Ebenezer Hopkins, Jr. was the third son of Ebenezer Hopkins and Sarah Lord. The following is the birth and death record for Ebenezer, Jr. from the Haddonfield, New Jersey Monthly Meeting:
| Surname | Name | Father | Mother | Birth | Death | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hopkins | Ebenezer, Junior | Ebenezer | Sarah | 26d 8m 1745 | 13d 6m 1781 | Buried at Haddonfield. |
Source: FHL #0020463 Haddonfield Births and Burials, p. 16
When he was 16, Ebenezer received a generous bequest from Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh in her 1761 will:
I give, bequeath, and devise unto my kinsman Ebenezer Hopkins (one of the children aforesaid) and to his heirs and assigns forever, the house and lot next adjoining his brother Haddon, with all other improvements whatsoever there on. And I also give unto him his heirs & assigns forever, the other half part of Willis' Proprietary Right, with the Provisions and Remainder of the same, and Three Hundred Pounds money aforesaid towards building at the age of Twenty-One, with interest from the time of my decease.
He also received a 1/8th part of 158 shares in the Pennsylvania Land Company of London, and 1/8th part of the residue of Elizabeth's estate.
Source: This is Haddonfield, pp. 73 and 75.
Ebenezer, like his father, died young, just short of his 36th birthday. The following is a record of the probate of his estate:
1781, June 12. Hopkins, Ebenezer, of Newton Township, Gloucester Co., yeoman: will of. Wife, Ann, the use of my plantation, until my son, Benjamin, is 21, in order to bring up my children. Mother, Sarah Hopkins, to have my house and lot in Haddonfield, where she lives, during her life; after which my wife is to have it while my widow.* After wife's death it is to be sold, and the money given to my sons, Isaac, Ebenezer, Josiah, Benjamin and Samuel. When Benjamin is 21 my plantation is to be sold, and the money given to said sons and daughters, Sarah, Ann, Elizabeth and Mary Hopkins, and my wife. Wife to have rest of personal estate. Executors -- brother, John Estaugh Hopkins, and friend, Thomas Redman. Witnesses -- Rachel Sloan, Sarah Webster, James Sloan, Samuel Clement.
Proved Oct 15, 1781.
1781, July 20. Inventory, £710.2.0, made by John Gill and Isaac Kay.
Source:; New Jersey Colonial Documents, Calendar of Wills -- 1781-1785, p. 202
* Ann Albertson Hopkins remarried after Ebenezer's death. She married Jacob Jennings in 1783, at the age of 36. Jacob was the father of John, Samuel, and James Jennings, who later married Ebenezer and Ann Hopkins' daughters Sarah and Elizabeth.
Three of Ebenezer's children (Sarah, Benjamin, and Elizabeth) moved to Ohio after his death. I've often wondered why. I thought at first that they might have moved because they lacked the money to buy land in the East, and moved to the West because of the cheaper land there. But the foregoing documents show that Ebenezer's children were well-off. It may be that they moved because they had the money to buy land in the West, and saw better opportunities for themselves there. The same was probably true for Hezekiah Hopkins, son of Haddon, who moved with his family to Ohio in 1820.
Please click on this link to see a Modified Register report for Ebenezer and Ann Hopkins and their family (pdf format).
Two years after Ebenezer, Jr. died, his widow remarried. At that time her children were young (3 to 18 years of age), and it wasn't unusual for a young widow to remarry, then or now. Her new husband was Jacob Jennings, who had seven children from his first marriage. Jacob and Ann had three children together.
Please click on this link to see a Modified Register report for Jacob and Ann Jennings (pdf format).
Links to Ebenezer, Jr.'s sons Isaac and Benjamin Hopkins pages.
Back to Ebenezer Hopkins family
This file was last updated on 11/06/2007.
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