A TALE OF TWO ELIZABETHS – With Professor Jeffery Dorwart
Who was Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh, and can we, in fact, ever really know her? And how much resemblance does she bear to “Elizabeth Haddon” the woman of legend who gave her name to our town? These questions and others will be explored by Jeffery Dorwart at the Historical Society of Haddonfield’s annual Candlelight Dinner on Wednesday, March 27th at the Tavistock Country Club. Professor Dorwart is in the final stages of preparing a new, definitive biography of Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh, to be published by the Society this fall and entitled Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh 1680-1762: Building the Quaker Community of Haddonfield, New Jersey, 1701-1762. He aims for his talk to demonstrate how the Elizabeth Haddon tradition developed over time and why it continues to be accepted. In his view, the Elizabeth Estaugh in the historic records was a very different and more complex woman than the legendary Elizabeth Haddon that seems to distort accounts of the past, and was in many ways a far more significant person in understanding the origins of the community of Haddonfield and of the place of women in early American history. A professor Emeritus of history and former chair of the history department at Rutgers University, Camden, Jeffery Dorwart has written a number of other works of local history including Cape May County, New Jersey: The Making of an American Resort, The Philadelphia Navy Yard: From the Birth of the U.S. Navy to the Nuclear Age, and Fort Mifflin of Philadelphia: An Illustrated History. His latest work was compiled with the editing assistance of the Society’s Doug Rauschenberger and Kathy Tassini, and is also based upon notes that the late Elizabeth “Betty” Lyons compiled during forty years of research. The Society’s annual gala will provide a sneak peek into this fascinating and important work. As always, the night will not be strictly educational, as a fine meal awaits, with a cocktail hour at six followed by dinner at seven. An additional treat will be the display of reproduction period clothing circa 1713, in the style that John and Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh would have worn. The event is open to the public and promises to be a delightful evening spent with your fellow history lovers of today and these two mysterious Elizabeths from the past.
Click below to download and print the PDF version of the 2013 Candlelight Dinner Menu and Reservation form.
