Bulletin of Friends' Historical Association

26 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION "Notwithstanding I have given the account before of the death of my dear kinsman E. Hopkins, yet considering the precariousness of the time, have presumed to trouble ye with a fresh account of the great loss. I apprehend to the Company (and more so as to us) He did, before was quite laid up signify that (he) had a prospect of getting a considerable sum for the Company at the Fair (if promises might be depended upon) they having had good crops last season better than had been for divers years past And we consulted Francis Rawle to (what) might be done in that affair but could find no way to secure the persons farther than for him, if any would comply to give his receipt for so much received on the Company's account, but whether any has or not is to us a secret having had a sore time in our family, six children taken about two weeks after the decease of their father, [with small-pox] so added to our sorrow and incumbrance." The clause " with small-pox " is inserted in another hand, evidently later, but I believe it to be correct. Ebenezer Hopkins was the father of seven children, the youngest of whom was born after his death. He died intestate and, according to the law of the Province his eldest son, John Estaugh Hopkins, inherited all his landed estate. Elizabeth Estaugh outlived her nephew five years. She carefully provided for every member of his family in her will. To his widow, " My loving kinswoman Sarah Hopkins," she left a house and lot in Haddonfield, with the privilege of living in the great house if she so desired. The furnishing and contents of her home were left to Sarah Hopkins and her daughters. Her eldest nephew was left all of her estate called " New Haddonfield," and thus he became a very large owner of choice land, already having inherited much of his father's property. In the year of his aunt's death, he married Sarah Mickle, a descendant of Archibald Mickle, an Irish Quaker, and one of the early settlers of New Jersey. He then took up his residence in the great house. His mother, Sarah Hopkins, settled in Haddonfield, where she lived until her death in 1796. She survived her husband about thirty-nine years, and lived to see all her children married. Only three survived her. She was a highly valued minister of Haddonfield Meeting and it was said of her that " she was endowed with every Christian virtue." For many years, much land in and around Haddonfield was in possession of the Hopkins family. As time passed, these properties were divided, sold and resold, but a portion of the Haddon land is still owned by descendants of Ebenezer Hopkins. THE ANNIVERSARY OF CHESTER MONTHLY MEETING Modern scholarship has robbed us of the fabled " Age of Gold " when meh led blissful lives in an " unlaborious earth and oarless sea," but it can never rob us of the rugged age of adventure in which our hardy ancestors broke into the boundless expanses of primeval forest which are now Chester ANNIVERSARY OF CHESTER MONTHLY MEETING 27 and Delaware Counties, and established Chester Monthly Meeting of Friends, and the other Monthly Meetings that grew up around it. For this reason the presentation of the Romance on Seventh-day, Tenth Month 10, 1931, at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of Chester Monthly Meeting was an occasion long to be remembered by those who were privileged to be present. Old Providence Meeting House was a particularly appropriate place for the gathering, as it was one of the meetings early set up as Friends advanced from Chester up the old " Providence Road " into the hinterland of the Province. The land where the Meeting House now stands was given by the first settler, Thomas Minshall, and some of the splendid trees still standing must have cast their welcome shade on some of the earliest gatherings of Friends in the new world. The history of those early days, when Friends were arriving from the old country, and planning their new homes...