Joseph Franklin Biddle

Joseph Franklin Biddle (September 14, 1871 – December 3, 1936) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. As a member of the Republican Party representing Pennsylvania, he contributed to the legislative process during one term in office. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, as the nation confronted the final months of the Hoover administration and the onset of the New Deal, and he participated in the democratic process by representing the interests of his constituents in central Pennsylvania.

Biddle was born on September 14, 1871, in Charlesville, Pennsylvania. Details of his early childhood are sparse, but his subsequent educational and professional achievements indicate a strong early commitment to learning and public service. He pursued teacher training at what was then Millersville State Teachers’ College in Millersville, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1894. Seeking further professional advancement, he enrolled in the law department of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and completed his legal studies there in 1897.

After graduating from Dickinson, Biddle was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Bedford, Pennsylvania. He established himself as an attorney in Bedford before relocating in 1903 to Everett, Pennsylvania, where he continued to practice law and expanded his interests into newspaper publishing. On June 17, 1903, he married Anna Patton Hunter (1876–1936). The couple had five children: Mary Elisabeth Biddle (1904–1983), who married Wilbur Kaylor McKee (1898–1984); John Hunter Biddle (1905–1977), who married Helen Isabella Read (1913–1985); Anne Patton Biddle (1907–1976), who married Griffith Roberts Pullinger (1903–1984); Sarah Jane Biddle (1908–1979), who married William Worley Ten Eyck (1907–1976); and Frances Josephine Biddle (1914–2007), who married Elmer Ellsworth McMeen (1912–1996).

In 1918 Biddle moved to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he further developed his interests in printing, publishing, and banking. On January 31, 1922, he founded The Daily News of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, which became a central institution in the community and the foundation of a family publishing enterprise. He organized his media interests under The Joseph F. Biddle Publishing Company, through which he oversaw the newspaper and related ventures. His prominence in the publishing field was reflected in his membership in the Pennsylvania Publishers’ Association from 1924 to 1936 and his service as a director of the National Editorial Association from 1926 to 1936. Concurrently, he became increasingly active in Republican Party affairs, serving as a member of the Republican State committee from 1932 to 1936.

Biddle’s political and civic engagement culminated in his election to the U.S. House of Representatives. In November 1932 he was the successful Republican nominee in a special election held to fill the vacancy in the Seventy-second Congress caused by the death of Representative Edward M. Beers. He served from November 8, 1932, to March 3, 1933, completing Beers’s term. Although his tenure in Congress was brief and he was not a candidate for a full term in the subsequent Congress, his service placed him at the federal level during a pivotal transition in American political and economic life, as the country moved from the Hoover administration to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency.

After leaving Congress, Biddle returned to Huntingdon and resumed his work in the printing and newspaper publishing business. Under his leadership, The Daily News and its associated enterprises continued to grow in influence. The Biddle publishing assets, including The Joseph F. Biddle Publishing Company, remained under family control after his death. Upon the deaths of Joseph F. Biddle and his wife, Anna Biddle, both in 1936, ownership of the publishing company and its holdings passed to their five children. The Joseph F. Biddle Publishing Company owned and operated The Daily News and related properties until October 21, 1991, when all publishing assets were sold to The Sample News Group, LLC.

The family business extended beyond print media. Huntingdon Broadcasters, Inc., longtime owners of radio stations WHUN (AM) and WHUN (FM), functioned as a wholly owned subsidiary of The Joseph F. Biddle Publishing Company until the mid-1990s, when it was acquired by Forever Broadcasting (Forever Media, Inc.), and in 2015 it was acquired by Southern Belle LLC. Within the newspaper itself, the Biddle family maintained a multigenerational presence: Joseph and Anna’s son, John Hunter Biddle, served as publisher of The Daily News from 1936 until his death on May 14, 1977. On June 13, 1977, one of John H. Biddle’s sons, Joseph Franklin Biddle II (born 1936), became publisher of The Daily News, marking a third generation of Biddle family leadership at the paper. Among Joseph F. Biddle’s descendants, his grandson El McMeen (né Elmer Ellsworth McMeen; born 1947), son of Frances Josephine Biddle and Elmer Ellsworth McMeen, became notable as a steel-string fingerstyle guitarist.

Joseph Franklin Biddle died in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on December 3, 1936, while still active in his publishing and civic pursuits. He was interred in Trinity Churchyard, Friends’ Cove, near Bedford, Pennsylvania. His life encompassed careers in law, journalism, banking, and politics, and through both his brief congressional service and his enduring influence in Pennsylvania’s newspaper industry, he left a legacy that continued through his family’s stewardship of The Daily News and related enterprises well into the late twentieth century.