A short biography of ELIZABETH MARSDEN
Eliazbeth was born on 12 July 1772 in Hull, Yorkshire, England, the only daughter of Thomas Fristan and Elizabeth Tweed, the niece of the English naval Admiral, Sir Clowdisley Shovell. Samuel Marsden was also a Yorkshire local and, during his youth, became a member of the evangelical Elland Clerical Society. It was through this society that he met slavery abolisher and Member of Parliament William Wilberforce. Wilberforce had been key in recommending the Reverend Richard Johnson for the post of first chaplain to the colony of New South Wales, and he was to have the same influence in recommending Samuel for his assistant.
Three months after the appointment was made official, Samuel penned a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth. The pair had been writing to each other for some time about ‘scriptural subjects’. It is unknown how the two met, but it was most likely through Elizabeth’s uncle, biblical commentator Reverend Thomas Scott, at St Mildred’s Parish in London. In a letter to Elizabeth, written 14 March 1793, Sameul wrote:
Dear Betsy…since my lot is now, seemingly, cast and God appears to be opening my way to carry the Gospel of his son to distant lands; the time has come for me to lay open my thoughts to you, which have long been hid in my own Breast… Will you go with me? If you… can answer in
