Matthew Biddick III, son of Matthew Biddick II and Mary Tonkin, was born in St. Issey, Cornwall, England, on 20 March 1817. He was the
eldest of nine children. When Matthew was about fourteen years of age, he was
bound out as an apprentice to a shoemaker, as was the custom in large families
in those days.
In March 1843, he married Petra Nellie Hawkins. On 15 July 1844, Hannah Biddick their first child was born. Their second child, Emma Biddick, was born 29 June 1849. Both of these girls were born in the parish of St.
Issey.
On 11 April 1850, Matthew and Petra, along with their two little girls,
accompanied a large group of Rundells and Biddicks to the New World. They left
Padstow, England and arrived in Montreal, Canada, 1 June. (It is not known how
long it took them to reach Platteville, Wisconsin, their final destination, but
we can assume, it took them about two weeks.)
After taking up residence in the Platteville area, their third and last
daughter, Mary Ellen, was born in 1854. Later in partnership with their father, Matthew, and his
brother, Peter, bought about 120 acres in Mifflin Township. The three families lived there
for many years and it was there that Petra died 14 October 1864.
On 24 March 1866, Matthew married Louisa Spalding Nasmith (2nd marriage), a widow from Platteville, but this marriage lasted only a few
short years. Louisa died and shortly thereafter Matthew took a trip to
Cornwall, where he met and married Ann Drew Stone (3rd marriage).
Though headquartered in Mifflin Township. he made seven trips across the
Atlantic Ocean and also helped his daughter rescue her Iowa farm from complete
ruin. He died peacefully 23 April 1897.
His oldest daughter, Hannah, married William Paul, son of George and Betsy Paul, in 1865. They moved to Iowa, where they were quite successful farming.
The second daughter, Emma, married William Mitchell, a Civil War Veteran, in 1866, and they moved to Oceola County, Iowa, to live.
This was beautiful farmland, but for several years in succession their crops
were destroyed by grasshoppers. Her father, Matthew Biddick, helped them to
make a success of their farm.
The third daughter, Mary Ellen, married David Giltner, in 1873, and they moved to South Dakota with their small family in 1877.
(Grindell, Marcia Rundell, Ruth Sue Allen, George Wm. Phillips, The
Rundell-Biddick Picnic Association History, Salt Lake City : Filmed by the
Genealogical Society of Utah, 1989 , Page #: 198, Family History Library (FHL),
35 North West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84150, USA, Film #: 1421941 Item #:
3. Compiled by Marcia Rundell Grindell and Ruth Sue Allen. Edited and
researched by George Wm. Phillips. Privately published Platteville, Wisconsin:
The Rundell Biddick Endowment, 1983.)
