Chapter Four

    Honorable Clement Biddle Penrose was born in Philadelphia, the year 1771. As I said before Clement's father died when he was a young, his boyhood was filled with the Revolution.

  He was picked as a standard bearer for the first company raised in Philadelphia.  He and his widowed mother were driven out of Philly when it fell to the British.

  He and his mother accompanied their Uncle (Colonel Clement Biddle) to Valley Forge.  The Colonel was in high standing with George Washington.  Clement, a young boy, shared in the misery of the winter at Valley Forge.

  Here are the exact words, it is taken from a speech his son (Honorable Charles Bingham Penrose) gave in the Senate of Pennsylvania, March 1839:

  "Driven from Philadelphia when that city fell into the hands of the invading foe, he accompanied his widowed mother and an honored uncle (Colonel Clement Biddle), and officer high in the confidence of the great chief who led our armies to battle, to the Valley Forge; and though but a child, witnessed and shared in the sufferings of that terrible winter-one of the most gloomy periods of the Revolution".


  It was long after  the revolution that Clement's mother met and married Rudolph Tillier, a very wealthy European. It was thru his step father that Clement enjoyed a liberal education in Europe.

  When he returned to Philadelphia, he was commissioned by Governor Mifflin as an ensign of the 7th battalion of the Cities and Liberties Militia.

   In 1796 he married Anne Howard, daughter of Major Charles Bingham. Her family is quite colorful, the major was related to Charles Bingham, the 1st Earl of Lucan. The major came to America to fight in the Revolutionary War as a Briton but met and married an american girl by the name of Anne Howard. He stayed in America till his death.

  So, on with Clement. In 1803, he was a candidate for Congress but lost.  In 1805, he was commissioned by President Jefferson  as one of the Land Commissioners of the Louisiana Territory.  This meant that he and his family would move to St. Louis.  It has been said that he got this appointment from President Jefferson because of his Uncle who was Governor of that territory.

  Clement did well in St. Louis and was well thought of in the community. In 1816 he was appointed as one of the commissioners to organize the St. Louis Bank, the 1st in that section of the country.

   Clement and Anne had the following children:

Charles Bingham Penrose born 1798 died 1857 married Valeria Fullerton Biddle. This is my ancestor and who the next pages are about.

Clement Biddle Penrose born 1802 died 1839 married Ann Wilkinson.

James Wilkinson Penrose born 1808 died 1849 married Mary Ann Hoffman

Ann Penrose died 1832

Howard Penrose

Mary Penrose died Philadelphia 1886

Sarah Tillier Penrose died St Louis 1821

  Clement died in 1820 St. Louis.