Without the aid of priest or magistrate, they took
each other by the hand, and, in the presence of witnesses, calmly and
solemnly promised to be kind and faithful to each other. The wedded pair
quietly returned to their happy home, with none to intrude on those
sacred hours of human life, when the heart most needs to be left alone
with its own deep emotions.
During the long period of their union, she three times crossed the
Atlantic to visit her aged parents, and he occasionally left her for a
season, when called abroad to preach. These temporary separations were
felt as a cross; but the strong-hearted woman always cheerfully gave him
up to follow his own convictions of duty. In 1742 he parted from her to
go on a religious visit to Tortola, in the West Indies. He died there in
the sixty-seventh year of his age. She published a religious tract of
his, to which she prefixed a preface entitled, "Elizabeth Estaugh's
Testimony concerning her Beloved Husband, John Estaugh." In this preface
she says: "Since it pleased divine Providence so highly to favor me with
being the near companion of this dear worthy, I must give some small
account of him. Few, if any, in a married state ever lived in sweeter
harmony than we did. He was a pattern of moderation in all things; not
lifted up with any enjoyments, nor cast down at any disappointments; a
man endowed with many good gifts, which rendered him very agreeable to
his friends and much more to me, his wife, to whom his memory is most
dear and precious.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127