Biography:

The American Biddle family of Philadelphia began when William Biddle (1630–1712) and Sarah Kempe (1634–1709), Quakers, emigrated from England to America in 1681 in part to avoid religious persecution. Having acquired extensive rights to over 43,000 acres (170 km2) of lands in Quaker West Jersey, they settled first at Burlington. Two third generation brothers, William Biddle, 3rd (1698–1756), and John Biddle (1707–1789), moved from Mount Hope (1684) near Bordentown to Philadelphia in the 1720s and 1730s and constituted the first generation of the Philadelphia Biddle family.