A SKETCH OF WILLIAM BIDDLE AND THOMAS

BIDDLE.

BY JOHN CLEMENT.

As the object of this paper is to trace the history of Thomas Biddle and his descendants in New Jersey, as distinguished from William Biddle, the emigrant, and his descendants in the same territory, a notice of each individual cannot be avoided if the subject is to be properly considered.

Of William Biddle and John Biddle, grandsons of the emigrant, who removed from New Jersey to Philadelphia in early life, enough has already been written, to the neglect of Joseph Biddle, another grandson of the emigrant, and of Thomas Biddle, who the emigrant in his will says was his cousin, both of whose descendants remained in New Jersey. At the risk of being tedious and of falling into repetition, this course will be pursued so as to accomplish the end suggested, and show, if possible, the distinctive lines so long considered as the same. Although open to criticism at the point where the data examined and the authorities at hand are so meagre and uncertain, yet any other conclusion than the one stated cannot be reached consistent with all that surrounds it.

If an error, it is hoped that some faithful student may eventually fall upon material sufficient to remove the cloud and put this mooted question at rest—

"And shed one ray of light

Where none hath shone so long."

Among those who emigrated to West New Jersey and had previously became interested in the settlement of a colony here was William Biddle. He lived in Bishopsgate

Street, parish of St. Buttolph, city of London, England, from which place he removed himself and family to America.

On the 23d day of January, 1676, William Penn, Gauen Laurie, and Nicholas Lucas, as trustees of the creditors of Edward Byllynge, executed a deed to Thomas Olive, Daniel Wills, and William Biddle for one whole share of propriety of West New Jersey, which was among the first conveyances made to such as contemplated making their homes in this wilderness country, and but a short time before the ship set sail which brought the commissioners, and arrived in the Delaware River on the 16th day of August in the next

year.

There is but little conflict as to the time when William Biddle left England with his family to come to New Jersey, but the date of his arrival and what ship he came in and where he landed cannot be traced. On April 4, 1677, he was a resident of London, as appears by a deed from Thomas Olive and Daniel Wills of that date to him for a part of their share of propriety before named. Samuel Smith, in his History of New Jersey, introduces an abstract of a letter from Daniel Wills, then of Burlington, N.J., to William Biddle, of Bishopsgate Street, London, dated 11th month 6, 1679, which is conclusive that he was at that time in London; and this historian, in a foot-note to that letter, says he and his family came in the summer of 1681. It is evident that William Biddle and family came by way of Barbadoes, in the West Indies, for in Hotten's "List of Emigrants to America in and about St. Michael's Barbadoes in 1680" he names William Biddle, his wife, two children, one servant, and three slaves. Except the servant and slaves, this corresponds with what is afterwards shown of the family by reliable documentary evidence. Many of the ships bringing emigrants first went to the West Indies, sometimes to seek a safe passage and sometimes for the ship's company to visit friends who had been banished and had remained there. The dates also correspond, for Hotten says he was in St. Michael's in 1680, and Smith says he arrived in New Jersey in 1681.

Here it was he purchased three slaves, and no doubt carried them with him to his new home, where in a few years they largely multiplied.

The records show a dispute between William Biddle and numerous other owners of land on the north side of Rancocas Creek regarding a division of the same, which was settled in 1678, on which occasion William Biddle must have had a representative who resided in Burlington. His family was small, consisting only of his wife Sarah (Kemp), whom he married in 1666, and one son, William, born 10th month 4, 1669, and one daughter, Sarah, born 10th month 2, 1678. There were other children, but they died in infancy and before the family emigrated. Some authorities say that William Biddle was born in Staffordshire, England, but there is not sufficient evidence to bear this out. His first dwelling was a log cabin erected by himself, among others built by those who came in the various ships that brought settlers and needed shelter for their families.

With clay floors, stick chimneys, and bark roof, these habitations were of the most primitive character and unpretending appearance. The inside was generally divided into two rooms, one for a kitchen and a living-room, and the other for a sleeping apartment, with a loft where the boys and hired help found a resting-place. The furniture was home-made, with an occasional piece brought across the sea, and had neither style nor comfort about it. Carpets were not thought of, while glass for windows was the exception. Stoves were not known, and the broad open fireplace was found in every habitation.

The new-comers made haste to erect a place for religious worship, and built a tent of rude poles covered with sail cloth for that purpose. Here at regular intervals they met to listen to the exhortations of their leaders, and recount the trials and sufferings they had passed through for opinion's sake. But they felt they breathed the air of freedom and that no one could make them afraid; that their opinions and practices could not be brought in question nor their persons and property despoiled by those in authority. In

these meetings William Biddle took a high place. He had been confined in Newgate prison with many others of his belief, and had been robbed of his estate by those in power, who pretended his society was leagued with rioters and revolutionists.

This little group of houses in a short time took upon itself the name of Burlington, and, after some controversy, a main street, running from the river into the woods, was fixed upon and lots laid out on either side of the same. It is a curious fact that the creditors of Edward Byllynge were divided into two classes, the one known as the London proprietors and the other as the Yorkshire proprietors, and preserved that distinction even to the selection of town-lots; the Yorkshire owners taking the lots on the east side of the street and the London owners choosing the lots on the west side of that thoroughfare. It was carried so far that the bridges over the stream in the suburbs of the town were and to this day are known, the one as the Yorkshire bridge and the other as the London bridge.

This feeling originated, perhaps, in the choice of a site for a town. The London people insisted that Arwamus (now Gloucester City) was a proper place, while the other party argued that Burlington was preferable. The London people reluctantly yielded at last, but soon saw their mistake in abandoning what was by far the most desirable spot whereon to found a city. It has not and may never be disclosed why the new-comers, in going up the river, should have passed so many desirable sites for a town, and selected where Burlington now stands in preference to Billingsport or Gloucester or Beverly.

There is evidence that the controversy was sharp as between Gloucester and Burlington, and in fact some of the London folks soon returned to Gloucester and the neighborhood, and made locations of land and settled in that section.

Soon after William Biddle found his family properly cared for, he opened a store, for in many of the deeds he made in the sale of his land he is named as "merchant," and it was not until he built his house at, and removed to, VOL. XIV.-24

Mount Hope that he is called "yeoman" and occasionally "gentleman." This store of 1681 must not be compared to the store of the last decade of the nineteenth century. His molasses, sugar, and rum were brought from the West Indies, while his hardware, cloths, and cotton goods came direct from England. Every manufactured article sold over his counter was the product of his own people at home, and the government derived an immense revenue from this kind of trade with the colonies.

Much business was carried on with the Indians, who brought furs and skins to exchange for the necessaries of life, and too often sold these products of the chase for rum, thus wasting a winter's toil and exposure for a miserable debauch, which lasted but for a few days. The authorities sometimes interfered with this kind of trade, and attempted to regulate it by fines and forfeitures, but never accomplished much, because of avarice on the one side and the fondness for liquor on the other.

The first location of land by William Biddle (after the tract assigned to him on Rancocas Creek in 1678) was the island in the Delaware River about six miles above Burlington, and generally known as Biddle's Island. This was done December 17, 1681, and in the record is described as follows by Daniel Leeds, surveyor-general: "Surveyed then for William Biddle all that island in the river Delaware, known by the name of Sepassinck Island, lying in length eighty-five chains and in breadth fifty-one chains from high water-mark, and being measured as it lies 'twixt the form of a trapezium and an oval, it contains 278 acres." On this island there probably was an Indian town, which, being surrounded by water, was protected from the incursions of their enemies. The name is differently spelled, for in one document of 1690 it is written Sapassan, and in another of 1685 it is Sepussuick, and in another of the last-named year, Sapussing. It had advantages which soon after were apparent, for it was surrounded by marshes where grew the hay and fodder which in that day was the only procurable food whereon to feed the cattle through the winter. Farming had not as yet