A look at who's who in Joe Biden's close-knit family tree
Patricia Talorico
Delaware News Journal
WILMINGTON, Del. – Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is known for keeping his circle tight. Family has always been a priority for the Greenville resident.
Here's a look at who's who in the Biden family tree.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born Nov. 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and lived there until moving to Claymont near Wilmington in the fourth grade. He is the eldest son of Joseph Robinette Biden Sr., a Baltimore native, and Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Finnegan Biden of Scranton.
Biden's siblings include brothers Francis "Frank" and James "Jimmy" and sister Valerie Biden Owens, who has led every campaign in Joe Biden's political career.
"She has been my best friend my entire life," Biden wrote in his 2007 autobiography, "Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics."
Biden's nieces and nephews include Catherine Eugenia Owens, Cuffe Biden Owens, Alana Jaquet Biden, Caroline Nicole Biden, Nicholas Coleman Biden and James Brian Biden Jr.
Joseph Biden Sr. had several careers, including sales representative for Amoco Oil Co. in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, used car salesman and later a real estate agent for Patterson-Schwartz in New Castle County and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
While the family lived in Delaware, the children spent summers and holidays in Scranton, mostly with Jean's family. And even though Jean lived in Delaware for 50 years, she still liked to say she was from Scranton.
Over the years, the Bidens had lived in a variety of houses throughout New Castle County including a historic home in North Star once owned by Republican Sen. T. Coleman du Pont, in Faulkland Woods near Brandywine Springs Park and in Greenville.
Jill and Joe Biden have owned a house in Rehoboth Beach since 2017. Signs on the house say "Beau's gift" and "Forever Jill." The backyard overlooks Cape Henlopen State Park.
Joe Biden met his first wife, Neilia Hunter, on a spring break trip to the Bahamas in 1963. They married in 1966, moved to Delaware and had three children, Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III, Robert "Hunter," and Naomi Christina, known as "Amy."
Neilia aided Biden during his first run for the Senate in 1972.
"We have very few close friends outside of the family," Neilia said a week before her death in a car accident in December 1972. Baby Amy, age 13 months, also died in the crash.
More:Neilia Hunter Biden, the brains behind Joe Biden's first political victories
Joe married Jill Tracy Jacobs Stevenson of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, in June 1977. She is the eldest of five sisters, Previously, she was married to Bill Stevenson, who once owned the Stone Balloon nightclub in Newark. Jill's father Donald C. Jacobs, a banker, died in 1999. Her mother Bonnie died in 2008. They were married about 50 years.
The Bidens had daughter Ashley in June 1981. Ashley married Dr. Howard Krein, a Philadelphia otolaryngologist and plastic surgeon, in 2012. Her brother Beau introduced the couple, who had their wedding reception at the Biden family home in Greenville.
Robert "Hunter" Biden married Kathleen Buhle in 1993. They have three children, Naomi, named for Hunter's sister who died; Finnegan, his grandmother's maiden name; and Maisy, a close friend of Sasha Obama. Naomi Biden sometimes posts family photos on her public Instagram account.
Hunter and Kathleen divorced in 2017. Hunter married Melissa Cohen in 2019. The couple had their first child, a boy, in March. A DNA test confirmed that he also has a daughter with Lunden Roberts of Arkansas.
Beau Biden married Hallie Olivere in 2002 in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where the Bidens have annually spent Thanksgiving since 1975. The couple had two children, Natalie and Robert "Hunter."
The Bidens are close to their grandchildren. The day after he left the White House as the 47th vice president, Biden showed up at an indoor track meet at Tower Hill School to watch one of his grandchildren.
More recently, grandchildren gathered behind Joe and Jill Biden at Brandywine High School, where Jill once taught, when Joe was named the Democratic presidential nominee. The family is known for their sense of humor. One of the granddaughters wore a T-shirt that read "No Markley," a famed Biden expression.
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Biden Sr. died at age 86 on Sept. 2, 2002, at his son's home after weeks of failing health.
Jean Finnegan Biden, died Jan. 7, 2010, at the age of 92. She had lived at her son's Greenville home, in a smaller carriage house on the property.
Beau, who served as Delaware's Attorney General, died of cancer at age 46 in 2015.
The Biden are longtime dog lovers. Their family also includes 12-year-old German shepherd Champ. The Biden grandchildren gave the dog the name Biden Sr. often used as an endearment when talking to his son.
The Bidens also adopted a rescue German shepherd named Major from the Delaware Humane Association in 2018 after first fostering the animal. Joe Biden has owned at least three other German Shepherds and had a Great Dane named Governor.
Follow Patricia Talorico on Twitter @pattytalorico