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Early life (1942–1965)
Main article: Early life and career of Joe Biden
Biden at Archmere Academy in the 1950s
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942,[1] at St. Mary's Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania,[2] to Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden (née Finnegan) and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr.[3][4] The oldest child in a Catholic family, he has a sister, Valerie, and two brothers, Francis and James.[5] Jean was of Irish descent,[6][7][8] while Joseph Sr. had English, Irish, and French Huguenot ancestry.[9][10][8] Biden's paternal line has been traced to stonemason William Biden, who was born in 1789 in Westbourne, England, and emigrated to Maryland in the United States by 1820.[11]
Biden's father had been wealthy and the family purchased a home in the affluent Long Island suburb of Garden City in the fall of 1946,[12] but he suffered business setbacks around the time Biden was seven years old,[13][14][15] and for several years the family lived with Biden's maternal grandparents in Scranton.[16] Scranton fell into economic decline during the 1950s and Biden's father could not find steady work.