Chapter Three

  James Penrose was born in Philadelphia the year of 1737.

  He was a ship builder and merchant. His brother Thomas was his partner. He was a signer of the "Non-Importation Agreement" and a contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital. His neice once wrote of him, "He was a very handsome man, with the courtly manners of the 'old-school,' fond of society, hospitable and generous, hot-tempered, but very popular and always retained the good-will of neighbors and friends, not withoutstanding frequent outbrusts of temper." His obit said much of the same things.

   James married Sarah Biddle in 1766. The Biddle's were a very wealthy prominent family who were among the first in New Jersey. Their plantation was called Mount Hope. They had 2 children:

John born 1767 died 1768

Clement Biddle born 1771 died in 1820 married Anne Howard Bingham of which is my ancestor and who the next pages are about.

  James died in 1771, leaving Sarah a widow with a baby. She married John Shaw in 1776 who passed away, then she married Rudolph Tillier, a very wealthy native of Berne, Switzerland who invested in land in the U.S.. They traveled in Europe quite often giving Clement an excellent education.