Bulletin Article - March 2006

DR. EDWARD W. HOPKINS AND THE ELIZABETH HADDON CHAIR
by Kathy Tassini

In the early fall of 2005, Bob Marshall received a letter out of the blue. It came from a gentleman in Maryland named Edward W. Hopkins who stated that for many years he had owned a walnut side chair that had belonged to Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh. He felt the chair should now return permanently to Haddonfield and inquired if the Historical Society would be interested in receiving the chair as a gift. The chair, he said, had sat idly in a third floor hallway in his home and he believed that the Historical Society of Haddonfield was an appropriate repository for this significant and historic piece of furniture. Needless to say, everyone was both delighted and overwhelmed to hear about this wonderful chair and Dr. Hopkins' intention to donate it to the Society.

On Monday, November 14,2005, Barbara Hilgen and I drove to the Cockeysville, Maryland, home of Edward W. Hopkins, youngest son of Thomas Smith Hopkins who had lived at 264 Kings Highway in Haddonfield, to pick up a walnut Queen Anne side chair. It was one of two chairs which descended in the Hopkins Family from Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh to John Estaugh Hopkins, her grand-nephew, then to his son, William Estaugh Hopkins, for whom Birdwood was built. It then descended to his son, John Estaugh Hopkins (1811-1884), to his son, George Hicks Hopkins (1839-1910), to his son Thomas Smith Hopkins (1884-1969), to his son Edward W Hopkins (1925- ), and now, by gift from Dr. Edward W Hopkins, to the Historical Society of Haddonfield.

Originally, the chair was probably one of a larger set of six, ten or twelve chairs purchased from a Philadelphia craftsman, possibly Savery, by Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh in the mid-1730's. This specific chair, however, is one of a pair which descended in the family to Dr. Hopkins' father, Thomas Smith Hopkins. Thomas Smith Hopkins gave this chair to Dr. Edward W. Hopkins when he was a young man in Maryland. Dr. Hopkins left Haddonfield in 1943 at the age of 18 after having attended Haddonfield Friends School through 5th grade, Moorestown Friends School through 8th grade and Episcopal Academy, in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania for high school. After graduating from medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, he became a staff pediatrician. He married his wife, Teddy, a physician, and they raised a family of nine children in a wonderful old house in Cockeysville. The second chair of the pair continued to reside in the family home at 264 Kings Highway East in Haddonfield where it passed from Thomas Smith Hopkins to his daughter, Elizabeth Estaugh Hopkins Lenhart. Following the death of Elizabeth Lenhart and then her husband, David, the chair was sold out of the family at auction.

A photograph of one of the two chairs along with a tea table appears in Plate 32 of Colonial Furniture of West New Jersey. The book, written by Thomas Smith Hopkins and Walter Scott Cox, was published by The Historical Society of Haddonfield in 1936 The description is as follows:

"The lines of the chair are exceptionally good, particularly the cyma curve motif of the front skirt and its blending into the cabriole legs which terminate in pad feet. The stretchers are curved, showing a survival of the William and Mary influence."

"These (the table and two chairs) were a part of the Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh furniture and were given by John Estaugh Hopkins (a beneficiary under Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh's will - 1762) to his son, William Estaugh Hopkins, when in 1795, William occupied "Birdwood," a house with fourteen rooms and ten fireplaces (still standing in 1936) beside the mill-dam, just across the field from the old homestead. Thus the chair and table were in only these two homes - for eighty years in the Estaugh home and for one hundred eighteen years thereafter at "Birdwood" - when in 1912 they passed to the present owner, Thomas Smith Hopkins of Haddonfield, nephew, sixth in descent from Elizabeth Haddon."

Dr. Hopkins told us that his father would take him and his brother, Tom, for long walks all around Haddonfield as young boys, telling them stories of the history of the town and the family as they walked He especially loved the walk which they would take down Hopkins Lane past the old ancestral home, Birdwood, at Hopkins Pond. He said that he always regretted that his father did not buy Birdwood but instead chose to live at 264 Kings Highway East. His father felt that living out by the pond was too much "in the country" and thought his wife and family would be happier living "in town." Dr. Hopkins remembered a number of old tree stumps near the entrance to the Birdwood property, the remnants of several beautiful old chestnut trees that died when a disease began which killed most of the chestnut trees in the US.

After a wonderful visit and lunch with Dr. Hopkins, Barbara and I carefully wrapped the chair in blankets and transported it back to its new home in Greenfield Hall. There we happily reunited it with the Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh pier table and mirror in the front parlor of Greenfield Hall. We are truly grateful to Dr. Hopkins for this incredibly wonderful gift to both the Historical Society of Haddonfield and to the entire community of Haddonfield.

Two days after the chair arrived, at the Society's regular November meeting, we were fortunate to have as our speaker Professor Brock Jobe from Winterthur and the University of Delaware. He spoke on how to look at antiques, using chairs and tables from the Society's collection. It was an exceptional program, as anyone who was there will happily attest. Dianne Snodgrass then brought out the chair from Dr. Hopkins for his inspection. His comments, taken from notes at that meeting, are as follows:

November 16, 2005

Professor Jobe said that this is a wonderful chair. Stylistically, it is a classic Philadelphia Queen Anne chair made about 1735-37. The flat stretcher on these chairs is an element which disappears in later chairs, like the two Queen Anne chairs he had discussed earlier. It has a beautiful crest rail which at some time snapped off. This break is quite common. The important thing is that the crest rail be intact and this one is. The chair is a textbook example of the Queen Anne shape - a wonderful example.

In removing the chair seat, he noted that the original pins and the color on the inside of the chair rails is undisturbed, perfect, never touched. It is what you dream of finding in examining an antique chair. It confirms the age of the chair. It is a fairly plain Queen Anne but made of the best material, walnut, which was second only to mahogany. It would have been custom ordered in a set of 6, 10 or 12. It appears that the number I is on the chair itself and the number VI is on the seat. The seat itself is very exciting in that the webbing is original which is very rare to find intact. Professor Jobe was extremely enthusiastic at this finding since the webbing should never be touched

The presence of a scarf joint on both of the rear legs indicating an early problem was noted, although it appears to be a very old repair and does not hurt the importance of the chair. He stated that the chair was an absolutely wonderful example of an early Philadelphia Queen Anne chair. With its important provenance from Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh to John Estaugh Hopkins and through the family to Edward W. Hopkins, it is a great gift to the community of Haddonfield and to the Historical Society.