Photographed for the Historic American Buildings Survey by Jack E

ANDALUSIA Photographed for the Historic American Buildings Survey by Jack E. Boucher THE Pennsylvania Magazine OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY

Andalusia Country seat of the Craig Family and of Nicholas Biddle and His Descendants N THE spring of 1976, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania published in pamphlet form my account of Andalusia. The I format of the pamphlet was such that its contents could be readily reprinted in The "Pennsylvania ^Magazine of History and "Biography, and subsequently the Society's Publications Committee decided that this should be done. The only change of consequence in the reprinting has been the elimination of James Biddle's Pro- logue and my Foreword, both of which were designed for the par- ticular interest of visitors to Andalusia where copies of the pamphlet are available. Andalusia is situated north of Philadelphia on the Delaware River. Originally built by John Craig, the house was greatly enlarged, notably by the addition of its Greek-temple, river front facade, by Craig's son-in-law, Nicholas Biddle. As a young man, 3 4 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January Biddle had toured Greece in 1806 and had been tremendously impressed by its antiquities. Their reflection in the Greek Revival style was, he believed, the most suitable for American architecture. Biddle became a foremost advocate of that classical form. There is reason to believe he influenced William Strickland in his design of the Second Bank of the United States, a Parthenon on Chestnut Street majestically set off by massive columns. As President of the Bank, Biddle humorously referred to its building as his "vast marble tomb." He was responsible for Girard College's Greek Revival appearance, and his broader architectural influence is suggested in a statement by the landscape artist Russell Smith: "I did some work for Nicholas and was to have painted for him a comprehensive composition of the architectural beauties of Phila- delphia, for which we are largely indebted to him, but the failure of the U. S. Bank interrupted my work upon it." Some years prior to that disaster, Biddle, then at the pinnacle of his career, had employed architect Thomas U. Walter to transform Andalusia from its then Federal style to its present Greek-temple aspect. Virtually unchanged since that time, Andalusia continues to express Nicholas Biddle's personality. The account which follows seeks to describe the mansion's successive building stages, the owners who occupied it generation after generation, and some of the activities that took place on its grounds. The narrative is based on manuscripts, many of them not previously available, that have been given to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in recent years by descendants of Nicholas Biddle. The Historical Society of 'Pennsylvania NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT

CRAIG BIDDLE 1977 ANDALUSIA 5 The Auction

At noon on November 7, 1865, an auction was held in Philadel- phia's Merchants' Exchange. Offered for sale was a property described as "the most beautiful and valuable place on the Delaware River, or, in fact, in the vicinity of Philadelphia." This "splendid country seat" was known as Andalusia. The estate comprised 113K acres fronting on the Delaware, with a wharf immediately adjacent at which steamboats touched several times a day. Through the rear of the property ran the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad and the Bristol Turnpike. Thus, residents had ready access to Philadelphia, thirteen miles away, as well as to other points. The improvements at Andalusia were impressive. Foremost was a pillared mansion, built of brick and stone, roughcast, fifty-five feet wide and seventy-three feet deep, with two wings extending forty feet on either side. It contained nine rooms on the first floor, fourteen on the second, and six on the third. With its furnace, it was equally suited for winter and summer use. Another handsome mansion nearby, built of brick, had a forty- nine-foot front and was fifty-seven feet deep. It, too, had its furnace, and was spacious with six rooms on each of its three floors. A feature of the place were graperies of great extent, built in the most substantial manner with high walls of pointed stone. Other improvements included a gardener's house, a farmer's house, a laborer's house, a barn and all the necessary outbuildings of a large farm. The coach house was commodious, its stabling for driving horses containing twelve stalls. There was a combination temple- form billiard room and summer house, a children's play house, a romantic grotto of pointed stone, a bathing house at the river, and also a laundry house, a stone milk house, a shad fishery and several ice houses. For convenience in caring for the gardens and graperies, water was forced into a large reservoir on the top of a stone tower by means of a steam engine at the river. From the reservoir the water was conducted by pipes over the fields. Twenty acres were in wood- land of large growth and the grounds were ornamented with forest trees of various varieties. With this auction, the end had evidently 6 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January come for Andalusia; plans had been laid for extensive subdivision of the estate. Its owners must have regretted this breakup of their childhood home. Happier days, now past, must have thronged their recollections.

John Craig

The man responsible for establishing Andalusia was a Philadelphia merchant, John Craig, whose father James Craig was also a merchant of the city. A shipowner engaged in exporting American commodities to the far corners of the world in exchange for foreign products, John Craig's interests grew more impressive year by year. Despite a reputation for caution, which probably stemmed from sound judgment, Craig engaged in a multitude of adventures which certainly were not free of risk. Ships in whose cargoes he was concerned were to be found at the River Plate, putting into Leghorn and Trieste, or returning from Oporto with wine, salt, and cork, from Canton with silks, yellow nankeens, and tea, from Vera Cruz with logwood, from Montevideo with tallow, hides, and bullion, sugar from Havana, wine from Madeira, brandy from Bordeaux. Still a comparatively young man, Craig was well on his way to gaining a fortune. He had two unmarried sisters, Jane and Ann, and another, Catherine, married to Don Francisco Caballero Sarmiento, with whom Craig engaged in mercantile ventures. These were highlighted by trade with Mexico and South America under concessions granted Sarmiento by his native Spain. Sarmiento was agent for the Royal Chest of Consolidation at Madrid. Despite extraordinary profits gained by this connection, Craig terminated it in the early 1800s. Distrustful of Sarmiento, his main partnership was then concentrated with Robert and John Oliver of Baltimore. Shortly after the death of his father in 1793, Craig began looking for a country place near enough to Philadelphia to permit him the enjoyment of farming while being at the same time within easy access of his countinghouse. In 1795 ^e purchased the Delaware River farm that was later to be named Andalusia. Long farmed by generations of "yeomen" owners, its improvements were probably not impressive. 1977 ANDALUSIA J Possibly it boasted a farmhouse which the Craigs renovated. They called their first modest establishment Craig Hall. Evidently such a residence as the place enjoyed required a major overhaul, or

JOHN CRAIG perhaps they even built from the ground up. In an undated letter to his wife, Craig inquired "how you & the children make it out at Craig Hall. . . . Let me know how far the building is raised." Mrs. Craig had previously lived in two other Craig Halls, her uncle Caldwell Craig's plantation in Tobago, and, more recently, her father-in-law's summer place in Philadelphia's Northern Liberties. This latter retreat had just been sold, and so it was that its name was available for transfer to the Delaware River farm. From January, 1796, until the end of May, 1797, the John Craigs had a house guest, Mrs. Craig's brother George. He returned to the islands on business, writing to his sister from Martinique on June 25, 1797, "What wou'd I not give for one peep at Craig Hall." Six weeks later George died at Martinique and Mrs. Craig may now have found the name Craig Hall a distressing reminder of him. The property was renamed Willow Bank, a name which, in turn, gave way by 1801 to Andalusia, perhaps in compliment to John Craig's Spanish partner, with whom he was still on good terms, and who summered nearby at Bristol. 8 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January The year 1797 found the Craigs either building a new house on their farm or extensively altering the old one; the work went on very slowly. Enough however was done that year for Craig to insure the house with the Insurance Company of North America for $4,000. The Company's records reveal that it was a stone building with a front of fifty feet facing the river and a depth of thirty feet, and that at the time the insurance was placed, November 11, 1797, carpenters were working on it. They were still at work many months later. From Philadelphia on May 14, 1798, John Craig wrote to his wife in Baltimore: "I have returned from Willow Bank. . . . Painters, plaisterers, & carpenters have progressed but slowly in my absence . . . there is a little chicken about 4 days old will follow any one thro the house. It followed the gardener to the new house garden." Mention of the "new house" suggests that the Craigs' residence, which was to become Andalusia, was basically constructed in 1797-1798. Papers filed with John Craig's will give a partial description of the house at that time. The ground floor consisted of an entry separating the dining room from the living room. Above were two large bedrooms and two small ones, and the attic was also equipped with beds. The kitchen appears to have been in the basement. While the house's furniture was not on a par with the town house, it was good. Mahogany was featured in the dining room, Windsor settees provided comfort on the front porch. A portrait of Washing* ton adorned the walls; naturally, it was not the equal of Craig's Gilbert Stuart of the President which was kept in town. All in all, it must have been a comfortable country house much enjoyed by Craig who stored his double-barreled fowling piece in a closet in the entry. Nevertheless, it did not adequately satisfy the tastes of its owners or reflect their growing wealth. It was evidently in 1806 that Craig retained the architect Ben- jamin Henry Latrobe to draw plans for increasing Andalusia's size. Latrobe, who had made his reputation in Philadelphia, was spending most of his time in Washington engaged in the construction of the Capitol, the Navy Yard, and the President's House. However, he continued his private practice. According to Talbot Hamlin, Latrobe's biographer, "A major portion of these private architectural jobs naturally were in Philadelphia, some of them brought with him to Washington in 1807. . . . We hear, without particulars, of a Private Collection MINIATURE OF MRS. JOHN CRAIG IO

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16 1977 ANDALUSIA 17 house for a Mr. Craig. . . ." This reference is to a letter which Latrobe sent to his associate, Robert Mills, giving instructions about an architectural detail for Craig's house. In December, 1807, Craig's executors made a payment to Latrobe "for professional services as an architect/' As this payment suggests, Craig did not live to see the improvements at Andalusia. Suffering a brief illness, he feared the worst. On May 28, 1807, he had lawyer Jasper Moylan draw his will and at 2 A.M. on May 29, in the presence of Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, Craig signed the document. His wife recorded her husband's last days in her pocket almanac. "May 22, Friday. My beloved husband was taken ill and Doctor Kuhn pronounced his disease to be the gout and treated him accordingly. Tuesday 26th, a consultation of physicians was held, viz Doctor Wistar, Doctors Chapman & Kuhn who changed the treatment without success. Wednesday 27th, Doctors Physick & Dorsey were called in and the disease was sup- posed to be an inflamation of the bowels but it baffled human skill and left me a wretched widow on Friday evening the 29th of May 1807." Craig was buried at St. Peter's, where he rented a pew. His body was laid to rest in a cedar casket provided by cabinetmaker J. T. Barry under a large flat marble slab cut by marble mason James Traquair, So it was that Craig left "a wretched widow," but not a poor one. Distributed among four Philadelphia banks he had deposits totalling $97,000. The settlement of his affairs with the Olivers brought to his estate $382,000; in addition, he had many other valuable assets, the sum of which represented a large fortune for the day. Latrobe's improvements, scarcely begun at the time of John Craig's death, were permitted to continue and took about a year to accomplish. When Andalusia was again insured with the Insurance Company of North America, it was quite properly referred to as a mansion. Mrs. Craig wrote of the improvements of 1807-1808 as "prodigious." It appears that Latrobe's designs called for the building around of the four corners of the comparatively uninteresting two-and-a- half story rectangular residence completed in 1798, transforming it into a place of charm in the Regency or Federal manner. Early drawings of its east and west facades show what he accomplished. The Delaware River front was broadened by the addition of semi- 18 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January octagonal bays at either end, much the same design as Latrobe applied to Clifton, the Harris house, in 1808. The bays enlarged the dining room at the northeast end of the house and the parlor at the southeast, and also provided additional bedroom space on the second floor. On the other side of the house, the entrance side, there was a major expansion of its length by the addition of one-story wings, the northern one of which probably housed the kitchen. The work was performed by skilled Philadelphia craftsmen, of whom the most important was the head carpenter, Robert Adams. Adams had been employed by Craig for repairs on his ships and was classified as a carpenter and ship joiner. James Traquair, of previous mention, provided an ornamental chimney piece, a frieze for another, and did additional marble work. William Barnes painted a striped bedroom floor and such parts of the interior of the house as were not papered and glazed the windows. Throughout 1807, following Craig's death, his executors paid many bills for masonry, brick work, shingles, lumber, plastering, iron mongery, copper spouts, tin gutters, and the like. By June 27, 1808, when Mrs. Craig's elder son wrote to her after a visit to Andalusia, its additions had been completed. "The farm," he informed her, "is in a rapid state of improvement. . . the back portico is very handsome but I do not admire the border around the one next the river. Your two little rooms look much better than hereto- fore and I am in hopes you will be pleased with them. You will have every convenience around you after the trouble of moving." Anda- lusia, now in the third stage of its architectural development— 1795, 1797-1798, 1807-1808—awaited its owner's occupancy.

Mrs. John Craig Between 1795 and 1856, Andalusia had two mistresses, Mrs. Craig and her daughter Jane Biddle. The former, Margaret Murphy Craig, called Peggy, was the eldest child of Charles Craig (1727-1804) of Dublin. A family connection of importance to the owners of Anda- lusia stemmed from the marriage of Charles Craig's sister Catherine to the Rev. William Montgomery, who served fifty-one years as minister of the Presbyterian Church at Ballyeaston near Belfast 1-977 ANDALUSIA 19 until his death in 1809. Following his demise, his three spinster daughters moved into Belfast, where they were invariably visited by any Andalusian traveling abroad. It was through the Miss Montgomerys that Jane Biddle ordered her linen; surviving damask table cloths bear her name and are gloriously figured with patriotic American devices. Peggy Craig was brought up and highly educated by her uncle, Caldwell Craig, the West Indian sugar planter who resided at Tobago, where Peggy joined him in 1779. There she lived happily for a year in the company of her brother George and her aunt and uncle, and it was there that she met John Craig of Philadelphia. The two were not related, John Craig's father having come from Scotland, but both Craig families used the same crest, "The Knight with the Broken Spear." John and Peggy Craig were married at Tobago in 1780 and sailed for Philadelphia on the ship J^prd Tiprth that September.* In his letters to relatives, John customarily referred to Peggy as "my little woman." She was, in fact, petite as well as beautiful. An Anglican like her husband, Peggy was distinguished by remarkable charm. In his memoirs, Peter Duponceau recalled: "She had her education in Europe and spoke French and Italian with perfect purity. . . . She would not have been out of her place in the most brilliant circle of Europe.... Her house was the resort of all that was elegant and accomplished." It particularly attracted the French officers and diplomats who were in Philadelphia during the latter years of the Revolution and the many French emigrants of education and rank who found their way to America in the next decade. No one who met her ever forgot her. Highly religious, she devoted much of her interest to philanthropy. In her prayer book, Peggy listed the names of her children: "James Craig Born Thursday 10th May 1787; Jane Craig Born Friday 6th April 1793; John Craig Born Tuesday 20th Jany 1795 and taken from this world on Tuesday 24th Nov. 1796. God's will be done. John Charles Craig Born Friday 19th Feby. 1802." Her household was a large one with many servants and several com- panions. Among the latter were Circe de Ronceray. In July, 1812,

* In 1785 Peggy paid a visit to Tobago, returning with her sister Elizabeth, who lived with the John Craigs until her marriage late in 1786 to Robert Oliver of Baltimore. 2O NICHOLAS B. WAIN WRIGHT January on leaving home for a visit to Squam Beach, New Jersey, Peggy wrote: "poor Circe staid at home to keep house at Andalusia." Another inmate was R. Dillon Drake who came to live with the Craigs when a little boy, as companion for the equally young John C. Craig. Drake spent the rest of his life in the service of the Craigs and the Biddies. The widowed Anne Backhouse, referred to as "Aunty," but actually no relation, was yet another household member. "Aunty Backhouse," wrote Peggy Craig in 1811, "continues in good health and still renders me the same kind offices either in my domestick affairs or my sickroom." Poor Peggy, always delicate, had become an invalid. Still others in the family circle were Madame Adele Sigoigne and Miss Adele Sigoigne. These French refugees, driven from St. Domingo by the horrors of its revolution, through their right by birth and education were readily accepted by Philadelphia society. There are frequent mentions of their staying at Andalusia. Writing of them in 1809 from there, Peggy Craig observed: "We have a French lady and her daughter with us, the former one of the most agreeable and best informed women I have ever met with, the latter very pretty, very modest and very accomplished." Two years later Peggy noted in her 1811 almanac, under date of October 3: "I committed the care of my beloved Jane's happiness to the best, the most virtuous of men." Jane's marriage to Nicholas Biddle had just taken place at Andalusia in the presence of members of the family and Jane's best friend, Miss Adele Sigoigne. Peggy returned to her large Philadelphia residence, but she spent as much time as possible at Andalusia. Declining health, however, dictated occasional visits to the shore. On July 6, 1812, for example, she "Set off from Phila for Squam Beach accompanied by Mrs. Back- house, Mr. & Mrs. Biddle, John, Dillon, four servants and five horses." September found her back at Andalusia. The Squam Beach visit was memorable to her because it was there that she was reunited with her son James, who had returned from his grand tour of Europe: "My beloved son James arrived at Baltimore from England after an absence of 3 years & 71 days." Among other notables, James had been introduced to Sir Walter Scott and to Napoleon. Mrs. Craig's final years were saddened by her sister-in-law Catherine Sarmiento's family anxieties. Don Francisco Caballero 1977 ANDALUSIA 21

MRS. JOHN CRAIG Private Collection 22 NICHOLAS B. WAIN WRIGHT January Sarmiento lost his money, separated from his wife, and caused much trouble. Law suits were brought against him and he several times stopped payment, one time being bailed out by the Spanish minister, after which he "again resumed his place among the merchants, and lives I believe as usual with his French cook, housekeeper, etc. etc." Following a spell in debtor's prison in 1811, Sarmiento "got a severe beating at the Coffee House from Desagne the confectioner at whose suit he was thrown into prison." "I wish," continued Peggy Craig, "he would leave this place as it is wounding to hear of him. His son is now (in my opinion) hopeless as he can get no employ- ment and knows not how to do anything for his support." The son was James Craig Sarmiento who had married, perhaps not too happily, and was in the process of having three children. The elder Sarmiento was no help. In 1812, Mrs. Craig wrote that Jim was "hard up, marriage may break up, has nothing to do—his father is a profligate wretch, has not a dollar to give him, mortgaged all his property, spent two weeks in prison living on turtle and canvas backs. . . ." By this time Mrs. Craig was supporting Jim Sarmiento on a regular allowance. The father, last listed in a Philadelphia Directory in 1818, when he was titled colonel, attached to the Spanish legation, returned to Spain, where he was assassinated. Jim Sarmiento, revealed in his portrait in hunting garb, with dog and gun, patch over one eye, and tall hat set rakishly on his head, came to no good. What happened to him is unknown, reflected only in a letter dated January 2, 1822, received by Mrs. Nicholas Biddle from one of her Irish cousins: "Poor dear Jim Sarmiento! . . . his career has been short & inglori- ous. Tell me in your next how his little girl is coming on with your aunts [the daughter, Jane Josephine Sarmiento, had gone to live with the Misses Jane and Anne Craig]; they doted on the unfortunate father." Thus, another Sarmiento came to a bad end. He had two sons: Fernando, a not very promising youth who conveniently died at the age of twenty-four, and Louis, who simply disappeared leaving behind him disquieting rumors that he had met with a violent death. Jane Josephine Sarmiento was brought up by her Craig aunts, summering with them at Bristol and also at John C. Craig's farm at Germantown. Her upbringing was also supervised by Mrs. Nicholas Biddle and young Jane was often at Andalusia. The girl grew up to be one of Philadelphia's three most beautiful 1977 ANDALUSIA 2$ women, her beauty enhanced by her vivacity and charm of manner. Her changing, expressive face and ready wit rendered her most attractive to young and old alike. In 1832 she married her cousin John C. Craig, Mrs. Biddle's brother, and was later to make an even closer connection with the Biddle family, all of whom loved her dearly. Evidently, she was the only respectable Sarmiento. In a life saddened by long-protracted illness and mourning for her husband, Peggy Craig continued to lavish attention on Anda- lusia. In sending a picture of the house to her Irish cousin in 1813, Peggy told her that it had been painted about ten years earlier, since which time the place had been greatly improved. She referred to it as her "beloved retreat," and was pleased that the Nicholas Biddies liked it so much that they were contemplating spending the winter there. Just when it appeared that her health was improving, Peggy Craig died on January 28, 1814, in her fifty- third year. Her son-in-law wrote a lengthy and affecting memorial of her, published in the Tort Folio of March, 1814, extolling the virtues of a lady who had been one of the "stars" of Philadelphia society in its glorious Federal Era. Mrs. Nicholas Biddle never fully recovered from the loss of her "darling mother." The memory of the extraordinary Mrs. Craig was kept green in the minds of her descendants for several generations. The dress she wore at Mrs. Biddle's wedding was long preserved at Andalusia. Of grey Canton crepe, its waist came under the arms, and it had a slight train, a narrow skirt, and a quaint little cape over the low neck. Sorrowfully, Andalusia had lost its first mistress, but it quickly acquired an owner who was also a person of unusual interest. Several months after Mrs. Craig's death Nicholas Biddle purchased the property from the John Craig estate for $17,000.

Mrs. Nicholas Biddle Jane Margaret Craig, Andalusia's second mistress was born at her parents' house in Philadelphia on April 6, 1793; ten days later her father hired a wet nurse for her. That summer Philadelphia was visited by a dreadful yellow fever plague and Jane and her nurse and her brother James were sent to Chester, where her father was 24 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January supervising one of his ships. Not until November did the Craigs feel it safe to return to the city. Peggy Craig took fond pride in her dark-eyed, vivacious child. "Jane has a heart already alive to every noble and virtuous sentiment/' Peggy wrote her father, Charles Craig, on May 29, 1801, "and a brilliant capacity for everything she undertakes." In 1803, the Craig family was enlarged by the arrival of Mrs. Craig's niece, Peggy Oliver of Baltimore, who came to Philadelphia for her education. Jane and her cousin were about the same age; together they attended Madame Greland's school for several years. Jane also received private tutoring in French and other subjects, as well as lessons in drawing, riding, and music. Her time was spent as much as possible at Andalusia. Some idea of her activities there is suggested in a letter of 1807 written by Circ6 de Ronceray to Mrs. Craig, who was in town: "The lessons go charmingly; one page of the atlas is read every day. Jane reads French two hours a day to Mrs. S[igoigne] takes a lesson of music two hours, practices two hours, she seems now determined to devote herself to the piano, in order sooner to begin the harp, . . . Mrs. S. takes as much pains with us as if we were her own children." Later, Madame Sigoigne was to found a fashionable girls boarding school in Philadelphia, which was carried on by her daughter for many years. The Biddies* daughters attended it. Another vignette of Jane's early life at Andalusia is to be found in a letter written by her mother in 1809: "The girls ride on horse- back every day. After their studies are over they play on the piano & harp, read French and English, study a little geography. In the evening all sit around a work table, and while five of us work the sixth reads." To her son James, who was in Paris, Mrs. Craig wrote in 1810 reminding him to bring back music and songs for Jane: "You know how passionately fond we are of music and that it is our only amuse- ment . . . the harp too came without music tho* you were at the fountain head." Music appears to have been Jane Craig's chief delight. She liked to sing and had an ear that was so true that, according to her children, she never deviated a note from the air. The first portrait painted of her, by Bass Otis in 1814, shows her sitting by her piano, sheet music on its rack. Music was one of the bonds of friendship 1977 ANDALUSIA 2$ which united Jane to Miss Adele Sigoigne, whose portrait she commissioned Bass Otis to paint, also in 1814. Adele became a well- known musician. Her harp is a feature in Sully's portrait of her. In several letters written in 1811 by Mrs. Craig to her son James some of Jane's nonmusical characteristics were discussed. Jane had too humble an opinion of her personal appearance. True, she had not improved as much as Mrs. Craig had once expected, but "I think no man of sentiment will ever see her without a pleasing impression and with the common & most artless aids of dress she might be very handsome." Jane was shy; her mother spoke of her "excessive modesty" and desire to avoid attention. Of a dinner given by the George Harrisons, Mrs. Craig wrote James: "My darling Jane was arrayed in one of her fine English robes and the beautiful suit of pearls you chose for her, but she really wants your presence very much to give her some confidence in her self. She is so afraid of appearing singular or more dressed than other people that almost every other girl in the city is better dressed than she is and she sometimes goes really meanly clad whilst all her elegant clothes are lying in her drawers lest anyone should look at her." Such was the girl who fell in love with Nicholas Biddle in 1810 and who married him in 1811 in her eighteenth year. Living with such a scintillating public figure could not have been altogether easy for her. To the Biddies' house in town and to Andalusia came many of the most distinguished Americans of the day, and many interesting foreigners. From his estate at Bordentown a former King of Spain, the Compte de Survilliers, older brother of Napoleon, arrived by barge, accompanied by his daughter Charlotte, who was later to marry her first cousin, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. Daniel Webster marked a visit to Andalusia by planting a tree. Her husband's fame did not affect Mrs. Biddle. Indeed, she decried it, resenting the Bank for keeping him away from her and protesting: "I say as I have always said, beware of ambition. It brings nothing but trouble & very little reward, & if you wish to see me happy, never aspire to any honors (except they be literary ones) greater than those you have already enjoyed." "She is a very good, un- pretending person," wrote the diarist Sidney George Fisher. In addition to the balls given every winter by the Biddies, Jane Biddle gave musical parties. Of one of these in 1832, she wrote her 26 NICHOLAS B. WAIN WRIGHT January husband: "I attempted a song, but as usual sung miserably, quaver- ing all the time. . . . The Miss Meades, who were also here, sang sweetly, tho much frightened." Of yet another similar event, Sidney George Fisher recorded in 1840: "At 9 went to a musical party at Mrs. Nick Biddle's. Not crowded & gay & handsome. Miss Pardie played on the harp, Mrs. Joshua Francis Fisher & Mrs. Pierce Butler [Fanny Kemble] on the piano, & afterwards Mrs. Willing sang some of her delightful songs & accompanied herself on the harp & piano/' As the wife of Nicholas Biddle, life was eventful for Jane. "His c house," observed John Jay Smith in his Bjcollectionsy "was the resort of the intellect of the country. John Quincy Adams, Webster, and the great politicians of the nation were entertained at his dinners, when coruscations of wit, and bright sallies abounding with anecdote and information were continually occurring to enliven these festive gatherings . . . never did I leave his society without admiration of his talents and superior social powers." Year after year, the Biddle family, bringing their piano with them, moved from town to country, and back again. An exception occurred in 1824 when Andalusia was not opened. Instead, Mrs. Biddle and her children went to New England. At Boston she met Lafayette and recalled Peggy Craig's admonition to her son James on his visit to Paris in 1811: "Be sure to remember me to the Marquis de la Fayette." Jane Biddle and her husband gave a reception in their Chestnut Street house for Lafayette that October. In old age, Mrs. Biddle's pleasantest recollections were those of her children growing up at Andalusia. But she had a very special feeling for her husband, whom she idolized.* During the summer of 1832, when Nicholas Biddle persisted in staying at the Bank despite the cholera epidemic which raged in the city, she wrote him from Andalusia: "Would to God I could be near you, could I be certain that the disease would never reach this place I should not hesitate to remain with you in town, for much as I love my children, I often feel that without you the world would be a blank to me." Biddle's affection for Jane was also expressed in that dangerous year 1832. The possessor of one of Philadelphia's largest fortunes, he wrote a twenty-seven-word will: "All that I possess in the world I hereby

* In her letters to her husband, Mrs. Biddle generally addressed him as "Dear Hub" or "Dear Dad." 1977 ANDALUSIA 27 bequeath to her whom I most love in it, my dear wife as her sole and absolute property." While Nicholas lived the world was far from a blank for Jane. Together she and her husband wrought exciting changes to the country place they loved so well.

Improvements to Andalusia The earliest of the Biddies' building projects appears to have been a billiard house. Nicholas Biddle was fond of billiards, indulging in that form of recreation within weeks of his death. The house, always referred to as a room, was evidently worked on in 1815 or 1816, since Jane Biddle wrote to her husband in Harrisburg on January 31st of one of those years informing him of the necessity of shingling the piazza and of the need for some tin, presumably for the roof, to finish the billiard room. Expenditures for the room, which under- went extensive renovations in 1827, were always separately noted. It had its separate supply of wine and stood on the site and was incorporated into the present billiard house by the addition of a second-story card room in the 1830s. A water color painted just before the 1830 improvements (a picture based on an earlier one by William Birch) clearly shows a small, one-story house with a slanting roof enclosing a shallow attic or air space at the location of Anda- lusia's billiard and card house. The earlier Birch view, now at the Library Company of Philadelphia, was evidently made shortly after the Latrobe improvements. In addition to the front elevation of Andalusia, the scene discloses a fuzzy, vague shape on the site of the billiard room. This represented a summer house, built by either Mr. or Mrs. John Craig, in the form of a room surmounted by a covered porch. The structure is more clearly seen, although ex- aggerated in size, in a drawing made in Mrs. Craig's time now hanging at Andalusia. Evidently, the Biddies found it necessary to remove its upper portion and cover the billiard room with a sloping roof. The most notable of the Biddies' improvements were the altera- tions and additions to the mansion which swallowed up Latrobe's earlier designs, except for the semioctagonal bays downstairs. These were retained, their front windows no longer looking out on the 28 NICHOLAS B. WAIN WRIGHT January river but, instead, opening into two new parlors added to the front of the house. Architect Thomas U. Walter* recreated the mansion in the Greek Revival style, highlighted by impressive columns framing the front and side porches, always referred to as the piazzas. The third floor was enlarged to provide more rooms for servants and storage, and the entrance side was built out and raised to create still more room. Latrobe's little one-story wings were partially obliterated by this addition and wholly lost in large two-story wings fronting on the carriage drive. The northern wing was for the kitchen and domestics, and the southern one housed a study and a library with bedrooms above. Much new furniture was acquired with decorations in the French Empire taste. All this was accomplished in 1835-1836, together with the creation of a romantic grotto and the improvement to the billiard room, the building costs coming to $ 14,660, far more than Mrs. Biddle had thought proper* Some of the workmen who completed Walter's design are identifi- able. All of them came from Philadelphia. Joseph S. Walter & Son (the architect's father and brother) were the bricklayers. The carpenters were Daniel R. and Robert Knight. George Truman, a tinplate worker, provided the roof, which as early as 1837 required major repairs to stop leaks. The billiard room, which was transformed into a lovely temple, posed special problems in design. On September 14 of 1835 or l%3&> Mrs. Biddle wrote her husband: "The carpenters have begun upon the Billiard Room, & we find that one part of the plan cannot be accomplished, that of raising the little temple in proportion to what is taken off it by the slanting roof. It has therefore at present so clumsy an appearance that I have stopped them from going on till you can see it. ... They hung a pair of shutters between the pillars, which improved the appearance of it, but does not destroy the bad effect of concealing parts of the pillar." The question put to Biddle was whether to have a covered, second-floor porch with pillars, or a second-floor room over the billiard room. He settled for a room enclosed by a pillared porch. In modified form, this addition represented a return to the Craigs' summer pavilion design.

* It is noteworthy that the two architects who planned Andalusia were both so closely identified with the designs for the Capitol at Washington. Latrobe's work in that connection has been previously mentioned. As for Walter, from 1851 to 1865 he was in charge of the extension of the Capitol, adding its wings and dome. 1977 ANDALUSIA 2g As if stimulated by her husband's building plans, in 1838 Mrs. Biddle undertook a project on her own, one which was referred to by the builders as "Mrs. Biddle's cottage." In line with Andalusia and about one hundred yards north of it was a farmhouse. From time to time, Mrs. Biddle's aunts, the Misses Craig, had spent their summers there. Conceivably, this was the house that the John Craigs improved on their purchase of the place in 1795, and where they lived before erecting the "new house," now part of Andalusia, in 1797-1798. On the advice of Walter, presumably the architect for the cottage, Mrs. Biddle employed John Lindsey, a Philadelphia carpenter, to transform the farmhouse into a country villa. She may have intended the cottage for her widowed sister-in-law, or perhaps for additional accommodations. With frequent house guests arriving, Andalusia, big as it was, did not offer enough space to house all of them as well as a family of eight, the Biddies had six children, and eight servants. The usual domestic complement at Andalusia consisted of a cook, at two dollars a week, a chamber- maid, housemaid, childrens' nurse, each at a dollar and a half, a seamstress, two-fifty, two waitresses at fourteen or fifteen dollars a month, and a coachman at nineteen. The cost of these people, who moved from town to country with the Biddies, was $1,044 m l%42- Nicholas Biddle's ambition for the place called for its enlarge- ment. In 1835 he purchased fourteen acres, and in 1838 he paid $20,000 for fifty-three and a half more adjoining Andalusia's southern boundary. This latter property was known as Chelwood and boasted a handsome stone house close to the river bank and highly improved grounds. In 1842, the year Nicholas' son Edward married, Chelwood was deeded over to him and was occupied by the Edward Biddies until their sale of the place in 1848. Recently Chelwood has been reunited to Andalusia. Its present house, designed by Napoleon LeBrun, is a replacement of the original structure which burned in i860. The year 1838, when the cottage took form, was a major building year at Andalusia. From January through December, there was a force of masons, bricklayers, plasterers, and laborers on the place— twenty-eight men in all employed at various tasks, although not all at the same time. More than these workmen were also involved as surviving accounts do not list carpenters, roofers, or furnace men. In addition to the stone work at the cottage, they rebuilt walls at 3O NICHOLAS B. WAIN WRIGHT January the river front, bridges at unstated locations, and worked on the coachhouse and stable, as well as on the vineries, of which more later. The reservoir, steam engine, and iron piping for the irrigation of the fields were installed in 1839, when an engineer spent four weeks boarding with the gardener. Biddle evidently undertook the study of agriculture when his marriage to Jane introduced him to Andalusia. In 1822 his address on that subject before the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture brought him national acclaim, with letters of con- gratulations from old John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madi- son and other Founding Fathers. A member of the first Council of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Biddle was elected Presi- dent of the Agricultural Society in 1831, holding that post for fourteen years, his resignation coming within two months of his death. Few interests fascinated him more than his farming activities at Andalusia. He glorified the farmer. In an address in 1840 at the Society's Agricultural Fair, he lauded agriculture: "The instinct of agriculture is for peace—for the empire of reason, not of violence— of votes, not of bayonets. Nor shall we, as freemen and members of a domestic and fireside profession hesitate in our choice of the three great master influences which now rule the world—force, opinion, and affection—the cartridge box, the ballot box, and the band box." Fettered to the Bank, he was not able to be at Andalusia as much as he would have liked. For assistance in running his affairs Biddle depended on R. Dillon Drake, who served as his private secretary, paying bills and caring for Biddle's interests. Drake was a member of the Philadelphia bar but seems to have devoted himself to the Biddle family rather than to the practice of law. During the latter part of the 1830s the head man at Andalusia was William Smith, Jr. Biddle called him his gardener and Smith headed his bills "garden accounts." Yet he was probably farmer as well, supervising the field crops and farm animals. His staff generally consisted of seven full- time workers, augmented by others during the summer months. In 1839 the summer help was unusually large, indicating that Biddle had brought Andalusia's farming operations to their peak. From April through August, Smith's extra help averaged twenty men, half of whom were on full time. With domestics, gardeners, and farmers, 1977 ANDALUSIA 31 Andalusia was then supporting about forty workers. It was a costly- operation. Smith's expense accounts contain some items of interest. On December 26, 1838, for example, he purchased five gallons of whiskey at seventy-five cents a gallon to give to the men who were filling the ice houses with Delaware River ice. It must have been cold work. Naturally, all of Andalusia's vegetables were grown on the place. An 1842 list of deliveries from the garden between May and Decem- ber discloses the arrival of strawberries on May 27; gooseberries, May 29; onions, May 29; lettuce, May 30; radishes, June 3; po- tatoes, June 19; carrots and beets, June 24; peas, June 26; currants, June 27; beans, July 2; cucumbers, July 9; apricots and squash, July 13; cabbages, July 16; tomatoes, July 25; okra, July 26; corn, August 17; eggplant, August 28; turnips, September 27; celery, October 20; and cauliflower, October 22. In addition, the orchard furnished a profusion of fruit. The graperies are a story unto themselves. Grapes Early in 1831, Nicholas Biddle wrote a number of letters inquiring into the purchase of grape roots: "The only relaxation which my occupations allow is a little farming, & I am anxious to try the experiment on a somewhat large scale of the field culture of grapes." Locally, he solicited roots from Robert Carr of Bartram's Botanical Gardens. His first major purchases were made through Alphonse Loubat, who in 1828 planted a forty-acre vineyard on Long Island, six miles from New York. Loubat advertised that he had sixty-two varieties of grapes, some 115,000 vines imported from Europe, and could furnish roots three-years old, carefully labeled, and packed in wet moss at twelve and a half cents each for orders of 1,000 or more. Biddle ordered four varieties of those best adapted for planting un- sheltered in fields, 1,000 of each—Muscatelle, Black Hamburg, Arvergnat and Meunier. The arrival of this shipment at Andalusia stimulated Biddle on April 2 to order 3,000 more roots from Loubat: "Let him send them immediately, for the ground is ready and the workmen waiting," His experiment was indeed to be on a large 32 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January scale. In 1831, he spent $1,048 on vines, pumps, manure, watering pots, lattice for props, and the expense of planting and designing the vineyard. Biddle *s interest in growing grapes led him to visit Loubat's vineyard in January, 1832. Unfortunately, his first plantings were largely killed by a severe winter. Far from discouraged, he decided to replace them, in fact, "I wish to enlarge my vinyard." On Febru- ary 22, 1832, he ordered 10,000 more roots from Loubat. These were to be "the best table grapes"; there is no evidence that Biddle ever contemplated making wine. Worried about the loss of so much of his first crop, in the summer of 1832 Biddle inquired of Loubat whether he covered his vines in winter and about the possibility of procuring a man, a vigneron, to take charge of the Andalusia vineyard. The following summer Biddle commented on two manuscripts on grape culture put in his hands by Samuel J. Fisher of Philadelphia: "They contain a great fund of useful information upon a subject well worthy of public attention, the cultivation of the vine, which is destined I think to become very general among us. Its progress has hitherto been retarded by the very obstacle which these works are so well adapted to obviate—the difficulty of acclimating so delicate a foreign plant. But the vine was once as exotic in Europe as it now is in America and it cannot be doubted that in the variety of soils & climates with which our country is blessed, we shall find the means of making our vinyards rival those abroad." The great problem was how to acclimate grapes in the vicinity of Philadelphia. "On visiting my farm on Sunday last," Biddle wrote Loubat on April 15, 1834, "I found that almost all the plants which I procured from you last perished during the winter." He ordered more roots from the New Yorker. This was probably Biddle's last effort at the field culture of grapes. Wedded to growing them, he was soon to realize that for success at Andalusia they had to be protected behind glass in artificially heated forcing houses. Late that year Biddle's account books show that he paid a mason $451 for work done on a forcing house, and Jones and Meyer $1,535 for glazing it. His huge grapery, designed by Thomas U. Walter, was erected in two long ranges each with its battery of furnaces in 1835 and 1836 at a cost of $21,807, a sum larger than Walter's improvements to the mansion, in progress at the same time. Private Collection NICHOLAS BIDDLE ENGRAVED BY JOHN SARTAIN, 1831, AFTER SULLY'S LOST PORTRAIT

33 Colored Photograph Courtesy of General Nicholas Biddle EDWARD C. BIDDLE

34 Private Collection JANE JOSEPHINE SARMIENTO Mrs. John C. Craig, later, Mrs. Edward C. Biddle Miniature by George Freeman, c. 1838

35 COLONEL CHARLES J. BIDDLE, 1861

36 JUDGE CRAIG BIDDLE, 1862 Aide-de-camp to Governor Andrew G. Curtin

37 38

THE Columbia AT THE ANDALUSIA WHARF, 1888 39

Private Collection PENCIL SKETCH OF THE ANDALUSIA WHARF BY KATHERINE CRAIG BIDDLE, SEPTEMBER 7, 1893 4O

TENNIS COURT AT ANDALUSIA, 1888 Standing: Charles Biddle, Samuel H. Thomas. Seated: Mrs. Charles Biddle, Mrs. Mercer Biddle, Eugenia Dixon, Mrs. Charles J. Biddle, Miss Jane Biddle, Miss Jane Biddle, Jr., Mrs. Samuel H. (Adele Biddle) Thomas. Front row: Dillon Biddle, Emma and Catherine Dixon, Miss Katherine Craig Biddle. 1977 ANDALUSIA 41 Turning away from Alphonse Loubat, Biddle sought the advice of Samuel G. Perkins of Boston, who raised hothouse grapes at his country place in Brookline from vines he had imported from Spain and Portugal. Perkins believed that Black Hamburgs were one of the best forcing grapes and in the spring of 1835 sent Biddle cuttings of that variety taken from a plant given to him in 1817 by Sir Joseph Banks, who had procured it from Kew Gardens. "If your house is now ready," Perkins wrote Biddle on May 1, 1835, "y°u may choose to raise your plants from cuttings. Any that I have I will furnish you with much pleasure if you will let me know the kinds you want/' In reply to this generous offer, Biddle sent his gardener, John Smith, Jr., to Boston, where Perkins gave him letters of introduc- tion "to Mr. Cushing & to my brother's gardener, recommending him to their special care, & asking all the aid & contributions in their power. ... I furnished Mr. Smith from my own garden with between 60 & 70 grape vines of different sorts, & a large parcell of cuttings of the best kinds. I also sent you a small 'Duchesse of Angouleme' pear tree, dwarf for training. The fruit you will find superior in quality, & surpassing in size any of the fall pears that are usual with us, & altho' not so luscious as your 'Sickle/ by many people it is much prefered. I divided one of them last fall, say October, among six of my friends, each of whom had a good stick or section two inches thick on the surface. It was highly praised for its fine qualities. Mr. Webster, I think, was one of the party." Biddle's hothouses were operating successfully by 1836, and he was receiving requests such as that of the Rev. William H. DeLancey of St. Peter's, the Philadelphia church attended by the Biddle family: "Will you excuse the liberty I take in soliciting a couple of bunches of grapes for a friend who is very sick." The Andalusia hothouses produced grapes in profusion, some of which Biddle sold and many of which he anonymously donated to the poor. "I am quite proud of my grapes which are now prospering beyond my expectations," he wrote his cousin Roswell L. Colt (married to an Oliver) on June 30, 1838. Improvements continued to be made to the forcing houses. The engine house was built for the steam engine which pumped water up from the river. From all quarters contributions of vines flowed in. A non-English-speaking Swiss vinedresser was added to the staff, and room was found in the graperies for 42 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January exotic flowers. Biddle's interest in grapes became a matter of note in the newspapers, and his collection well known. Harassed by personnel problems in the running of his farm, Biddle inclined to turn it over to others to work on shares. In the last few weeks of his life, he endeavored to iron out such a solution for his grapery. His papers contain the draft of a lease in his hand, which was to take effect on February 15, 1844 (Biddle died on February 27). This instrument stipulated that he leased the "grape ranges and fruit garden at Andalusia inclosed within the paling and board fence" to Bernard Strickler, who had been an assistant farmer at Andalusia for many years. Strickler was to treat the vines, trees, and plants to best advantage, to replace glass broken by his men, to market the fruit and divide the profits equally with Biddle, deducting from Biddle's share all such produce used by the Biddle family. For many years after Nicholas Biddle's death his grape houses continued to produce fruit and were the responsibility of his son, Judge Craig Biddle, an eminent member of the Farmers' Club. The secretary of the Farmers' Club recorded a visit of its members to Andalusia on June 15, 1871, when "On our usual tour of inspection we visited the graperies, filled with healthy vines and the promise of a large yield of fruit. They were kept in most excellent order, as well as the garden adjoining; thence to the stables and barn, all well cared for." Subsequently, severe storm damage to the hothouse glass brought the culture of indoor grapes at Andalusia to a close. All was cleared away except for the two massive ranges of high walls, today covered with wisteria vines and enclosing instead of a fruit garden an impressive display of boxwood.

Horses In his prime, Nicholas Biddle kept ten horses for riding, for his carriage, and for work on the farm, but he also had others of a superior sort. A letter to him of March 10, 1819, from William Thornton about a blooded mare Biddle had sold some while before establishes an early interest in thoroughbreds. However, the record 1977 ANDALUSIA 43 of his horseownership is sketchy. Surviving is a pedigree of one: "The grey mare sold by me to N. Biddle Esquire will be seven years old 27th of May next. She was got by the celebrated four mile horse T)olon who was by imported Old T>iomed out of a mare by Qoldfinder grdam Quick Silver who was by OldzMedley and a first rate four mile horse. See Sporting Magazine. Given under my hand this 15th of Dec. 1833. John C. Craig." John C. Craig was Biddle's brother-in-law and the Sporting ^Magazine was the American I'urf Register and Sporting Magazine in which Craig's name was prominent for some years. It first appears in June, 1830, in connection with a race involving the Bristol horse breeder Bela Badger and a $1,000 bet laid by Craig. Probably it was Bela Badger who initiated Craig into the sport of racing. At his estate in Roxborough, near Germantown, Craig laid out a race course and developed a large stud and training stable in which were to be found some of the best stock in the country. In the September, 1834, issue of the Âmerican Turf Register is a partial list of his stud, nine mares well known on the tracks and their "produce," twenty-four horses in all. Between 1831 and 1835 Craig's racing stable was in the front rank, his horses running successfully at the Maryland Jockey Club's Central Course near Baltimore, where he established the Craig Plate, to be run for annually, the Union Course at Long Island, and elsewhere. Like other proud horseowners of the 1830s, he commissioned Edouard Troye to paint their portraits and, of course, he was on friendly terms with William R. Johnson, who was known as the "Napoleon of the Turf," and visited him at his place near Petersburg, Virginia. Colonel Johnson, who had an extraordinary aptitude for training thoroughbreds, was America's leading turfman of his day. One of Craig's major horse speculations involved a horse called Shark. The original Shark, a stallion of highest esteem, a race horse considered in England "the most capital horse of his time," was imported into Virginia in 1786, where he died about 1795 after siring numerous progeny. From one of these came a black colt, another Shark, foaled in March, 1830, by American Eclipse out of Lady Lightfoot. When six months old, Shark was sold to Charles Green for $850. As a three-year-old, he established an enviable record as a winner on Long Island, where Craig's Virginia Taylor and Charles Kemble were also placing first, and was ranked by 44 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January many as the best three-year-old in the country. Captain R. F. Stockton of the Navy and of Princeton, New Jersey, purchased Shark for about $6,000, considered a high figure, in the summer of 1833, and Shark went on to further victories. Late in 1834 the newspapers reported the sale of Shark to John C. Craig for the sensational price of $15,000. The Qermantown telegraph observed: "Shark has the reputation, we believe, of being one of the first, if not the very first horse extant. . . . The united blood of imported Shark and Lady Lightfoot—of Messenger and Eclipse— is well sustained in the Shark of our day/' No sooner had Craig acquired this horse than he challenged the continent to a race in the spring of 1835 ôr a Purse °f $5,000. The race does not appear to have come off, and Craig's alternate plan was probably followed: "If not accepted, he will cover at Bristol, but will not be let to more than 20 mares at $100 each." From 1836 on, Shark had various "places of standing,'1 all in Virginia, until 1839 when Biddle sold him to the celebrated Colonel William R. Johnson for $12,000. Shark's career is of interest as a major example of Craig's bringing Nicholas Biddle into the field of breeding thoroughbreds, for, although it was not made public, Craig purchased Shark in partnership with Biddle. Biddle's interest, it should be noted, was in breeding blooded stock for sale, not in racing. Earlier, Biddle had also gone halves with Craig in the purchase of Eclipse Lightfoot, a stallion which they sold in 1835 ôr $7>°°°> making a handsome profit since the horse had cost them only $2,600. In the early spring of 1835, J°hn C. Craig visited Andalusia to see Thomas Oliver's Kate Kearney, who was heavy with foal by Eclipse and who would probably have another the following year by Shark. Craig, who had become overextended in acquiring stock for his training farm, wrote Biddle: "She is certainly the finest mare for sale in this country & most valuable as a breeder. If you have $2,500 which you wish to invest I would without hesitation advize you to make the purchase and to sell off your useless mares. I recom- mend it more though as you are owner of half of Shark" Conse- quently, Biddle, but again in Craig's name, made the purchase from his Baltimore cousin Thomas Oliver, son of his Uncle Robert Oliver. The Âmerican Turf Register for August, 1835, carried the following letter from Craig, dated June 25, 1835: "As I am exceedingly overstocked in racing blood, you will oblige me if you will publish 1977 ANDALUSIA 45 in your Sporting Magazine of next month that there will be a public sale at the seat of Bela Badger, Esq., one mile from Bristol, Pa., on the Monday previous to the first meeting at Trenton next fall, where I will expose for sale a part of my stock, say twenty-three or five head of the very best racing blood in the country of all ages— including the celebrated mares Coquette, Bonnets o' Blue, Kate Kearney, Virginia Taylor, Invalid, Pirouette, Betsy Archer and others too tedious to mention." Earlier, the Âmerican Turf 'Register had observed that Craig's stud included "many diamonds of the first water" and was "redundant" in riches. Although purchased in Craig's name, Kate Kearney belonged to Biddle and was perhaps entered in the sale merely to test the market. At all events, Biddle retained ownership of this mare and was himself a purchaser, obtaining Betsy Archer with three colts for #2,500, and Fair Rachel with a filly for #1,200. The result of these purchases, added to previous ones, gave Biddle a thoroughbred stock of five mares and five colts and fillies, acquired for $6,820, and, in addition, his half interest in the stallion Shark at $7,500. In 1836, Biddle sent two of his mares to be bred at Captain Stockton's farm at Princeton. The following year his groom took Kate Kearney and Betsy Archer to R. C. Williamson's place near Richmond to be bred to Priam at a cost of $300. This was a very high stud fee, but then Priam had been acquired for the stupendous price of $25,000 from the stables of the King of England. In 1838 Kate Kearney returned to Priam, a 157-day visit, and Fair Rachel also went to Richmond. The success of these visits is noted in Biddle's comment: "Priam's two colts which I now have are very promising." At the Agricultural Fair in 1840, Biddle exhibited his mares and colts, winning several premiums: one for Trusty, the best colt between three and four years of age; and another for Priam, named for his sire, the best colt between one and two years of age. The second-best colt in this latter category was named Nicholas Biddle, but it was not owned nor named by him. Naming horses for prominent men was not uncommon. Biddle named one of his Daniel Webster. Hard times forced Biddle to relinquish most of his horses, but he held on to Kate Kearney. In 1841 she was sent to Colonel William R. Johnson's establishment near Petersburg, the "Napoleon of the 46 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January Turf" writing to Biddle on June 21, "Kate Kearney looks very well and I have no doubt is in foal to Boston/' a famous stallion. "Her colt by Boston," went on the Colonel, "ought to bring as much as she would now." He recommended not selling her until she had another colt, and valued her at $2,000. The next year Kate was at W. L. S. White's Spring Grove, Hanover County, Virginia, with her filly, and was once again in foal. The curtain descends on Biddle's thoroughbred ventures with a letter of April 24, 1843, from White, calling Biddle's attention to Kate Kearney, "the old mare," and her filly. White had about reached the opinion that Biddle had forgotten all about them. But he had not. They were returned to Andalusia and at some time in 1843 Biddle turned Kate Kearney, her foal, and a filly by Boston over to one of his creditors, terminating his career as an owner ot thoroughbreds.

Morus Multicaulis In the late 1830s a speculative mania for the cultivation of silk developed in America. It was caused by a belief in the capability of an imported mulberry, Morus Multicaulis, for feeding silkworms. So intense was the excitement that crops of all kinds were displaced to make room for plantations of the mulberries. In Pennsylvania as much as $300,000 changed hands for these plants in a single week, and frequently the young trees were sold two and three times over within a few days at ever advancing prices. By 1839 ^e speculation had peaked. It was soon found that the Morus Multicaulis was not a golden tree; its unfortunate owners were reduced to uprooting their costly plantings. Nicholas Biddle embarked on the silk endeavor with his customary enthusiasm and expansiveness. In September and October, 1838, his gardener purchased $4,000 worth of Morus Multicaulis, more than 7,000 young trees. Biddle firmly embraced the belief that the market for silk in America could be entirely supplied by home production. The agriculturally minded editor of the Cjermantown 'Telegraph was extremely bullish on this issue. "We have always had the fullest confidence in the triumphant success of the silk business in this country. ... It is proved beyond question that one acre of Morus 1977 ANDALUSIA 47 Multicaulis trees, properly managed, will produce one hundred pounds of silk ... at $10 per pound." Naming Biddle at the head of the list of prominent men who had entered the business, the editor in his May 30, 1839, ^ssue announced: "In less than two years from this date this section of the country will abound with cooneries and silk plantations. We already hear of the erection of several cooneries within a few miles of this place ... an extensive one by Mr. Biddle at Andalusia." The local cooneries could feed five million worms. At the National Convention of Silk Growers held in Washington in December, 1839, a president and ten vice- presidents, one for each of as many states, were elected, with Biddle representing Pennsylvania, but by then the craze was tapering off. As early as September of that year, J. S. Skinner of Baltimore had written Biddle about Morus Multicaulis trees Biddle wanted to sell and what price to ask: "My own (private) opinion is that you would do well if you can have payment well secured to sell them at almost any price that can be got. Yet I may be mistaken and have much hesitation in giving any opinion in the way of advice. Every day brings us authority to sell large numbers—not an inquiry has been made by anyone wanting to buy." Undeterred, Biddle carried on. In May, 1840, he had eight more of Andalusia's acres planted in Morus Multicaulis, and in July he presided over a meeting of the Philadelphia Society for the Promo- tion of Agriculture at which strident representations were made: "1st, that the morus multicaulis tree, notwithstanding the opposi- tion it has met with, produced the best food for the silkworm; 2nd, that the business of raising silk was apparently progressing quite as satisfactory as its friends could desire." On that note of optimism, Andalusia's hopes to figure as a silk producer faded away.

The Guernsey Herd For more than a century Andalusia's herd of Guernsey cattle was one of its proudest boasts. In 1840 Nicholas Biddle had received a letter from New York offering to sell him three Guernsey cows, all of them in calf, which had just arrived in port. Biddle immediately sent R. Dillon Drake to make the purchase and to bring the animals 48 NICHOLAS B. WAIN WRIGHT January back. They turned out to be remarkably fine. Subsequently, this purchase was to entitle Andalusia to Certificate Number One in the American Guernsey Cattle Club. Proud of his new acquisitions, Biddle exhibited them at the Agricultural Fair at Rising Sun Village. The cows were dark in color. With the herd thriving, the stock crossed by later importations and maintained in its purity, calves from Andalusia were much sought by Bucks County farmers and this led to the creation of other Guernsey herds. Year after year on their annual visit to Andalusia, the members of the Farmers' Club invariably went out to admire the Guernseys. Biddle's cows, Jennie Deans, Fenella, and Flora Mclvor, brought to New York on the schooner Tilot on September 26, 1840, are recorded as Nos. 1, 2, and 3 respectively in the American Guernsey Cattle Club Herd Registry. Two of these cows dropped heifer calves—Fanny Ellsler, No. 4, and Fairy, No. 5—and one a bull calf, St. Patrick, No. 1. Subsequently, Biddle's son, Judge Craig Biddle, became so attached to this breed that he visited the Island of Guernsey to see them in their native home. In June, 1893, Andalusia's barn burned with the loss of many animals which had been extricated from it only to break loose and plunge back into the flaming structure. Judge Biddle promptly built a new barn. Unfortunately, the new barn was also destroyed by fire, the disaster taking place in September, 1920, when all Andalusia's crops, farm machinery and implements, four valuable horses, a fine Guernsey bull and two Guernsey heifers were lost. The cows had not been in the barn. Once again, the barn was rebuilt and farming continued at Andalusia, but in 1951 the Guernsey herd was disposed of.

Last Years of Mr. & Mrs. Biddle When Nicholas Biddle resigned from the Bank of the United States in March, 1839, he was satisfied that both its affairs and his own were prosperous, as his $50,000 purchase of a large mansion on Chestnut Street indicates. The Biddies never moved into that house, remaining at their Spruce Street residence while financial I977 ANDALUSIA 49

NICHOLAS BIDDLE Silhouette by August Edouart January ia, 1843 Private Collection 5O NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January storm clouds gathered. Early in 1841 the Bank failed, and Biddle, who had been out of it for nearly two years, but who had for so long dominated its affairs, was held to blame. In disgust, Philip Hone of New York wrote that Biddle had been "indicted for high crimes and vulgar misdemeanors by a secret conclave of greasy householders, who, a few short months ago, reflected back the complacent smiles from his good-natured visage as he ascended the marble steps of the classical temple of Mammon, of which himself was the high priest." The failure of the Bank ruined Biddle financially, but did not affect Andalusia. On the day of their marriage Nicholas and Jane Biddle had signed a document placing her property in trust in accordance with John Craig's will, which provided that if Jane died without leaving issue her share of his estate would pass to her brothers, both of whom, as fate would have it, were to predecease her by many years. With Biddle*s failure, Mrs. Biddle's trustees purchased Andalusia for the token sum of $8,000. Feeling his loss of reputation deeply, Biddle gave up his town house for year-round residence at Andalusia. After dining with him en famiky John Quincy Adams confided to his diary: "Biddle broods with smiling face and stifled groans over the wreck of splendid blasted expectations and ruined hopes. A fair mind, a brilliant genius, a generous temper, an honest heart, waylaid and led astray by prosperity, suffering the penalty of scarcely voluntary error." Even some of Biddle's political enemies, Martin Van Buren and Charles J. Ingersoll, expressed sympathy. "It is due to truth to say," wrote Van Buren, "that his private and personal character has never, to my knowledge, been successfully impeached." Inger- soll stated: "Nicholas Biddle was as iron-nerved as his great an- tagonist Andrew Jackson, loved his country not less and money as little." Ingersoll was indignant at attacks on Biddle by "dogs" who hitherto had "licked his hands and fawned on his footsteps." Throughout most of 1843 Biddle was dangerously ill at Andalusia. Recently discovered papers reveal that he was being treated for a heart condition, taking digitalis four times a day. At 1 A.M. on February 27, 1844, Dr. John Phillips of Bristol was relieved of his watch at Biddle's bedside by R. Dillon Drake. Three hours later Drake hurried out to awaken Phillips, both returning just in time to witness Biddle's last breath. To Roswell L. Colt, a financial 1977 ANDALUSIA 51 advisor of Biddle's and close friend, Drake wrote: "Our noble friend N. Biddle is no more. He died a few minutes before four o'clk this morning, suddenly as might have been anticipated. . • . He was perfectly calm and departed without the slightest struggle, or appearance of pain." Mrs. Biddle never recovered from her loss. Her health declined and her doctor prescribed a sea voyage. In 1845 she sailed for Europe on the Qreat Western^ taking her family with her. They visited relatives in Belfast and Edinburgh, traveled about England taking in Brighton, went on to France, and concluded their six- months' trip by sailing from Havre on the zArgo late in October. To be near her sons who worked in town, Mrs. Biddle took a house on Pine Street, above Seventh, residing at Andalusia in the summer. Her favorite brother-in-law, Commodore James Biddle, returning in shattered health after a three-year cruise to China and Japan, culminating with Mexican War service on the West Coast, spent the month of June, 1848, with her at Andalusia, bringing with him many gifts from the Orient, some of which are still in the house. There were twelve members of the family in residence that month and ten servants. Mrs. Biddle was in wretched health. "Whenever she feels better," wrote her daughter Adele, "she talks of old times, of Circe de Ronceray [who had married Nicholas Biddle's oldest brother, William, and who had died in childbirth in 1822], of her children when they were young, of all their happiness at Andalusia." About this time her children were very anxious to have her sit for a Talbotype photograph, but Mrs. Biddle would not consent. "She said the other day that there was a time when Sully the painter said that her face was like moonlight." A photograph, however, was taken of Mrs. Biddle about this time, her face grave and sad. With her health continuing to deteriorate, Mrs. Biddle sought other places to spend the summer. In 1850 she and her daughters went to Brandy wine Springs. The summer of 1851 they tried New Haven and Newburgh, New York, before going late in August to Andalusia. "I go," wrote Adele, "half with pleasure & half with pain, hoping & fearing for Mother's spirits there." But Mrs. Biddle, surrounded by her children, responded to Adele's sentiments: "Andalusia has proved my happy home. ... I have felt so much more light & cheerful, and after our long separation I admire in- 52, NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January creasingly its charms. . . . Dear Mother's spirits are better." From then on there was no more traveling to resorts. Jane Biddle's condition was such that a member of the family had to sit up all night in her room. She was hardly ever well, suffering, moreover, from frightening spells of fainting, often being un- conscious for a long time, and very weak afterwards. These attacks were called "rush of blood to the head." Doctors came every day and there were times when several members of the family bordered on exhaustion. "She talks so constantly of my father & her mother," wrote Adele Biddle on November 22, 1855. "They seem her only image & idea of happiness, as she was repeating ere she went to sleep tonight —that sweet, mild face! I asked whose it was. She smiled & said why father's. ... I liked him so much. I can't do without him." After undergoing a series of violent attacks, Mrs. Biddle died quietly in her room at Andalusia at 12:15 on the morning of August 12, 1856. "Oh what a life of suffering & intense sorrow was then closed," wrote her daughter. Two days later she was buried with her parents in the Craig vault at St. Peter's. "It was our intention," wrote Adele, "that on the morning of the same day our father's remains should have been removed from Christ Church Yard from the Biddle vault to the Craig, but this we found was not allowed by the authorities, the opening of the vaults being thought pre- judicial to the air of the city. It was a great disappointment."*

Third Generation Owners

Upon the death of Mrs. Nicholas Biddle, Andalusia became the joint, undivided property of her six children: Edward Craig Biddle, 1815-1872; Charles John Biddle, 1819-1873; John Craig Biddle, 1823-1910; Margaret Craig Biddle, 1825-1913; Adele Biddle, 1828- 1909; and Jane Biddle, 1830-1915. None of them ever relinquished

* Later the reinterment did take place under the eye of Judge Craig Biddle. When the Biddle vault was opened, it was found to be full of water. Undismayed, Judge Biddle re- marked that it had proved impossible to keep the Biddies away from the water, this with reference to the fact that the vault held the remains of seafaring Charles Biddle and his son, Commodore James Biddle. 1977 ANDALUSIA 53 their legal interest in the property, and to all but one it represented home for the rest of their lives. Edward, the eldest child of the Nicholas Biddies to survive infancy, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1833. He received a thorough training for mercantile affairs in the well- known house of Bevan & Humphreys and then, in 1836, was sent by his father to England in the company of Samuel Jaudon, for- merly cashier of the Bank of the United States. Their business was in connection with the Bank, and it was thought to be good experi- ence for Edward. In July, Edward wrote his father that he had made a journey through Belgium and Holland, had been to Paris, and wanted to go to Italy for the winter. With some reluctance, Nicholas Biddle, who had expected Edward to return in the fall of 1836, consented to a longer stay: "You must, however, bear in mind that you have to return to work, and contract neither habits nor opinions inconsistent with that course." Enthusiastically, Edward Biddle set off with a courier for travels through Scotland, Switzerland, and Germany before going on to Italy. Meanwhile, Edward's uncle and aunt, the John C. Craigs, the latter being also Edward's second cousin, had come abroad with their infant son. The travelers met in Italy, from where Edward wrote his father on December 31, 1836, that "We are still in Florence." The Craigs were all thriving. Edward had called on the Princess Charlotte Bonaparte who had asked animatedly about Edward's father. Nicholas Biddle had eulogized her in poetry on her departure from America in 1824. The Craigs and Edward Biddle moved on to Milan, where John Craig fell ill. On April 28, 1837, Craig died in Milan, and Mrs. Nicholas Biddle thus lost the second of her brothers, James Craig having died a bachelor five years earlier. Edward escorted the grieving widow and her child back to Philadelphia. Before long, Edward, described by the diarist Fisher as "very gentlemanlike and clever," again crossed the Atlantic, established by his father as a partner in Humphreys & Biddle, cotton brokers at Liverpool, doing business largely on account of the Bank of the United States. This enterprise lasted about two years. It does not appear that Edward Biddle ever worked again. Thereafter the directories listed him as "gent." 54 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January In 1842 Edward and his cousin Jane, Mrs. John C. Craig, informed the Nicholas Biddies that they wanted to get married. Swayed by the facts that both parties were much of an age, of similar tastes and habits, had both been brought up under the eye of the Biddies and were deeply in love, Nicholas Biddle submitted the issue to Bishop William H. DeLancey, who gave assurances that the union would not contravene the laws of God or the ordi- nances of the Church. The Biddies then consented to the marriage, but the rector of St. Peter's refused to perform it. On June 21, 1842, Edward and Jane were married by Bishop DeLancey. After foreign travel, Edward and Jane spent much time at Andalusia, where Jane's son John Craig, Jr., grew up.* The Edward Biddies themselves had six children, of whom Edward, their only son, was the only one to leave issue. In 1848 Mrs. Edward Biddle "kept house" for the Biddies at Andalusia and lived with her increasing family in the "homestead" for several years. By 1854 they had taken over the cottage, where they experienced difficulty keeping a staff. Jane called Edward's frequent trips to town on the steamship "Cooks Voyages." In June, 1856, the Edward Biddle family departed for Europe. "It is sad," wrote his sister Adele, "to think that the whole family at the cottage have gone. They seemed an inherent part of Andalusia, but it is the fulfillment of Jane's long cherished plans." Mrs. Nicholas Biddle's death that summer brought them home, and they wintered at the cottage, but by March, 1857, they were again planning a lengthy foreign residence. Shortly before they sailed, M. Thomas & Sons advertised an auction for April 15, 1857, in a Catalogue of Tart of the Furniture, 8tc. of a Qentleman Qoing to Europe. Offered for sale was a large quantity of glass, china, orna- ments, silver, prints and other objects, including a number of paintings once owned by the Nicholas Biddies. While much Craig and Biddle memorabilia was dispersed at that time, the most interesting paintings in the catalogue were preserved for the family. Geneva and Dresden were places where the Edward Biddies stayed during the next seven years before their return to Philadel- phia. It was not until 1865 that they were again listed in a Philadel-

* Young Craig's career was disappointing. He became a clerk in the customs service and died of yellow fever in Mississippi City, Mississippi, on October 19, 1878, leaving an im- poverished widow and four children, for whom the Biddies attempted to provide. 1977 ANDALUSIA 55 phia directory, their home being in Germantown. It was presumably the return of the Edward Biddies that brought on the 1865 auction of Andalusia. During their long absence, younger members of the family with many children had become ensconced in the mansion and the cottage and there was not much benefit the Edward Biddies could derive from their interest in the property. The only answer was to sell the whole, but when the day of the auction arrived a purchaser with a suitable price did not, and the sale was not consummated. The Edward Biddies continued to reside in Germantown until 1872. On March 7 of that year their son Edward married Emily, daughter of Anthony J. Drexel. Shortly afterward, Edward, Sr. caught cold, pneumonia set in and on March 23, 1872, Nicholas Biddle's oldest child died. For some years thereafter his widow lived in a house on Delancey Place, later moving to West Philadelphia to be with her son. It was at his house that she died of a stroke on February 15, 1884. Charles J. Biddle, a small, slight man, led a far different life than his brother Edward. Graduating from Princeton, he qualified for the Philadelphia bar, traveled abroad, and then practiced law and engaged in journalism. When the Mexican War came along, he raised a company, was commissioned Captain, served valiantly, came home a Major with a record of heroism and was voted a sword by citizens of Philadelphia. The sword is at Andalusia. A man of literary attainments, he was interested in history, contributing to the publications of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. "On Monday May 16th [1853] we came to Andalusia," recorded Adele Biddle. "The following morning Charles came from town & announced to us his marriage. He had been married since the 9th of March. We had never before even suspected his intentions or heard the name of the lady. The following day at three o'clock he brought to us his bride & she is to pass the summer with us." This step, perhaps taken to present his invalid mother with a fait accompli, thus saw Charles J. Biddle married to Emma Mather, a young Englishwoman whose father, Edwin M. Mather, lived in Gloucester County, New Jersey. The ceremony was performed by Charles' best friend, the Rev. Alexander G. Mercer, after whom one of Biddle's sons was to be named. Yet another son was named Dillon Biddle, for R. Dillon Drake who died in 1863. Following the $6 NICHOLAS B. WAIN WRIGHT January departure of the Edward Biddies for Europe, the Charles J. Biddle family occupied the cottage until the death of his widow at the age of eighty-eight in 1918. The outbreak of the Civil War found Charles J. Biddle, a Demo- crat, opposed to the policies of the Lincoln Administration. However, he volunteered his services and was made Colonel of the crack Pennsylvania "Bucktail Regiment." Called from the field to serve in Congress, he declined Lincoln's appointment of him as Brigadier General of Volunteers, dated the same day that Biddle's friend George Gordon Meade was elevated to that rank. In the years following he was a prominent figure in Pennsylvania's Democratic Party, serving as Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee. After the War, in broken health and with impaired eyesight, Colonel Biddle became proprietor and editor of The oAge> Phila- delphia's Democratic paper. He fell in harness. Taken ill at his office, he was brought to his town house. Unable to speak, he wrote on his tablet: "This is temporary exhaustion only." Several hours later on September 28, 1873, he was dead. Only a few days before he had dined with President Grant and other members of the Aztec Club, veterans of the Mexican War. Two days after Colonel Biddle's death the Bar of Philadelphia convened in the Supreme Court Room and one after another of its leaders arose to pay tribute to their departed member. Judge John Cadwalader, in whose office Biddle had read law, delivered an address on his former student at the Historical Society of Pennsyl- vania that winter. All united in praise of his physical and moral courage and of his many sterling qualities and talents. Colonel and Mrs. Biddle had seven children, the eldest of whom, Jane Emma, married an Annapolis graduate, Thomas Fraser Dixon, at Andalusia in 1877. Their second child was Charles, who married Letitia Glenn of Baltimore. Next came John Craig Biddle, whose career as a mining engineer was passed in the West; Dillon, Adele, and Alexander Mercer married and spent their summers at Anda- lusia or nearby Torresdale. Katherine Craig Biddle, the youngest of the family, never married. Talented artistically, she devoted her life to caring for stray animals. The youngest of Nicholas Biddle's three sons, John Craig Biddle, dropped his first name. Like his brother Charles, he too was a 57

LIBRARY WING IN FOREGROUND, C. 1900 58

THE LIBRARY, C. 1910 59

ENTRANCE FACADE, C. 1910 6o

SIDE VIEW, C. 1910 6i

BILLIARD HOUSE Photographed for the Historic American Buildings Survey by Jack E. Boucher 62

THE GROTTO Photographed for the Historic American Buildings Survey by Jack E. Boucher 63

AERIAL VIEW OF ANDALUSIA Photographed by Paul B. Moyer MR. & MRS. CHARLES J. BIDDLE Toni Frissell Collection, Library of Congress

64 1977 ANDALUSIA 65 Princeton graduate, a Philadelphia lawyer, a contributor to the newspapers, and was interested in history. Long a Vice-President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, he gave the address before it on the important occasion of the Society's receiving the Penn Papers. Like his father before him, he served as President of the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture. Unlike other members of the family, Craig Biddle became a Republican, having previously been elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly as a Whig. He served on General Robert Patterson's staff early in the Civil War and was subsequently military aide to Governor Andrew G. Cur tin. In 1875 Craig Biddle became an Associate Judge of Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas, being promoted to President Judge in 1896, and retiring from the Court in 1907. On the bench he was noted for his patience and common sense. However, he could be outspoken. On one occasion a man was held for the murder of his wife. A hastily summoned lawyer conferred with the murderer and then addressed the court: "Your Honor, I am going to base my defense on the unwritten law." "Young man," replied Judge Biddle, "in this Court the unwritten law is not worth the paper it wasn't written on." Deaf in his later years, the Judge read lips in Court. He was a noted wit. On learning that the wealthy distiller Henry C. Gibson had named his magnificent, castellated countryseat in Jenkintown "Agincourt," he retorted: "Very appropriate indeed— a-gin-court." In 1851, Craig Biddle married Mary Rockhill, long an intimate friend of the Biddies. That summer they occupied the cottage. Mary died in childbirth within a year of her marriage and in 1852 Craig Biddle returned to the cottage with his infant daughter. Shortly thereafter Mary's daughter died and Craig came back to the "big house" to live with his sisters. In the winter, from 1863 on, Craig Biddle and his two unmarried sisters lived at 2033 Pine Street, where they made room for Charles J. Biddle's family after Charles' death. Because of the relatively early deaths of his brothers, Craig Biddle was in effect the titular head of the house at Andalusia. He carefully kept up the place as near as possible to the old standard, an expense which prompted him to refer to it as his yacht. He was a member of the previously mentioned distinguished twelve-man 66 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January group known as The Farmers' Club. This club met annually at Andalusia for an inspection of the farm and a banquet served in Andalusia's library. Judge Craig Biddle acted as its host forty times, the last being in 1905. The Farmers usually came up the river on the steamboat that ran between Philadelphia and Bristol, to be greeted by the Judge at the Andalusia wharf (built about 1850 and burned in 1898), and later returned to town on the train. The meetings of The Farmers' Club were always momentous occasions requiring much preparation. At one meeting members expressed regret that Farmer George Blight had been unable to attend, which prompted the Judge to remark that it was the first time he had known a group of farmers to deplore the absence of blight. The Farmers' meetings grew less serious and more convivial with the passing of time. Their tradition was carried on long after Judge Biddle's death at Andalusia in 1910 by his nephew Charles Biddle and his great-nephew Charles J. Biddle, both lawyers like the Judge. At one such meeting in 1934 Farmer Edward T. Stotesbury, in deference to his age, was asked to preside: "This he did with his accustomed grace and by way of inaugural gave a brief account of the hardships of farm life at Palm Beach during the winter months." On November 2, 1911, members of the Bar assembled in the Court of Common Pleas to present to the Court a marble bust of Judge Biddle, the work of Samuel Murray. In the address of pre- sentation are contained these words: "His kindliness, his courtesy, his humor, his old-fashioned deportment, his perfect companion- ship, all these are exquisite pictures which linger in the memory and which endear him to those of us who are still alive." The oldest of the Nicholas Biddies' three daughters was Margaret Craig Biddle, known as Meta. In 1846 she married her first cousin James S. Biddle in her mother's Pine Street house. James was the son of Nicholas Biddle's brother Charles, who failed in business in 1826. Following that, Commodore James Biddle provided for James, sending him to boarding school and later obtaining for him an appointment to the Navy, in which James served for twenty-odd years, which included the Mexican War. Resigning from the Navy, Captain Biddle became president of a railroad. Always religious, he was one of Philadelphia's most prominent lay leaders in the Episco- pal Church; so renowned were his sisters that they became known 1977 ANDALUSIA 6j as the "good Miss Biddies." After the Civil War, he led a forlorn hope as Democratic candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia. Captain Biddle and his family had their town house, but passed the summers at Andalusia in the mansion, sharing it with the Judge and his two unmarried sisters. James and Meta had three children, Jane Craig, Nicholas, and Meta Craig, of whom only Nicholas married. After a long illness, Nicholas died at Andalusia, aged thirty-eight, in 1888, leaving two daughters. His mother, Meta, perhaps feeling her father's failure, did not participate in society, nor to any real extent did her two unmarried sisters. The elder of these, Adele, has left many revealing pictures of herself in her diary. Very small, weighing only ninety pounds and sometimes less, she was driven by a terrible energy. When attracted to the piano, she would practice eight hours a day. When time permitted, she spent hours on her religious devotions, usually in the seclusion of the second floor of the billiard house, sometimes on Andalusia's roof. In the summer of 1849, when she was about to come out of five and one-half years of mourning for her father, she wrote of Andalusia: "It looked very beautiful but to me so melancholy, & how could it look otherwise now? I regard the years when I was about 14 & 15 as the happiest years I have ever seen. . . . These years of my life & many more that too were very happy were passed at Andalusia & with it are linked all my recollections of my Father, so how can it fail to look melancholy, & I look on it more as an old friend than as a spot of earth." Adele and her sister Jane were in constant attendance on their mother during her last ten years. They sacrificed everything to her care. "You and Miss Jane," Mrs. Biddle's doctor informed Adele, "are leading holy lives." Their mother's death left the girls drained of strength to enter on a normal social scene. Adele devoted much of her life to the Women's Branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Unsparingly, she threw all her energies into this cause, presiding over meetings, hiring and firing agents, in- vestigating complaints, attending conventions and lobbying at Harrisburg and City Hall. Her spare time was spent in religious contemplation and in visiting the poor and sick, especially the insane. Her sister Jane was more domestic. She kept house for Judge Biddle and Adele, ringing the bell at an appointed hour to arouse 68 NICHOLAS B. WAINWRIGHT January the Andalusia household prior to breakfast. Her death in 1915 opened up for Andalusia a different type of ownership than the joint, undivided one that had prevailed so long.

Epilogue Andalusia's sixty-year ownership by Nicholas Biddle *s children was probably responsible for preserving the house essentially as he had left it. His children, revering his memory, lacked both the motivation and the financial means to convert their outmoded Greek Revival mansion into a stylish Florentine villa or Gothic castle in accordance with the taste of changing times. In consequence, following the death of Miss Jane Biddle in 1915, when the property came into the possession of her nephew Charles Biddle, eldest son of Colonel Charles J. Biddle, the place was virtually unchanged from the mid-i83os when architect Walter completed his work on it. Prior to moving from the cottage, where he had summered with his mother since his marriage in 1888, Charles Biddle, a lawyer like his father and grandfather before him, modernized the big house to the extent of installing a pantry, plumbing, and electricity, all of which Andalusia had lacked. Women residents wishing to bathe had walked out to a building, still standing near the ice house, in which Nicholas Biddle had installed a marble tub purchased from Michael Bouvier of Philadelphia. The men bathed from a bath house at the river's edge. The breakup of the joint family ownership called for a division of portraits among the heirs. Several divisions, however, had taken place earlier of paintings and miniatures which had hung at Anda- lusia. Of the many members of the family who sat for artists, Nicholas Biddle alone was portrayed two dozen times in various media,* and there were at least five likenesses of Mrs. Biddle. Among other canvases of interest was a full-length portrait of Caldwell Craig, Mrs. John Craig's uncle, the Tobago planter. A Negro slave was shown handing him a letter. Nicholas Biddle com-

* Nicholas B. Wainwright, "Nicholas Biddle in Portraiture," The Magazine Antiques > November, 1975, pp. 956-964. 1977 ANDALUSIA 69 missioned John Vanderlyn to paint a head of his celebrated "Ariadne," and Bass Otis to copy in heroic size Jacques Louis David's spirited composition of a mounted Napoleon crossing the Alps. The original, a replica of the one at the Louvre, belonged to Napoleon's brother Joseph, the Compte de Survilliers, who gave Biddle a large painting by Frans Snyders (1579-1657) known as the Wolf Hunt, which Joseph had acquired while King of Spain. Biddle, an admirer of Napoleon whose coronation he had attended, purchased a statue of the Emperor in his coronation robes and this remains in the house together with the Sully portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Biddle and many of their possessions. Unfortunately, one picture had to be sold as none of the Biddies felt able to assume its value as part of his share in the division, and so passed out of their hands John Craig's copy of Gilbert Stuart's Washington. Several years after the Charles Biddies and their only child, Charles J. Biddle, occupied the mansion, fire damaged the reservoir building at the end of the garden formed by the great walls of the graperies. This section was then improved by an ornamental structure, designed by the architectural firm of Meller, Meigs and Howe, for use as a residence for a family employed on the place and this represents the only major architectural change to Andalusia's grounds since the 1830s. After Charles Biddle's death in 1923, his widow moved to the cottage and her son and his bride of that year took over the main house. Charles J. Biddle, who was to become a prominent Philadel- phia lawyer and sportsman, as well as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, had come out of World War I a Major in the Air Service, officially credited with the destruction of eight enemy airplanes, and the recipient of decorations, to be seen in the library, from France, Belgium, and his own country. He and his wife, Katherine Legendre of a noted New Orleans family, carried on Andalusia's tradition of hospitality and made it their year-round residence for half a century. Since their deaths in 1972 and 1973— their ashes repose in the grotto—Andalusia has been carefully maintained and opened for increased public visitation by its present owners, Mr. and Mrs. James Biddle.