Elizabeth Haddon

Elizabeth Haddon was an English Quaker who settled in what is now Haddonfield, New Jersey, around 1701. The town was later named after her. Her story, including her romance with a Quaker missionary named John Estaugh, was famously retold by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Haddon lived to be 82, and her personal belongings are preserved at the Haddonfield Historical Society.1

Quakerism, or the Society of Friends, emerged in England during the mid-17th century. It emphasized a direct, personal experience of God, leading to practices like plain speech and dress, and a refusal to swear oaths or participate in war. Quakers faced persecution in both England and the American colonies, particularly in Massachusetts. Despite this, the movement grew and established communities in various colonies, with William Penn founding Pennsylvania as a "Holy Experiment" based on Quaker principles of pacifism and religious tolerance.23