The Hissem-Montague Family

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The Biddle family was one of the most prominent in Philadelphia and had links of friendship and family with the Gibbons, Lardners, and Shepards. Like many before them, the Biddle forebears were Quakers who emigrated to America in the 1680s.

He was born in 1630. He married Sarah Kempe in February 1666 while living in London. She was born in 1634 and died in 1709. They were Quakers who emigrated to America in 1681 to escape religious persecution. He was one of the original proprietors created by the English government in early Colonial days to take possession of what was then known as "West Jersey," now the State of New Jersey. "At the time he emigrated he was a resident of London, and on his arrival in America he settled at what is now Kingora, about midway between Burlington and Bordentown, New Jersey, where he took up a plantation of five hundred acres on the mainland, and two hundred and seventy-eight acres, the area of an adjacent island, which has since borne the name of Biddle's Island. To this plantation Mr. Biddle gave the name of 'Mount Hope . . . Mr. Biddle was one of the leading men in the early public affairs of the province," continues Dr. Leach, "and, in 1682, at the organization of the first governor's council, he became a member of that body, and was also commissioned one of the justices of the peace of Burlington County, and a member of the board of Land Commissioners. He was re-elected to the Council in 1683, 1684, and 1685, and again, in 1701, and during the years 1683, 1684, 1685, 1687, and 1697, he was a member of the Assembly. He was, also, re-commissioned a justice of the peace in 1683, and many years thereafter. " - from Dr. Leach. Their only children to survive to adulthood were a daughter, Sarah, and a son, William. William Sr. died in 1712. By his will, Mr. Biddle disposed of over fourteen hundred and seventy-eight acres of land, he being one of the largest landed proprietors in the Province.

He was born on 4 December 1669 in London and emigrated to America with his parents. He married Lydia Wardell of Shrewsbury, New Jersey on 13 December 1691. Together they had six children, William, Elizabeth, Sarah, Penelope, Joseph, and John. He acquired the Mount Hope estate from his father. He died in 1743.

He was born in 1698 and died in 1756. He married Mary Scull in 1730. She was born in 1709 and died in 1790. He had four sons of note. He moved the family to Philadelphia.

The first child of William and Mary Biddle, he was born in 1731. He married Francis Marks on 30 June 1753. He received an education in Law from John Ross of Philadelphia, and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1765. He practiced in Berks, Lancaster, and Northampton counties of Pennsylvania before returning to Philadelphia to become Deputy Prothonotary, and later Deputy Judge of Admiralty under King George III. In December 1776, he resumed his legal practice in Reading, Pennsylvania, but returned to Philadelphia in 1788 to become Prothonotary of the Philadelphia courts. In 1791 James Biddle was made President Judge of the First Judicial District, a position which he held until his death in 1797.

A distinguished naval officer in the Federalist period [?]. He died in 1797.

Of Reading, Berks county, where he practiced law. A leading actor during the early stages of the agitation for revolution. Representative from Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress of 1774, and later Speaker of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania.

The fifth child of William and Mary Biddle, he was born in 1745. At an early age he was apprenticed to the Philadelphia merchant William Ball, but left after three years to pursue a seafaring life. His first voyage sailed for Spain in 1763, and later to the West Indies. In October 1774, he was elected a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, and a year later was elected to the Vice-Presidency under Benjamin Franklin's Presidential tenure. Franklin, largely engaged with other matters, appointed Charles Biddle as acting Chief Executive of the State of Pennsylvania. Responding to rising tensions with the British in January 1776, he joined Captain Cowperwaite's company of Quaker Light Infantry, in which he served until August 1776. He captained many ships during the Revolution and was a British prisoner-of-war on two separate occasions.

In 1778 he married Hannah Shepard of Beaufort, North Carolina, and together they had ten children. Hannah's neice, Catherine Lardner, married John Heysham Gibbon.

In 1778, he was elected to the General Assembly of North Carolina. However, on June 1, 1780 he relocated to Philadelphia and resided in Pennsylvania until his death. In 1787, he was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature, an office which he did not assume as he was appointed at the same time to Clerk of the Supreme Executive Council. In 1791, he was commissioned Prothonotary of the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia and served until 1809. Charles Biddle was elected to the State Senate of Pennsylvania in 1809, and served for several terms. He was also an original member of the Society of Cincinnati, and served as treasurer in 1811. His autobiography, "Autobiography of Charles Biddle, Vice President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 1745-1821," was published by E. Claxton and Company of Philadelphia in 1883. He died in 1821.

He died in about 1781, at the age of 2.

He was born in 1781. William entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1794 and graduated with the class of 1797. He studied law and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1801, eventually becoming one of its most distinguished members. He served as director of the Law Library Company of Philadelphia from 1809-1815. He first married Circe Deroncera [or Deroneray], and later married Elizabeth B. Keating, daughter of the honorable Joseph Hopkinson. He died in 1835.

Commodore in the American Navy and nephew to Captain Nicholas Biddle. He was born on 18 February 1783 in Philadelphia and joined the Navy in 1800. In the war with the Barbary pirates of Tripoli he served as a midshipman on board the PHILADELPHIA under Captain William Bainbridge and became his protege. He was captured and imprisoned by them for 19 months after the loss of the frigate PHILADELPHIA.

He was first lieutenant of the sloop-of-war WASP in the sea fight with the British sloop-of-war FROLIC, and led the boarders when the decks of the Englishman were carried. He was commander of the HORNET in the action with the British ship PENGUIN when the latter was captured after a furious conflict, her captain being among the list of killed.

After the War of 1812, now a Captain, he was sent out in the sloop-of-war ONTARIO in 1817 and took possession of the Oregon territory on the Columbia River in 1818 on behalf of the United States. In March 1822 he was negotiating with the Captain-General of Cuba for the right to pursue pirates into Cuban waters. He then served as one of the representatives of his government in negotiating its first treaty with Turkey in 1826.

In 1826 he was the Commodore of the South American squadron, assigned to protect American interests on the east coast of that continent. His broad pennant flew aboard the MACEDONIAN. Ensign Matthew Maury served aboard her. Might Lardner Gibbon's later assignment to the Naval Observatory with Maury have something to do with this connection?

In 1829 President Jackson appointed Commodore Biddle to command the Mediterranean squadron. He was afterwards commander of the Navy Yard and governor at the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia, from 1838 to 1842. Note that it was about this time that Midshipman Lardner Gibbon might have attended the naval school at the Asylum to prepare for his examinations.

In 1845 he commanded the Navy's East India Squadron onboard his flagship was the USS COLUMBUS. He exchanged ratifications of the first treaty with China and acted as United States commissioner to that country. He also sailed into Tokyo Bay in July 1846 on board the ships COLUMBUS and VINCESSES in hopes of negotiating a treaty with that country, but the Japanese refused and he had to beat a hasty retreat. From there he sailed to the west coast of America where he assumed command of naval forces in the final days of the conquest of California during the Mexican-American War. He died on 1 Oct 1848. See his biogrpahy, "Sailor-Diplomat: A Biography of Commodore James Biddle, 1783-1848" by David F. Long.

An American Naval officer. He was born on 2 March 1784 in Philadelphia. He died on 14 November 1800 aboard the USS PRESIDENT in the West Indies during his first voyage.

He was born in Philadelphia in 1787. Biddle was a merchant engaged in business in Philadelphia until he failed in 1826, moved to Nashville, Tennessee, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1827. He practiced law and established the Tennessee Reporter in 1832. He was sent by President Andrew Jackson to Central America and New Granada to investigate the possibility of a trans-Isthmian canal in 1835-1836. He traversed the Isthmus via the Chagres River to the City of Panama. He obtained a concession for the Atlantic and Pacific Transportation Company, a private company, of the right to build and maintain a road to Panama, and exclusive right to steam navigation on the Magdalena River. He died on 21 December 1836 in Washington, D.C. See also John M. Belohlavek's "The Philadelphian and the Canal: The Charles Biddle Mission to Panama, 1935-1836," Pennsylvania Magazine of Historv and Biography 104, 1980, pg: 450-61.

He explored the jungles of Panama in company with Dr. Gibbon.

I had thought this was a son of Commodore Biddle because he was in possession of a silver medal given to Commodore Biddle as a Lieutenant for his part in the capture of the FROLIC. However, Connie Houchins writes,

"Good afternoon Mr. Hissem:

I came across your web pages regarding different family members relationship to the Biddle family in the course of some research. I noticed a fact which you might want to change to provide accuracy. James Stokes Biddle was a son of Charles Biddle (1787-1836), not Commodore James Biddle who never married. Charles Biddle and the Commodore were brothers, sons of Charles Biddle (1745-1821) and Hannah Shepard, sister of Ann whom I read about on the Lardner page. Charles Biddle (d. 1836) is also featured on one of your pages as surveying for the railroad as well as charged by Jackson to find a route via Panama. I enjoyed reading your different family genealogies, and it is indeed interesting to see how the different families connected over time."

He was born in Philadelphia on 15 January 1818. He was appointed a midshipman in the United States navy on 18 October 1833. While still a Passed Midshipman he commanded the 2-gun schooner OTSEGO, on loan to the Navy, as part of the "Mosquito Fleet" in 1840 and 1841 during the Seminole war in Florida. He became a Lieutenant on 20 August 1844. During the Mexican war he was in command of a gun-boat and served with the naval batteries in the siege of Vera Cruz and the capture of Tabasco. In 1856 he resigned from the Navy and was elected President of the Shamokin Valley railroad. In 1861, at the opening of the Civil War, he offered his services to the Secretary of the Navy, agreeing to retire at the close of the war, but no formal action was taken in regard to it. In 1871 he was the Democratic Reform candidate for mayor of Philadelphia, but was not elected.

He was born in 1786. A child prodigy, he entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1796 at the age of ten, but was not allowed to receive his degree when he was thirteen on account of his age. He went on to study at the College of New Jersey at Princeton, where he graduated in 1801 as valedictorian. He was an early contributor to Joseph Dennie's weekly Port Folio. Nicholas also devoted his time to the study of law, perhaps under his elder brother William S. Biddle (1781-1835). He served as Secretary to General John Armstrong, U.S. minister to France, and attended the coronation of Napoleon in 1804. Nicholas Biddle later served as Secretary to James Monroe, then Minister to England, until 1807. Upon returning to Philadelphia, he continued to study law and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1809. He was elected in 1810 to the state house of representatives where he served a single term. He served as a trustee to the University of Pennsylvania from 1818 until his death in 1844.

In 1811 Nicholas Biddle married Jane M. Craig (b. 1792) and together they had six children.

An intimate friend of Captain Lewis, of Lewis & Clark fame. He took their journals and memorandums and prepared them for publication. In 1819 President Monroe appointed him one of the government directors of the Bank of the United States. He became its president in 1823 and his administration illustrated his belief in the necessity of a central banking institution to stabilize the currency and curb the inflationary tendencies of the era. He became the leading target of the Jacksonians in their war against the bank. After the bank failed of recharter, Biddle operated it as a private bank until it collapsed in 1841 as an aftermath of the Panic of 1837. He was charged with fraud but was subsequently acquitted. He died in 1844.

He was born in 1815. He married Jane M. Sarimiento in 1842. She was born in 1816 and died in 1884. Edward died in 1872.

He was born in 1851. He married first Emily Drevel. She died in 1883. He then married Lilian H. Lee. He died after 1931.

He was born in 1893, the second child of Edward Biddle and Lillian H. Lee. He received his early education at the Newton Grammar School and at Central High School, both in Philadelphia. Not as wealthy as his other relatives, he attended public school, although he resided at Andalusia, the Biddle family home on the Delaware River. Nicholas Biddle married Sarah Lippincott on 11 February 11. He graduated from Princeton University in 1916 and began working for the Philadelphia insurance brokerage firm of Hutchinson, Rivinus, and Company.

On 27 June 1916 he enlisted as a Private in the First City Troop (E), First Pennsylvania Cavalry, Twenty-Eighth Division of the National Guard. One year later, he took an examination and recieved a commission as a Captain in the United States Army Reserves. In 1920 he was again promoted to Major. In 1921 he reenlisted in the Headquarters Troop, 52nd Cavalry Brigade of the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry. He trained as a Reserve Officer and was promoted to Corporal and then again to Sergeant. His life-long service with the Army reserves earned him the rank of Brigidier General before his death.

In 1923 Nicholas established his own insurance brokerage firm, Biddle, Townsend, and Company. After forty-three years of substantial growth, Biddle, Townsend, and Company merged with the insurance brokerage firm of Haughton, Weymouth and Bishop, forming Biddle, Bishop, and Smith, Inc., of which he served as Chairman until his death in the late 1970s. He died after 1975.

He was born in 1819. A lawyer and journalist. He married Emma Mather in 1853. He died in 1873.

He was born in 1880. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1880. In 1907, he was a partner in the law firm Biddle Ward, but by 1908, he had moved to the firm of Biddle, Paul, Miller, and Jayne. In 1912, he served as an appellant attorney with John G. Johnson (1841-1917) in arguing a case before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He married Letitia Glenn and together they had several children. He died in 1912.

Named for his mother's family, he was the third child of Nicholas and Jane Biddle. He was born in 1823 and educated at the College of New Jersey at Princeton, graduating in 1841. He went on to study law in Philadelphia and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1844. He represented Philadelphia in the legislature in 1849-'50. In April, 1861, he was made a major on the staff of General Robert Patterson, and served in the Shenandoah valley. He was then appointed on the staff of Governor Andrew G. Curtin, and was detailed to organize new regiments. On the invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania by the Confederate army in 1863, he joined a regiment of Philadelphia militia as a private, and marched to the front.

In 1875, he was appointed Judge of Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia, and served in this capacity until his resignation in 1907. He was then appointed Prothonotary of Courts of Philadelphia, but died within a year of assuming the position.

He was born 10 September 1750 in Philadelphia. At the age of 13 he went to sea in the merchant service, and in 1772 entered the British Navy as a midshipman. He was supposedly a friend of Horatio Nelson.

As tension mounted between the Colonies and the Crown, Biddle resigned his commission and returned to America, volunteering his services to his home state of Pennsylvania. On 01 August 1775 he became Commanding Officer of the armed galley FRANKLIN, which had been fitted out by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety to defend the Delaware. In December 1775, Captain Biddle took command of the 14-gun brig ANDREW DORIA and joined the fleet commanded by Esek Hopkins in the expedition against New Providence. In this action ANDREW DORIA captured numerous armed merchantmen, including two armed transports carrying 400 reinforcements for the British Army in North America.

Later, Captain Biddle assumed command of RANDOLPH, 32 guns, which was manned in part by paroled British prisoners of war. These prisoners mutinied shortly after the ship sailed, but the superb leadership of the 27 year old captain ended the trouble quickly. Violent storms dismasted his ship off the Delaware Capes, but Captain Biddle's superb seamanship brought RANDOLPH into Charleston for repairs. He sailed again for the West Indies on 04 September 1777 and enroute captured HMS TRUE BRITON, along with her three ship convoy. Captain Biddle took his fourth prize back to Charleston and was blockaded there until late February 1778, when he successfully eluded the British patrol and escaped to the open sea.

On 07 March, 1778 RANDOLPH engaged HMS YARMOUTH, 64 guns. Despite his firepower disadvantage and a severe wound received early in action, Captain Biddle brilliantly directed the cannon fire of his ship, and YARMOUTH's commanding officer later reported that RANDOLPH fired three accurate broadsides to YARMOUTH's one. Tragically, however, fire penetrated RANDOLPH's powder magazines, and the ship exploded and sank instantly. Captain Biddle perished, and his 315 man crew had only four survivors.

Several Navy ships have been named for him, most recently a guided missile cruiser, CG-34.

A farmer of Burlington, West Jersey.

The youngest son of William Biddle Jr. He was born in 1707. He married Sarah Owen on 3 March 1736. She was the daughter of Owen Owen [his parents had no imagination], High Sheriff of Philadelphia county from 1726 to 1729 and coroner of the county from 1729 to 1741. John had five children, Owen, Clement, Sarah, Ann, and Lydia. John settled in Philadelphia where he died in 1789/90.

He was born in 1737. He married Sarah Parke in 1760. A Colonel, he was prominent during the Revolution, being a member of the Committee of Safety, the Pennsylvania Board of War, and Commissary-General of Forage. He was for more than forty years a member of the American Philosophical Society, serving nine years as its Secretary, and seventeen years as a councillor. He died in 1799.

He was born in 1763. He married Elizabeth Camby in 1796. He died in 1815.

He was born in 1806, the sixth child of John Biddle and Elizabeth Canby. He received his early education at the Friends School and continued throughout his life to be an active member of the Society of Friends. In 1834 he was elected Director of Public Schools in Philadelphia and later assumed the position of Controller of Public Schools. In 1840 he became Manager of the Magdalen Asylum and a Director of Girard College. In 1849 he was elected to the board of managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital and was elected its fifteenth President in 1872, a position which he held until his death. He married Elizabeth C. Garrett in 1828. He died in 1887.

He was born in 1740, the second son of John and Sarah Biddle. He was born in Philadelphia and entered his father's shipping and importing business at an early age. Business was interrupted by the onset of the Revolutionary War when, in 1765, Clement and his brother, Owen, signed the Non-Importation Agreement and pursued patriotic activities in Philadelphia. In 1775 Clement Biddle helped to organize a Philadelphia volunteer regiment, the "Quaker Blues." In July 1776 he was appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General by Congress, holding the rank of Colonel. Clement participated in the battles of Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and he served under both Washington and General Greene. Appointed by President Washington the first Marshal of the United States in Pennsylvania.

He retired from the military in 1780 and resumed his business as a merchant. In retirement he was appointed to several military and governmental posts, including Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1788 and United States Marshal of Pennsylvania in 1789, a position to which he was appointed by George Washington.

He married Mary Richardson, who died in 1773. They had one child, Francis R. Biddle who died in infancy. In 1774 Clement married Rebekah Cornell, with whom he had thirteen children. He died in 1814.

He was born in 1776, the second child of Clement and Rebekah Biddle. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1788 and graduated with the class of 1791. In 1806 Thomas married Christine Williams. She was born in 1780 and died in 1861. He served as a Trustee to the University of Pennsylvania from 1837 until his death in 1857.

He was born in 1810, the first child of Thomas A. and Christine Biddle. He attended the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated with the class of 1829. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1839 and spent the majority of his life practicing law. He was an author and poet, publishing "Airdrie and Fugitive Pieces" (1872) and "Poems" (1876). He died in 1879.

He was born in 1814. He married Julia Cox. He died in 1888.

He was born in 1853, the son of Thomas Alexander Biddle and Julia Cox. William attended Dr. Faires' Classical Institute and went on to study at St. Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire. He entered the sophomore class of the University of Pennsylvania in 1871 and graduated in 1874. After two years in Europe he entered the New York firm of F.W. Gilly, Jr., & Company, where he served for two years. He then joined the firm of Thomas A. Biddle & Company where he was made a partner and served until the end of his life. He was a member of the Rabbit Club, the Philadelphia Club, the Philadelphia Country Club, the Rittenhouse Club, the Racquet Club, the Corinthian Yacht Club, and the Sons of the Revolution. He died in 1920.

He was born in 1817, the third child of Thomas A. Biddle and Christine Williams. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1830 and graduated with the class of 1834. He later attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was elected to the First Troop of the Philadelphia City Calvary in 1848. During the Civil War he was wounded at the Battle of Newmarket Crossroads on 20 June 1862 and taken prisoner. He later died of wounds sustained in Richmond, Virginia. He died in 1862.

He was born in 1819, the fourth child of Thomas and Christine Biddle. He received his early education at the school of Seafs C. Walker in Philadelphia, entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1834, and was graduated in 1838. After graduation he served in the Philadelphia shipping firm of Bevan and Humphreys until 1842. In their firm he traveled to Australia, China, and Manila. In 1848 he entered the firm of his father, Thomas Biddle and Company, where he worked until the beginning of the Civil War. In 1849 he was elected to the first troop Philadelphia City Calvary in which he served until 1858. He entered military service during the Civil war on 1 September 1862 serving under Chapman Biddle in the 121st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was involved in battles at Fredericksburg, Rappahannock, and Antietam, and specially distinguished at Gettysburg. After the War he retired from Thomas Biddle & Co. and in 1874 he was named a Director of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He also served as a director in the Pennsylvania Company for Insurance on Lives and Granting Annuities, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Company, the Lehigh Navigation Company, and the Contributionship Insurance Company, among others. From 1869 he served on the Board of Directors of City Trusts. He was a director of the Pennsylvania Hospital. He was also an executor of the will of James Rush (1786-1869) and was instrumental in the erection of the Ridgway Library. In 1855 he married Julia Williams Rush, the daughter of Samuel Rush and Anne Wilmer. He died in 1899.

He was born in 1856, the first child of Alexander and Julia Biddle. He received his early education at Dr. Faires' Classical Institute of Philadelphia and, like his father, attended the University of Pennsylvania. He entered in 1872, but left during his freshman year. He later obtained his medical degree from Jefferson College in 1879. He was elected to the first troop Philadelphia City Calvary in 1876. He was a member of the Philadelphia Club, the Sons of the Revolution, and the Philadelphia Cricket Club. He was named golf champion at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1898. He married Anne McKennan in 1879 and together they had five children.

He was born in 1893. He married Margot Scull and later served in the U.S. Army during 1918-1919.

He was born in 1858, the second child of Alexander and Julia Biddle. He received his early education at Dr. Faires' Classical Institute of Philadelphia and went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania in 1873, but left during the same year. He later attended the College of New Jersey (Princeton) where he graduated in 1876. He died in 1877.

He was born in 1861, the fourth child of Alexander and Julia Biddle. J. Wilmer received his early education in Philadelphia and in Ossining, New York. In 1884 he entered the Philadelphia firm of Thomas A. Biddle, where he remained until 1891. He was an active sportsman and Philadelphia socialite. He was elected to the First Troop Philadelphia City Calvary in 1889 and served during the Homestead riots near Pittsburgh in July 1892. He was a member of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, the Philadelphia Club, the Radnor Hunting Club, the Philadelphia Country Club, the Rittenhouse Club, and the Acorn Club. Traveling extensively, he spent numerous winters in Cannes, France. He was a denominational Episcopalian and politically a Republican.

J. Wilmer married twice, first to Cora Rowland, daughter of the Philadelphia manufacturer Howard Rowland, and with whom he had two children, Marianne and Harriet. After Cora's death in 1920 he married Elizabeth Southall Gordon on 21 September 1921. She was the daughter of realtor John Eldridge Clarke and widow of the Baltimore financier Douglas Huntly Gordon. J. Wilmer Biddle died in Baltimore on 22 November 1927.

He was born in 1863, the fifth child of Alexander and Julia Biddle. Louis received his early education at Dr. Faires' Classical Institute and at St. Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire. He was graduated from Harvard University in 1884 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1887. Louis amassed a large collection of rare books, prints, and art, much of which was auctioned at a series of sales held in Philadelphia after his death. He was a member of a great many prominent Philadelphia clubs including the Rittenhouse Club, the Union League, the Philadelphia Country Club, the Radnor Hunting Club, the Sons of the Revolution, the Germantown Cricket club, the Philadelphia Cricket club, and the Racquet club. Louis married Rene H.A. Ducobu.

He was born in 1871, the seventh child of Alexander and Julia Biddle. He attended Princeton University and then the University of Pennsylvania where he was graduated in 1895. By 1914 Lynford had become a member of many prominent Philadelphia clubs including the Philadelphia Club, the Germantown Cricket Club, the Philadelphia Cricket club, the Racquet Club, and the Philadelphia Country Club. By 1935 he had also joined the Rittenhouse Club, the Rabbit Club, the Sunnybrook Golf Club, the Loyal Legion, and the Sons of the Revolution. In 1898 Lynford was named best cricketer at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, and was the first tennis singles champion in 1904. He died in about 1943.

He was born in 1821, the fifth child of Thomas A. and Christine Biddle. He entered Dr. Faires' Classical Institute in 1831, and went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania in 1835. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1842 and was married to Emily Meigs. He died in 1856.

He was born in 1784, the sixth child of Clement Biddle and Rebekah Cornell. He married Mary Barclay in 1814. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1799 to 1804, and during the War of 1812 he served as Colonel to the first regiment of Volunteer Light Infantry. He was later the principal founder and Director of the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society. He also served as Director and President of the Franklin Fire Insurance Company. He died in 1855.

He was born in 1818, the second child of Clement Cornell Biddle and Mary Barclay. He graduated from Mount St. Mary's College in Maryland. He studied law under his uncle James C. Biddle and John Cadwalader and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1839. He served as a Common Councilman to Philadelphia and was a member of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1873. George Washington Biddle married Mary McMurtrie and together they had three children. He died in 1879.

He was born in 1847, the second child of George Washington Biddle and Mary McMurtrie. He studied at Dr. Faires' Classical Institute and was graduated from Yale in 1868. He later spent two semesters at the University of Berlin. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1872. In 1874 he became president of the Law Academy and later served as Secretary of the Law Association of Philadelphia. At various times he served as editor of the Weekly Notes of Cases, The Law and Equity Reporter, and The American Law Register. In 1887 he was appointed to a professorship at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Rittenhouse Club. At his death his law library was combined with that of his father and donated to the University of Pennsylvania to form the George and Algernon Sydney Biddle Law Library. He married Frances Robinson in 1879. He died in 1891.

He was born in 1886, the third child of Algernon and Frances Biddle. He was educated at Harvard where he received a B.A. cum laude in 1909, and an LL.B cum laude in 1911. Upon graduation, he became the personal secretary of Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes during the Supreme Court term of 1911-1912. In 1912 he returned to Philadelphia and entered the law firm of Biddle, Paul, and Jayne. Francis dispensed with the Republican traditions of his family and campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Progressives. In 1918 he joined the law firm of Barnes, Biddle, and Myers where he worked for two decades. In 1927 he published his only novel, "Llanfear Pattern", which mocked the elite of Philadelphia society. With the onset of the Great Depression Francis became consumed with the plight of the Pennsylvania coal miners and became politically active around the issue of labor relations. In 1934 he was appointed chairman of the newly created National Labor Relations Board, a post which he held for one year. In 1935 he returned to his private law practice, but was soon asked to serve as legal counsel for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which was being investigated by a special congressional committee on the charges of corruption. Biddle won the case for the TVA, and in 1940 he was appointed U.S. Solicitor General as well as the head of Immigration and Naturalization Services. In 1941 Francis Biddle was appointed to the Supreme Court where he served until the death of President Roosevelt in 1945. At the conclusion of World War II President Truman appointed Francis Biddle as chief American representative at the Nuremberg trials.

Upon Francis' retirement, he served as the chairman of Americans for Democratic Action from 1950 to 1953 and as the President of the American Civil Liberties Union. He married poet Katherine Garrison Chapin on 27 April 1918 and together they had two children. He died in 1968.

He was born in Philadelphia on 22 January 1822, the third child of Clement and Mary Biddle. He was educated at St. Mary's college in Baltimore and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1848. He married Mary L. Cochran in 1849. He soon attained a lucrative practice, and was solicitor of the Pennsylvania railroad company, and subsequently counsel for that corporation. In April, 1861, he formed a company of artillery to aid in protecting Philadelphia, and was made its captain. During the summer of 1862 he undertook the raising of a regiment of infantry, which on 1 September, 1862, as the 121st Pennsylvania volunteers, took the field with him as its colonel. He took part in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg had command of a brigade in the 1st corps. In December, 1863, he resigned from the army and resumed the practice of his profession. He served as a lawyer in Philadelphia and as general counsel to the Pennsylvania Railroad. He died in Philadelphia on 9 December 1880.

He was born in 1795. He married Sarah C. Keppelle in 1825. He died in 1838.

He was born in 1827. He married Sarah F. White in 1861. He died in 1875.

He was born in 1863, son of Thomas Biddle and Sarah F. White. He was named after his uncle who died the year before his birth. Caldwell Keppelle Biddle was born in Rio de Janeiro during his father's tenure as Secretary of the United States Legation to Brazil, under President Lincoln. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1880 and was graduated with the class of 1884. He served with the First Troop Philadelphia City Calvary during the Homestead riots during July 1892 near Pittsburgh. Rising to the rank of Captain, he served in the Spanish-American War during 1898. He remained active in the Pennsylvania National Guard after 1900 and obtained the rank of Colonel in 1911.

He was born in 1829, the second child of James Cornell Biddle and Sarah C. Keppelle. He received his early education at Dr. Faires' Classical Institute which he entered in 1838. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and was valedictorian of the Class of 1846. In 1851 he traveled throughout Europe where he met the American sculptor Thomas Crawford in Rome. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1852 and served as Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania from 1853 to 1862. He married widower Elizabeth Meade, daughter of Thomas Ricketts. He died in 1862.

Steve Hissem
San Diego, California