Joe Biden Family Research

The following post is to serve as an example of my work as a genealogist. I’m sure there are many articles outlining the Biden family tree, but I am not going to use of that information as part of my research. I am going to use the same family record search engines as I would for a typical American hiring me for research into their own family history.

Every case must have a beginning. If you hire me you will need to provide some basic information for me to get started with. In this case I will start with a name, Joe Biden, and birth year of 1942, and location of Scranton, PA. Luckily he is old enough to be located in the 1950 census, which is the most recent to be released. The following is an edited portion of the document which only includes the most useful information for our needs.

Joe Biden in the 1950 census includes home address of 

2446 N. Washington Ave, Scranton PA.

This record provides a lot of family information. With the family relation information provided we can see that Joe Biden is in the household of his grandfather, AJ Finnegan. So his mother Catherine E Biden has a maiden name Finnegan. Also, Gertrude Blewitt is listed as AJ Finnegans sister-in-law. With her listed as never been married, I am going to assume at this point she is the sister of his deceased wife. We already have the beginnings of a family pedigree chart.

Joe Biden tree after 1950 census

Whenever I get an address I like to see if anything of note can be found in a newspaper search before moving on to the 1940 census.

You may know this is the wife who died tragically in a car accident.  Also, we learn more about his grandfather.

Catherine E Finnegan is reffered to as “Gene” in this note

Joe Biden Birth announcement.

Photo of Joe Bidens mother, it is clear now her correct name is Jean Marie Finnegan

This document provides the full names of Joe Bidens 4 grandparents. Another Joseph Biden, Mary Robinette, Ambrose Finnegan and Geraldine Blewitt.  New address learned is 1739 Herr St, Harrisburg, PA.

Updated pedigree chart:

In the following 1940 Census we see the Biden household. We learn years of birth for Joseph H and Mary Robinette which I have included in the chart above.

WWII Draft card for Joseph Robinette Biden Sr from 1940.

1930's Census for the Bidens shows them living at 1504 West 7th St, Wilmington, DE.  The records show Mary Robinettes father being born in West Virgina, and her mother being born in Ohio.

1920 features the Biden home at 2732 Mosher St, Baltimore, MD. The complete records shows both of Mary Robinettes parents being born in West Virginia this time. Due to the ages of Joeseph H and Mary Robinette we should expect them to be children in their parents homes in 1910.   

A search for Joseph H Biden Of appropriate age is found in 1910 at 1948 Mosher St in Baltimore. A new generation is learn, George T Biden, and Emily R.

1910 Census including Mary Robinette and Parents George H, and Mary A. Again the mother is listed and born in Ohio. The record show they have been married for 33 years which if correct has him being 32 and her being 15 at time of marriage. It also means they will be married during the time of the 1880 census, which will be useful for future reference. The address for this record is 21 Hill St, Baltimore, MD.

The 1910 census also has a line which asks if there was civil war service, and Georges line indicates he was in the Union Army.

Updated Family Pedigree chart

This is an example of what to expect when you purchase a research plan.

When you buy the full plan, you get these results and all the original documents. The basic plan includes only the original documents.

Example of unedited documents you will receive when purchasing research.