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On April 14, 1880, William Biddulph bought the Richard H. Knight house, and its seventy-one <br />and one half acres of Porter Road farmland, from Spicer H. Shaw for the surprisingly lower price <br />of $7,000. Perhaps other undisclosed considerations were included in the purchase agreement. At <br />the time, William, a young man of 32, was a farmer, and married to Thirza (Hubbard) Biddulph. <br />They had two children. <br />William Biddulph was the oldest child of John and Christina Biddulph. John's father and <br />brothers had a long history in land acquisition and sales in Cuyahoga County. William was <br />named after his paternal grandfather, who lived in Brooklyn Township, Ohio. John and Christina <br />lived on the south side of Butternut Ridge Road, on approximately 100 acres of farm land, in <br />Olmstead Township. John Biddulph had purchased the land on April 24, 1865 and moved there, <br />from Brooklyn, Ohio, with his entire family. In addition to his parents, William had a younger <br />brother, George, and three younger sisters, Louise (Hurd), Caroline (James) and Rose (Sheer), <br />respectively. <br />William and Thirza Biddulph had been married in Berea on March 20, 1872. When they moved <br />into their Italianate stone house in April, 1880, they had two sons, John W. Biddulph, (named <br />after his paternal grandfather) born in 1873 and Franklin H. Biddulph, born in 1875. Daughter <br />Neva E. Biddulph was born January 19, 1883. Their fourth child, Ralph Ray Biddulph, was born <br />February 16, 1885. Both children were born at home. <br />William and Thirza Biddulph had lived in their new home for only thirteen years when Thirza <br />died on December 12, 1893, at the young age of 43. She left behind a husband of 45, daughter <br />Neva, age 10, and sons John, age 20, Frank, age 18 and Ralph, age 8. Thirza was buried in <br />Evergreen Cemetery on Center Ridge Road. <br />Knight- Biddulph House ca 1900