"The earliest version we have traced appears in Logan and R.R. MacIan's "The Costumes of the Clans" published in 1845-47. The shield is simply shown with three six-pointed stars and three buckles with the motto "E Labore Dulcedo" (work brings happiness) the full arms are seen later to incorporate a "Thistle and Bee" in the Crest. The Inneses have attempted to claim this shield as belonging to the MacInneses of Speyside - saying that in reality these MacInneses were Moray Inneses (Clan Innes is not mentioned in "The Costumes of the Clans". the Coat of Arms was never matriculated but is often referred to as the "ancient arms of the MacInneses" but where was the source for MacIan claiming these arms to belong to the MacInneses - the Fergusons also have a thistle and bee on their crest - the search continues." - SourceMcInnes Coat of Arms
"The earliest version we have traced appears in Logan and R.R. MacIan's "The Costumes of the Clans" published in 1845-47. The shield is simply shown with three six-pointed stars and three buckles with the motto "E Labore Dulcedo" (work brings happiness) the full arms are seen later to incorporate a "Thistle and Bee" in the Crest. The Inneses have attempted to claim this shield as belonging to the MacInneses of Speyside - saying that in reality these MacInneses were Moray Inneses (Clan Innes is not mentioned in "The Costumes of the Clans". the Coat of Arms was never matriculated but is often referred to as the "ancient arms of the MacInneses" but where was the source for MacIan claiming these arms to belong to the MacInneses - the Fergusons also have a thistle and bee on their crest - the search continues." - Source
Andrew Biddle Commissioned
From the Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Maryland, April 1, 1778 through October 26, 1779.Commissions issued to John Collyberger appointed Capt, Peter Cline first Lieut, Alexander Moor second Lieut, Martin Mikesell Ens. Samuel Gandy Ens. of Capt. Meridiths Compy Andrew Biddle first Lieut, Nicholas Fringer second of the Council of Maryland, 1778-1779. 145
Commissioned Appraisers
CHARLES GOLDSBOROUGH, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.
CHAP. CXXXII.
CHAP. CXXXII.
An Act for the relief of Benjamin Pearce, of Cecil County. Lib. TH. No. 6, fol. 345. 1818.
CHAP. 132.
Passed Feb. 6, 1819.
1. BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That Jeremiah Taylor, Thomas Biddle, sen. Josiah Alexander, Spencer Biddle, and William Boulden, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to ascertain the damages sustained by Benjamin Pearce by the opening and making public the road in Cecil county beginning at the south east corner of a tract of land called Knowl Wood, and running with the line of the same to Elk River.
See 1815, ch. 83.
Commissioners to ascertain damages sustained by him.
2. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall value and ascertain the damages sustained by opening said road, and return the same to the levy court at their next sitting thereafter, and the damages so ascertained shall be levied and assessed, as other county charges are, and shall be paid over to the said Benjamin Pearce, or his order.
To return thesame to levy court.
3. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the said commissioners shall been titled to receive as a compensation for their services, a sum not exceeding two dollars per day, to be ascertained by the levy court, which is hereby directed to be levied, collected and paid, as other county charges are.
Allowance to commissioners.
CHAP. 132.
Passed Feb. 6, 1819.
1. BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That Jeremiah Taylor, Thomas Biddle, sen. Josiah Alexander, Spencer Biddle, and William Boulden, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to ascertain the damages sustained by Benjamin Pearce by the opening and making public the road in Cecil county beginning at the south east corner of a tract of land called Knowl Wood, and running with the line of the same to Elk River.
See 1815, ch. 83.
Commissioners to ascertain damages sustained by him.
2. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall value and ascertain the damages sustained by opening said road, and return the same to the levy court at their next sitting thereafter, and the damages so ascertained shall be levied and assessed, as other county charges are, and shall be paid over to the said Benjamin Pearce, or his order.
To return thesame to levy court.
3. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the said commissioners shall been titled to receive as a compensation for their services, a sum not exceeding two dollars per day, to be ascertained by the levy court, which is hereby directed to be levied, collected and paid, as other county charges are.
Allowance to commissioners.
First Church Job
Here's a picture of the Episcopal Church in Northeast at which Dad (Raymond Biddle) pumped the bellows for the organ. He took me to this church on the week day we visited. He told how he was paid, I believe, a nickel to pump the bellows for the old organ. His place was in a small room behind the organ. The room had a window and upon occasion he would sneak out during the long sermon to play with other boys in the church yard. One Sunday the organist started to play the closing hymn and the air started to run out because he wasn't pumping. The tune turned slowly down a couple of keys until he could dive back through the window and bring the air back up to full force. He didn't say whether he lost his weekly job.Generations of Isaiah Biddle
as told by Cal Biddle...
These are the generations of Isaiah Biddle, soldier, patriot, husband, father, gospel minister. We do have copies of some of his sermons, but I have not found a photograph of him. Isaiah Biddle's father was Andrew.
Isaiah served in the Civil War on the side of the North. His enlistment papers described him as 5'5" with blue eyes and brown hair. He was a sargeant in Company A of the 5th Maryland Volunteers. He married Sarah Catherine Pearse on July 4, 1866, in Northeast, Cecil Co., Maryland. He became a minister and died in 1919. My father knew him, his grandfather, and he heard him talk about the war. Dad said that he always told him the reason he never got shot was because he was short enough to hide behind any rock or log. His wife died in 1938.
They had thirteen children. Four died in infancy. They were named Herman Biddle, Clarence Biddle, Nora Virginia Biddle, and Beatrice Biddle. I don't have a listing of what order any these children were born. The ones who lived to adulthood are as follows.
1. Charles Edward Biddle married Beatrice Simpers. They adopted a son Charles.
2. Sara Elizabeth Biddle married Harry Perkins. They had one son, Lawrence Perkins. After Harry's death she married a Mr. Abrams. There were no known children of this marriage.
3. Walter Earnest Biddle (the third child and my grandfather) was born May 8, 1872. He married Deborah Alexander, and they had nine children. He worked as a potter his entire life. Here are the children of this marriage:
a. Edith May Biddle born August 13, 1893. Married Thomas Hitchcock. They had several children, but she was killed by a drunk driver who ran a stop sign on September 5, 1933.
b. Walter Frederick Biddle, born August 10, 1896. He married Ester. Ester died just last year, 2005. We and Dad visited her just after he moved to live with us. They never had any children. They lived in Peoria, IL. He served in World War I and played some semi professional baseball before the war. He worked for the Catepillar Tractor company most of his adult life.
c. Helen Biddle born January 11, 1900. She married and had several girls. Dad lost track of the girls.
Carroll Lincoln Biddle born may 25, 1902. Married and had two girls who we still have some contact with. He worked his entire life for the Sun Oil Co. at a refinery. Sunoco. He lived in Wilmington, Delaware. He and Dad were probably the closest especially after he led him to the Lord. They used to fish together guite a bit on the Chesapeak Bay. Died May 30, 1980.
d. Hayes Herman Biddle born March 1, 1905. He married, but they never had any children. He was a plant manager in Cleveland, OH. They retired to Northeast where he died on May 29, 1986. As kids he and Dad did many things together especially in an old row boat they "borrowed" to gather coal, go hunting or fishing.
e. Raymond Alexander Biddle and his twin sister
f. Ruth Janey Biddle were born July 22, 1907. She married and had two sons who both survive. Richard and David are both older than Al. We remain in contact with them.
g. Eunice Biddle born March 12, 1911. Died just a couple years ago. One son is retired and lives in Florida. They travel around the country in a big RV. His daughter teaches at Miami University in Ohio.
h. Doris Virginia Biddle was born on January 4, 1904. She is the only sibling still living. She married Robert White who is deceased. They had two children. The oldest lives in California. The youngest Robert White Jr. is still single and travels extensively. Doris lives in a retirement high rise in Sandusky, Ohio. She is a faithful member of the First Baptist Church. Since Dad bought her first violin, she offered to anyone in our family her more than three hundred year old violin with the stipulation that it go to someone who would faithfully play it. I knew of no one who was taking up the violin among our clan so she donated it to Oberlin College. It was valued at $18,000. She road to church when she was 90 on the back of a motorcycle. She says Ray lived to be 94, and he lived the longest. She doesn't expect to live any longer than the next two years.
4. Andrew Nelson Biddle married Lida Parks. They had no children.
5. Maggie Biddle married Charles Stewart. They had one son, Harold.
6. John Alford Wilson Biddle married ? They had two girls, Emily and Mildred.
7. Ethel Miller Biddle never married. She lived in the old home place in Northeast until she died at the age of 103. I met her while I was in junior high school when my parents went back to Northeast. I was in Great Grandfather Isaiah's house for about an hour on a hot summer day. The things I remember was that Ethel had on a long dress, about ankle length, even though there was no fan and no air conditioning. The house badly needed painting. It looked like it had been whitewashed at one time, but most had faded away. She offered us a cold glass of lemonade which was actually only slightly colder than lukewarm. The electrical wiring had been surface mounted and was minimal. She didn't have a television but there was a console radio. She had a good size vegetable garden for a single elderly lady. I remember wide wooden steps coming up to a large front porch. The front door stood open with a screen door to keep out the bugs. The house was two stories tall, but I never made it past the front room and the back kitchen. Later that day we met another great uncle painting a mast on a sail boat at the harbor. Dad said he was in his nineties, and he was about twenty plus feet up in the air on a little bench with a pully mechanism painting on someone's boat. I don't remember the name, and he never came down to greet us. He just said hello to Dad and kept painting. We did go to see Isaiah's grave. There was a small stone with a veteran's marker and flag.
8. Harry Marshall Biddle married Helen Dunlap. They had four children, Blanche, Marshall, Hilda, Ethel. Marshall never had any boys.
9. Clarence Isaiah Biddle married Mary Norman. They had two girls. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War I and died in 1919 or 1920 some say from diesease contracted during the war.
Dad told me while he lived with us that in 1917 he along with millions of others in this country contracted the flu. More people died that year in the United States than died in the war. There wasn't much medical care, and he doesn't know how sick he really was. However, he did hear the doctor tell his mother he didn't know if he would make it. He did, and you made it here too.
g. Eunice Biddle born March 12, 1911. Died just a couple years ago. One son is retired and lives in Florida. They travel around the country in a big RV. His daughter teaches at Miami University in Ohio.
h. Doris Virginia Biddle was born on January 4, 1904. She is the only sibling still living. She married Robert White who is deceased. They had two children. The oldest lives in California. The youngest Robert White Jr. is still single and travels extensively. Doris lives in a retirement high rise in Sandusky, Ohio. She is a faithful member of the First Baptist Church. Since Dad bought her first violin, she offered to anyone in our family her more than three hundred year old violin with the stipulation that it go to someone who would faithfully play it. I knew of no one who was taking up the violin among our clan so she donated it to Oberlin College. It was valued at $18,000. She road to church when she was 90 on the back of a motorcycle. She says Ray lived to be 94, and he lived the longest. She doesn't expect to live any longer than the next two years.
4. Andrew Nelson Biddle married Lida Parks. They had no children.
5. Maggie Biddle married Charles Stewart. They had one son, Harold.
6. John Alford Wilson Biddle married ? They had two girls, Emily and Mildred.
7. Ethel Miller Biddle never married. She lived in the old home place in Northeast until she died at the age of 103. I met her while I was in junior high school when my parents went back to Northeast. I was in Great Grandfather Isaiah's house for about an hour on a hot summer day. The things I remember was that Ethel had on a long dress, about ankle length, even though there was no fan and no air conditioning. The house badly needed painting. It looked like it had been whitewashed at one time, but most had faded away. She offered us a cold glass of lemonade which was actually only slightly colder than lukewarm. The electrical wiring had been surface mounted and was minimal. She didn't have a television but there was a console radio. She had a good size vegetable garden for a single elderly lady. I remember wide wooden steps coming up to a large front porch. The front door stood open with a screen door to keep out the bugs. The house was two stories tall, but I never made it past the front room and the back kitchen. Later that day we met another great uncle painting a mast on a sail boat at the harbor. Dad said he was in his nineties, and he was about twenty plus feet up in the air on a little bench with a pully mechanism painting on someone's boat. I don't remember the name, and he never came down to greet us. He just said hello to Dad and kept painting. We did go to see Isaiah's grave. There was a small stone with a veteran's marker and flag.
8. Harry Marshall Biddle married Helen Dunlap. They had four children, Blanche, Marshall, Hilda, Ethel. Marshall never had any boys.
9. Clarence Isaiah Biddle married Mary Norman. They had two girls. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War I and died in 1919 or 1920 some say from diesease contracted during the war.
Dad told me while he lived with us that in 1917 he along with millions of others in this country contracted the flu. More people died that year in the United States than died in the war. There wasn't much medical care, and he doesn't know how sick he really was. However, he did hear the doctor tell his mother he didn't know if he would make it. He did, and you made it here too.
Book Review: The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck's classic American novel is a powerful and gripping saga, but for me it was more than a fascinating read, it's a commentary on our heritage. Set during the Great Depression and economic hardships of the Dust Bowl, Steinbeck follows the struggles of the fictional Joad family as they travel Route 66 west to California looking for work and hoping for a better life. It was fascinating to follow the transformation from sharecropping farmers to migrant workers as each new hardship forces sociological changes. Interspersed throughout the story are chapters reflecting the grander scope, giving a better understanding that this struggle is more than one family and truly a national crisis. It was exciting to read about places like Bakersfield and Oklahoma where family still resides. For a time the McMahons lived at the government camp. I've seen one photo where Grandma is wearing a borrowed dress outside the clapboard shack, ready to attend the Saturday night dance just as Steinbeck describes.
The book is filled with colloquial speech and can be difficult to read. There is also quite a bit of vulgar language. Several graphically violent scenes accentuate the depth of their struggle. It's easy to see why this book would have been banned and even burned. If any of this would prevent you from reading the book, may I recommend the movie starring Henry Fonda. It eliminates the rough language and gives a cleaner ending. However, I know the real story hasn't ended. It continues on today in the heritage of my own family, affecting our values, decisions, and relationships.
Death of a Mother-In-Law
Vitals: Various Articles from The Cecil Whig, Elkton, 1883: Cecil Co., MD
Transcribed and contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Cyndie Enfinger
*****Saturday, August 4, 1883*****
Death of Mrs. Littoway. Mrs. Littoway, and aged citizen of Earlville, in the First district, died at the residence of her son-in-law, Wm. Duhamel, in that town, on Monday last. Mrs. Littoway some time ago had a fall, from the effects of which she never fully recovered.
Mrs. Littoway was an aunt of Mr. E. Brown, of this town and a sister of the late Michael Realley. She was 84 years of age. Her first husband was Wm. Marcus, by whom she had two sons James, who resides in Elk Neck, and Hyland L. who resides on the Groome farm near this town, and one daughter (Elizabeth J. Marcus), now deceased who married Andrew Biddle, of North East. Her second husband was Jacob Biddle, deceased and by him she had four children – Edward now residing in North East, John a grocery merchant in Philadelphia, Ann Eliza now deceased who married Wm. Price, of Warrick and Mary wife of Wm. Duhamel, of Earlville, at whose house she died. Her third husband was Louis Littoway, of Bethel, in this county whom she survived. She had no children by the last marriage. Deceased was an estimable christian lady a member of Bethel M. E. Church, an excellent mother, and a kind friend. Her funeral, took place at Bethel on Wednesday, was largely attended.
(editor's note: Elizabeth and Andrew named their sixth child Hyland, after Elizabeth's brother.)
Coming to Indiana
Taken from History of Parke and Vermillion counties, Indiana, with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families. Published: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen & Company, 1913.
Alanson Church was a native of Vermont, where he spent his boyhood and from there he came to Fountain county, Indiana, in an early day. There (Josiah Church) was born, and there he grew to manhood, was educated and when he was a young man he established his future home in Vermillion county and here was married (to Fannie Ford). He settled first on Helt Prairie, later moving to the old James land, which he bought for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, which land was entered from the government by Elijah B. James. Here Mr. Church went to work with a will, cleared up the land and developed a good farm, becoming one of the substantial men of the neighborhood. His family consisted of twelve children, namely: Richard F., Alanson L., Nancy, Susan, Merina Jane, Mary Catherine; Josiah Otis is deceased; Eliza Ann, Joel Lincoln, Lewis Morton, George Wilbur, and John Augustus.
Josiah Church was a Republican and for some time was constable in his township.
Alanson Church was a native of Vermont, where he spent his boyhood and from there he came to Fountain county, Indiana, in an early day. There (Josiah Church) was born, and there he grew to manhood, was educated and when he was a young man he established his future home in Vermillion county and here was married (to Fannie Ford). He settled first on Helt Prairie, later moving to the old James land, which he bought for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, which land was entered from the government by Elijah B. James. Here Mr. Church went to work with a will, cleared up the land and developed a good farm, becoming one of the substantial men of the neighborhood. His family consisted of twelve children, namely: Richard F., Alanson L., Nancy, Susan, Merina Jane, Mary Catherine; Josiah Otis is deceased; Eliza Ann, Joel Lincoln, Lewis Morton, George Wilbur, and John Augustus.
Josiah Church was a Republican and for some time was constable in his township.
McMahon Family Crest
The Shield is: Argent three lions passant reguardant in pale gules armed and lanqued azure. The Crest is: A dexter arm in armour embowed ppr. garnished or, holding in the hand a sword both ppr. pommel and hilt gold.
The Motto is: "Sic Nos Sic Sacra Tuemur", 'Thus We Guard Our Sacred Rights'.
Variant spellings for McMahon are: MacMahon, Mahon, Maghan, Mann, Maughan Gaelic spelling: "MacMathghamha".
The name itself is said to come from the Irish word for 'bear'.
The name itself is said to come from the Irish word for 'bear'.
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