal members of the Society of Friends; her father had more than once been fined for his stubborn persistence in attending meeting.
In 1698 John Haddon bought from a Quaker neighbor a tract of 500 acres in western New Jersey, intending to emigrate with his family; but circumstances prevented, and in 1701 Elizabeth herself, then in her twenty-first year, was moved to emigrate, "in order to provide a home in the wilderness for travelling Ministers" (Journal of the Friends Historical Society of London, vol. XIII, 1916, p. 46).
With sturdy faith in the inner light she set out, accompanied by a housekeeper and several men-servants--all Friends--for "Haddonfield, " where the original proprietor, John Willis, had erected one or two simple buildings.
While John was traveling in the interest of religion, acting as agent for the Pennsylvania Land Company of London, and caring for the American affairs of his increasingly wealthy father-in-law, Elizabeth managed the plantation, ministered to the sick in the vicinity, and fulfilled her vocation of hospitable hostess.
In 1713 she built a new house of native brick, "Haddon Hall of Haddonfield, " which stood till 1842. It was furnished with fine pieces sent from London by John Haddon, and stood in a garden which was planted with yew and box, and whose walks were paved with English brick.
At Haddonfield a village grew up and a Monthly Meeting was established; Elizabeth served as clerk of the Women's Meeting for over fifty years.
In 1762, after three months of illness bravely borne, she died "as one falling asleep, full of days, like a shock of corn fully ripe" (Testimony of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting).
In 1742, while making a religious visit to Tortola, John Estaugh died. A blank page between entries in the minute-book of Haddonfield Women's Meeting commemorates the time when Elizabeth received the news of his death. She wrote a "Testimony" to his memory, which appeared in the little volume A Call to the Unfaithful Professors of Truth: Written by John Estaugh in his Lifetime; and now Published for General Service (1744), printed by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia.
Quotations: "In the forepart of his time, " Elizabeth wrote many years later, "he traveled pretty much; but in the latter . .. his Good Master, that requires not Impossibilities of his Servants, favored him with being very easy at home; where, through Mercy, we lived very comfortably; . .. few, if any, in a married state ever lived in sweeter Harmony than we did. "
"Her heart and house were open to her friends . .. well knowing the value of friendship, [she] was careful not to wound it herself, nor encourage persons in whispering and publishing the failings, or supposed weaknesses of others" (Piety Promoted, IV, 419).
Quotes from others about the person
For twenty years after her husband's death Elizabeth lived on at Haddonfield. "Her heart and house were open to her friends . .. well knowing the value of friendship, [she] was careful not to wound it herself, nor encourage persons in whispering and publishing the failings, or supposed weaknesses of others" (Piety Promoted, IV, 419).
During the first winter her house became, as she had purposed, a regular stopping-place for Friends traveling from one meeting to another. Before the commencement of her second winter in America she had married, on "the first of Tenth Month" 1702, John Estaugh of Kelvedon, Essex, a young preacher some four years her senior, who had been in America for two years.
mother Elizabeth Clark
She had no children of her own, but had adopted Ebenezer Hopkins, the son of her sister Sarah, and in her old age was surrounded by grandnieces and grandnephews.
She had no children of her own, but had adopted Ebenezer Hopkins, the son of her sister Sarah, and in her old age was surrounded by grandnieces and grandnephews.
