Biddle family

William Biddle (1630-1712) and Sarah Kempe (1634-1709) were Quakers who emigrated from England to America in 1681 in part to avoid religious persecution. Having acquired extensive rights to over 43,000 acres of lands in Quaker West Jersey, they settled first at Burlington. Two third generation brothers, William Biddle, 3rd (b. 1698 - d. 1756), and John Biddle (b 1707 - d. 1789), moved from Mount Hope (1684) near Bordentown to Philadelphia in the 1720s and 1730s and constituted the first generation of the Philadelphia Biddle family.

This American Biddle family yielded numerous and diverse people of interest down to the present era:
*Owen Biddle, Sr. (1737-1799), scientist, mathematician, astronomer - observed 1769 Transit of Venus at Cape Henlopen, 4 term Governor of Pennsylania for 4 days (1776), member American Philosophical Society,
*Edward Biddle (1738-1779), delegate to the Continental Congress [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000440/]
*Clement Biddle (1740 – 1814) American Revolutionary soldier, helped organize the “Quaker Blues" volunteers, deputy quartermaster general of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey militia
*Nicholas Biddle (1750-1778), Revolutionary Navy captain
*Owen Biddle, Jr., (1774-1806) member Carpenters' Company Carpenters' Hall, architect-builder, author "The Young Carpenters' Apprentice" (1805)
*Ann Biddle (b. 1778 - d. 1807), married to James Wilkinson
*James Biddle (1783-1848), U.S. Navy commodore
*Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), president of the Bank of the United States
*Thomas Biddle (1790-1831), War of 1812 hero who fought a duel with a Missouri Congressman over a perceived insult to his brother Nicholas Biddle. Both died.
*Chapman Biddle, Civil War colonel
*Richard Biddle (1796-1847), U.S. Representative [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000443]
*Charles John Biddle (1819-1873), Civil War colonel and U.S. Congressman [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000439]
*William P. Biddle (1853-1923), 11th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps (1910-1914)
*Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle (1875 - 1948), Philadelphia millionaire
*Francis Beverly Biddle (1886-1968), the primary American judge during the Nuremberg trials after World War II.
*Charles J. Biddle (1890-1972) World War I Aviator who became an "Ace" on August 16, 1918 {see [http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/people/32472-biddle-springs.html] }- total of 7 enemy airplane shot down.
*Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr. (1897-1961), American diplomat — served as U.S. ambassador to seven different countries
*Angier Biddle Duke (1915-1995), U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador 1952-1953, U.S. Ambassador to Spain 1965-1968, U.S. Ambassador to Morocco 1979-1981, member of the Council on Foreign Relations. [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/duke.html#RJW0Z6JI0]
*Sydney Biddle Barrows (b. 1952), madam
*Peter Biddle (b. 1966), former senior employee of Microsoft
*Owen L. Biddle, (b. 1977) The Roots bass guitarist, record producer, and songwriter Philadelphia

Archives

* [http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/biddle.htm University of Delaware Library: Special Collections Department--Biddle Family Papers]
* [http://users.mcsystems.net/bscull/html/desc01.htm List of Scull family, which married with the Biddle family]

References

*Washington Post; August 17, 1933 "Helen Avis Howard Engaged To Anthony J. Drexel, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Clinton Howard, of Atlanta, have announced the engagement of their daughter. Miss Helen Avis Howard, to Mr. Anthony Joseph Drexel 3d, son of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Joseph Drexel, jr., of Philadelphia."
*New York Times; October 14, 2004 "Nicholas Duke Biddle, 83, Scion Of Wealth Who Helped the Poor. Nicholas Duke Biddle, scion of two prominent American families who helped refugees from Cuba and Caribbean, dies at age 83. Mr. Biddle was originally named Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle III, after his father, Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr., a prominent diplomat."