Owen Biddle

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Owen Biddle (* 1737 in Philadelphia ; † March 10, 1799 there ) was an American astronomer , clockmaker and businessman in Philadelphia.

Owen Biddle belonged to an influential family of Quakers from the Province of New Jersey and worked in Philadelphia as a watchmaker and later as a merchant. Together with his brother Clement , he was one of the signatories of a non-importation resolution on October 25, 1765 , a form of trade sanctions against the British mainland in response to the Stamp Act of 1765. In 1775 he was a member of the Provincial Conference and later the Constituent Assembly of Pennsylvania . He was a member of the Committee of Safetyand as its occasional chairman at times de facto governor of Pennsylvania. During the American Revolutionary War , he was entrusted with the rank of Colonel mainly with the organization of supplies.

Biddle was an early member of the American Philosophical Society (APS), whose curator from 1769 to 1772 and secretary from 1773 to 1782 he was. In 1769, Biddle was a leading member of a 13-member delegation from the APS to Cape Henlopen (near Lewes , Delaware ), which observed the transit of Venus on June 3 there. Until his death he remained a member of the Council (Council) of the APS. In 1782 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d William H. Egle, MD: THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1776. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ITS MEMBERS. Biddle, Owen. . In: The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography . 45, No. 1879, 1879, pp. 194-195.
  2. ^ Governor of Pennsylvania . NNDB. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  3. ^ American Philosophical Society - Member History. In: amphilsoc.org. Retrieved April 29, 2017 .
  4. ↑ James E. Morrison, Geoffrey Thurston: The 1769 Transit of Venus Observatory in Lewes, Delaware . In: Society for the History of Astronomy (Ed.): The Antiquarian Astronomer . 7, 2013, pp. 54-70. bibcode : 2013AntAs ... 7 ... 54M . Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  5. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present (PDF, 1.2 MB) at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org); Retrieved April 29, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Biddle, Owen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronomer, watchmaker, and businessman
DATE OF BIRTH 1737
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 1799
Place of death Philadelphia