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Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
, the 46th
president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
, includes members prominent in law, education, activism and politics. Biden's immediate family was the first family of the United States from 2021 to 2025 during Biden's presidency. They were also the second family of the United States from 2009 to 2017 during Biden's vice presidency under
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
. Biden's family is mostly descended from the
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, with most of their ancestors coming from
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
and
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, and a smaller number descending from the French. Of Biden's sixteen great-great-grandparents, ten of them were born in Ireland. He is descended from the Blewitts of
County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
and the Finnegans of
County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...
. One of Biden's great-great-great-grandfathers was born in Sussex, England, and emigrated to
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
in the United States by 1820. In the closing months of the Biden administration, several members of his family, including his son, his siblings and his in-laws, were issued presidential pardons.


Wives


Neilia Hunter Biden

Neilia Hunter Biden, the first wife of Joe Biden, was born on July 28, 1942. The couple married on August 27, 1966. After the wedding, the Bidens moved to
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...
, where Biden was on the New Castle County Council. The couple had three children: Joseph Robinette "Beau" III, Robert Hunter, and Naomi Christina "Amy". Biden campaigned to unseat the U.S. Senator from Delaware J. Caleb Boggs; Neilia was described by ''The News Journal'' as the "brains" of his victorious campaign. On December 18, 1972, while her husband was still a U.S. senator-elect, Neilia was driving with Naomi, Beau, and Hunter to buy a
Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...
. Neilia "drove into the path" of a tractor-trailer, "possibly because her head was turned and she didn't see the oncoming truck". Neilia and the children were taken to Wilmington General Hospital. Neilia and Naomi died upon arrival, but her two sons survived with serious injuries. Biden was sworn in to the U.S. Senate on January 3, 1973, at the hospital where his sons were being treated.


Jill Biden

Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden (née Jacobs, formerly Stevenson), the second and current wife of Joe Biden, was born on June 3, 1951. She met Biden on a blind date in March 1975. She and Joe Biden were married by a Catholic priest on June 17, 1977, at the Chapel at the United Nations in New York City. This was four and a half years after his first wife and infant daughter died; Joe had proposed several times before she accepted, as she was wary of entering the public spotlight, anxious to remain focused on her own career, and initially hesitant to take on the commitment of raising his two young sons who had survived the accident.


Children

Joe Biden fathered four children from two marriages. His firstborn daughter (third child), Naomi Christina Biden, died in December 1972, in the same car accident as her mother. His firstborn son and first child, Joseph "Beau" R. Biden III, died in May 2015 from brain cancer. The Bidens' two surviving children include one son from his first marriage, Robert Hunter Biden, and one daughter from his second, Ashley Blazer Biden.


Beau Biden

Joseph "Beau" Robinette Biden III was born on February 3, 1969, in Wilmington, Delaware. Beau suffered multiple broken bones in the car crash that killed his mother and sister, but he survived after spending several months in a hospital. Beau went on to graduate from Archmere Academy, his father's high school alma mater, and the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
in 1991, where he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. He was also a graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, as was his father. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Judge Steven McAuliffe of the United States District Court of New Hampshire. From 1995 to 2004, he worked at the
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
in Philadelphia, first as Counsel to the Office of Policy Development and later as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office. He married Hallie Olivere in 2002. In his first bid at political office, Biden ran for Attorney General of Delaware in 2006. Biden's opponent was a veteran state prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ferris Wharton. Major issues in the campaign included the candidates' experience and proposed efforts to address sex offenders, Internet predators, senior abuse and domestic abuse. Biden won the election by approximately five percentage points. Beau played an active role in his father's 2008 vice presidential campaign, speaking at the
Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...
after Joe Biden was nominated for Vice President of the United States. He recounted the auto accident that killed his mother and sister and the subsequent parenting commitment his father made to his sons, a speech at which many delegates wept. On November 2, 2010, he was easily reelected to a second term as Delaware Attorney General, beating Independent Party of Delaware candidate Doug Campbell by a large margin. For the final few years of his life, Biden suffered from a brain tumor. In May 2010, he was admitted to
Christiana Hospital Christiana Hospital is a 1,039-bed nationally ranked, non-profit, Tertiary care, tertiary, research and Teaching hospital, academic medical center located in Stanton, Delaware, Stanton, Newark, Delaware, Newark, Delaware, servicing the entire Del ...
in
Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 31,454. The University of Delaware is ...
, after complaining of a headache, numbness, and paralysis. Officials said he had suffered a "mild stroke". Later that month, Biden was transferred to
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is the flagship hospital of Jefferson Health, a multi-state non-profit health system based in Philadelphia. The hospital serves as the teaching hospital for Thomas Jefferson University. With 937 licensed b ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
and kept for observation for several days. In August 2013, Biden was admitted to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and diagnosed with brain cancer, after experiencing what
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
officials called "an episode of disorientation and weakness". A lesion was removed at that time. Biden had radiation and chemotherapy treatments and the cancer remained stable. On May 20, 2015, he was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, because of a recurrence of brain cancer. He died there ten days later, on May 30, 2015, at the age of 46. His funeral was held at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...
, on June 6, 2015. He was buried at St. Joseph's on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware.


Hunter Biden

Robert Hunter Biden was born on February 4, 1970, in Wilmington, Delaware. Along with his mother and siblings, he was in the 1972 crash, sustaining injuries to his skull. Along with his older brother, he survived after receiving months of medical treatment. Like his father and brother, Hunter attended Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
in 1992. During the year after he graduated from college, he served as a
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
volunteer at a church in
Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
, and met Kathleen Buhle, whom he married in 1993. After attending
Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...
for one year, he transferred to
Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...
and graduated in 1996. He and Kathleen divorced in 2017 and, in 2019, he married Melissa Cohen. After law school, Hunter accepted a position at bank holding company
MBNA MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006. History The former Maryland National ...
America, a major contributor to his father's political campaigns. By 1998, Biden had risen to the rank of executive vice president. During the 2020 election, the Trump administration pointed out that Hunter Biden had connections with the Ukrainian
holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
Burisma. In September 2024, Hunter Biden, pleaded guilty to all nine charges in his federal tax evasion case, surprising prosecutors as they prepared for trial. He previously denied deliberately evading $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019. Biden had been indicted with three felony tax offences and six misdemeanor offences, which included tax evasion and filing false returns. Facing up to 17 years in prison, Biden was set for sentencing on December 16, 2024. On December 1, 2024, President Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon for his son Hunter. The pardon covered all federal offenses committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024, and included his tax charges, gun charges, and any other potential crimes committed within that time. The pardon received bipartisan criticism from members of Congress as harming the justice system. In the months leading up to Hunter's scheduled sentencing, the President had made repeated statements that he would not use the pardon authority for his own son. He and his staff continued to state that there would be no pardon for Hunter as late as November, although internal staff discussions affirmed that the option for a pardon would remain on the table even as Biden publicly stated otherwise.


Naomi "Amy" Biden

Naomi Christina Biden, nicknamed "Amy", was born on November 8, 1971, in Wilmington, Delaware. She died in the same
car crash A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...
as her mother, Neilia, on December 18, 1972, when she was just over a year old.


Ashley Biden

Ashley Blazer Biden was born on June 8, 1981, in Wilmington, Delaware. She is the only child from Joe Biden's second marriage. Ashley Biden attended Wilmington Friends School, a private school run by the
Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
in Wilmington. When she was in elementary school, she discovered that the cosmetics company Bonne Bell tested its products on animals. She wrote a letter to the company asking them to change their policy on animal testing. She later got involved in dolphin conservation, inspiring her father to work with Congresswoman
Barbara Boxer Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is a retired American politician, lobbyist, and former reporter who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United St ...
to write and pass the 1990 Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act. Ashley Biden made an appearance before members of the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
to lobby for the legislation. She is married to physician Howard Krein.


Grandchildren

Joe Biden has married twice and fathered four children. His seven grandchildren come from his two sons, five from Hunter and two from Beau. He is the first president to become a great-grandfather while in office. * from Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III (1969–2015), ** Two grandchildren with wife Hallie Olivere ***Natalie Naomi Biden (b. 2004) ***Robert Hunter Biden II (b. 2006) * from Robert Hunter Biden (b. 1970) ** Three granddaughters with first wife Kathleen Buhle ***Naomi King Biden (b. 1993) ****One great-grandson with husband Peter Neal ***** William Brannon Neal IV (b. 2025) ***Finnegan Biden (b. 2000) ***Maisy Biden (b. 2001) ** One granddaughter with Lunden Roberts ***Navy Joan Roberts (b. 2018) ** One grandson with second wife Melissa Cohen ***Beau Biden (b. 2020)


Pets

Biden had a
German Shepherd The German Shepherd, also known in Britain as an Alsatian, is a German Dog breed, breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various Old German herding dogs, traditional German herding dog ...
,
Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...
. Major is a rescue dog who was adopted from the Delaware Humane Association by Joe and Jill Biden in 2018, but he was given to family friends after a biting incident at the White House. Biden had another German Shepherd, Champ, who was with the Bidens when Joe Biden was vice president from 2009 to 2017, but died early into Joe Biden's term as president. In December 2021, Biden announced the addition of a puppy named
Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
to his family. On , the Bidens announced that they had adopted
Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...
, a tabby cat.


Tree of descendants

File:Joe Biden presidential portrait (cropped).jpg,
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
File:First Lady Jill Biden Official Portrait Headshot.jpg, Jill Biden File:BeauBiden-DOJ2013 (cropped).jpg,
Beau Biden Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III (February 3, 1969 – May 30, 2015) was an American politician, lawyer, and officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army, Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmingt ...
File:Hunter Biden September 30, 2014.jpg, Hunter Biden File:Ashley Biden at Oscars 2016.jpg, Ashley Biden


Parents

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942, at St. Mary's Hospital in
Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...
, to Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden (''née'' Finnegan; July 7, 1917January 8, 2010) and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. (November 13, 1915September 2, 2002), who married in 1941. After the death of Jean Finnegan Biden on January 8, 2010, President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
traveled to Wilmington, Delaware, to attend her January 12 funeral. Joseph Sr. was initially wealthy but suffered financial setbacks around the time Joe Jr. was born, and for several years the family lived with Jean's parents. Scranton fell into economic decline during the 1950s and Joseph Sr. could not find steady work. Beginning in 1953, the family lived in an apartment in Claymont, Delaware, then moved to a house in
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...
. Joseph Sr. later became a successful used-car salesman, maintaining the family in a middle-class lifestyle. Joe Sr. and Catherine are buried together at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Cemetery in Greenville, Delaware. Their gravesites are near the graves of their daughter-in-law Neilia Hunter Biden, their granddaughter Naomi, and grandson Beau.


Siblings

Joe Biden is the oldest of four siblings in a
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
family, followed by his younger sister Valerie Biden Owens (born 1945), and two younger brothers, James Brian "Jim" Biden (born 1949) and Francis William "Frank" Biden (born 1953). Valerie was one of the campaign managers for Joe Biden's presidential campaigns. Biden's niece Missy Owens (daughter of Valerie Biden Owens) has also worked in politics. *Valerie Biden Owens (born November 5, 1945), campaign manager and political strategist. Appointed by
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
as advisor to the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
71st General Assembly. She played a pivotal role in all of her brother's political campaigns. She was the campaign manager during all of his Senate elections and for his 1988 and
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
presidential campaigns, and was a senior advisor to his successful 2020 presidential campaign. *James Brian "Jim" Biden (born 1949), healthcare executive. According to a ''The Washington Post'' profile, he is "known in the family as the one who’s always ready to help" and "has a history of business dealings that resulted in recriminations and lawsuits." *Francis William "Frank" Biden (born 1953), non-attorney advisor to Bergman Law Group,
Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...
. In the final minutes of his presidency, Joe Biden issued pardons for his three siblings as well as their spouses.


Grandparents


Paternal

Joseph Sr.'s parents, Mary Elizabeth (''née'' Robinette) Biden (1894–1943) and Joseph Harry Biden (1893–1941), an oil businessman from
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
, were of English, French, and Irish descent. Biden's paternal third great-grandfather, William Biden (1787–1849), a stonemason, was born in England and emigrated to the United States by 1820, where he settled in Maryland. According to historian Eddy Greenfield, he was born in
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
, and was christened at St John the Baptist's Church in Westbourne, West Sussex, on 8March 1789. William was the second child and son of James Byden (born November 1767) and Ann Silverlock (born March 1766), who had married on 16 May 1785. James Byden, Biden's paternal fourth great-grandfather, was from Pagham. He was the son of Richard Byden, Biden's paternal fifth great-grandfather, and his wife Susan, beyond which the paternal family line cannot be traced. Two of Biden's other third paternal great-grandfathers, Jesse Robinett and Thomas Randle, were slave owners in 19th-century Maryland. A possible connection may also exist to the family of a William Henry Biden, who was from Houghton, Cambridgeshire, and lived from 1791 to 1843. This William Henry was a son of John Biden (died 28 July 1796) and his wife Ann Beaumont, who had married in 1781. The seventh of eight children and the family's fifth son, William Henry and his elder brother, Christopher Biden (1789–1858), served as officers in the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
merchant marine, both eventually becoming captains of
East Indiamen East Indiamen were merchant ships that operated under charter or licence for European Trading company, trading companies which traded with the East Indies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term was commonly used to refer to vessels belon ...
. William Henry commanded mid-sized vessels before his death at
Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...
in 1843. Christopher Biden subsequently became an official in the Madras Civil Service (later the
Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...
), and his descendants settled in India. He died at Madras in 1858. In 1981, Christopher's great-great-grandson, Leslie Dunn Biden, then living in Nagpur, wrote to Joe Biden about the possible family connection after reading about him in the '' Illustrated Weekly of India''. After discussing their genealogy, they promised to stay in touch but did not resume correspondence before Leslie's death in 1983. During a 2013 visit to India, Joe Biden referred to Leslie's letter, mentioning a "Biden from Mumbai" had suggested their "mutual great-great-great-great-something-or-other" named George had "worked for the East India Company back in the 1700s."


Maternal

Jean's parents were Geraldine (''née'' Blewitt) Finnegan and Ambrose Joseph Finnegan from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Ambrose was born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania in 1883, and attended Santa Clara University where he was a star quarterback on their football team. After college, he worked for real estate investor Major Bowes in San Francisco until the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...
wiped out his boss's investments. He then returned to the Scranton area where he worked for many years as a newspaper advertising salesman and then as librarian for two Scranton newspapers. He died in 1957. In addition to Jean, Ambrose and Geraldine had a son, Ambrose J. Finnegan Jr., who died in the Pacific theater of World War II. The younger Ambrose's death received media attention decades later after Joe Biden said that Ambrose had been eaten by cannibals in New Guinea, which appears to be incorrect. Jean was of Irish descent, with roots variously attributed to
County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...
and
County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...
. Irish genealogists presented Joe Biden with his Irish maternal family history on his visit there in 2016. Joe's matrilineal great-grandfather (Geraldine's father), Edward Francis Blewitt, the child of Irish emigrants from Rappagh,
Ballina, County Mayo Ballina ( ; ) is a town in north County Mayo, Ireland. It lies at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, in the Moy valley and civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kilmoremoy, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Beg Ra ...
, was a member of the
Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...
.


See also

* Family of Barack Obama, president for whom Biden served under as vice president (2009–2017) * Family of Donald Trump, Biden's predecessor and successor as president (2017–2021 and since 2025) * Family of Kamala Harris, Biden's vice president (2021–2025)


References


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Biden, Joe, Family of
Family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
First families of the United States Families by person Families from Delaware American families of Irish ancestry