John Bidlake was born in 1858 in Hereford, England and came to Ontario with his parents, Henry and Harriet Sarah Bidlake, as a young man. He had two brothers and a sister, Mary Cecelia. After the death of his father and one brother, John and his brother Henry came to Dakota territory and homesteaded near Beaulieu in 1882. A year later his mother and sister came from Ontario to join them.

John married Helen Fleming, the daughter of a neighboring homesteader shortly after coming to Dakota. In 1887, he was offered a position selling lots for the North Dakota Land and Townsite Company owned by Mooney and McHugh of Langdon. These lots were the townsite of the new village of Osnabrock. In return for this service Bidlake chose the names of the Osnabrock streets with Hereford St. named for his birthplace in England. John and Helen were the parents of two sons, John Jr. and Clarence.

In 1887, the entire Bidlake family moved to Osnabrock where John and his brother-in-law, William Fleming opened one of Osnabrock's earliest business sites, the Bidlake and Fleming Hardware. They ran this business until 1894 when Fleming moved to Portland, OR and Bidlake was appointed as ambassador to Baranquilla, South America as a representative of the American government. while in South America, Mrs. Bidlake became ill and the family returned to this county where she died May 15, 1901. She is buried at Osnabrock. John later married again and settled in Park River along with his second wife and daughter, Margaret.

Mary Cecelia Bidlake, also a native of Hereford, England, married William Fleming, her brother's business partner. She passed away in 1895 in Portland, OR.

Henry Fleming worked with his brother and brother-in-law in the family business until his married in 1893 to Margaret Fleming. They took over the business at Osnabrock and later also had the J. I Case dealership. Margaret Bidlake was an early business woman in Osnabrock in her own right when she opened a millinery shop. They were the parents of three children, all born during their years in Osnabrock - Dorothy, Beatrice Clair and Henry Jr. In 1905, this family moved to Seattle, WA along with Henry's mother.

Harriet Sarah Bidlake, the mother of John, Mary and Henry, was known to one and all as Granny. A well-loved member of the community she is recalled especially for her work with the Sunday School. She taught children in England, Canada, at Beaulieu and at Osnabrock and eventually her former Sunday School students circled the glove with missionaries in Africa, South America, and China who recalled having studied in her classes. Her son, John sent her a white cockatoo while living in South America and her early pupils recalled that she taught with the bird perched cheerfully on her shoulder. Somewhat hard of hearing, she is believed to have been the first in Osnabrock to own an ear trumpet which in those days was a fairly large apparatus complete with speaker and bore little resemblance to the hearing aids used today. she was 75 when she moved to Washington with her son and family.
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1900 UNITED STATES FEDERAL CENSUS
Name: John Bidlake
Age: 41
Birth Date: Jun 1858
Birthplace: England
Home in 1900: Minneapolis Ward 5, Hennepin, Minnesota
Ward of City: 5th
Street: 15th Ste
House Number: 301
Sheet Number: 12
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation: 254
Family Number: 283
Race: White
Gender: Male
Immigration Year: 1881
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Helen Bidlake
Marriage Year: 1881
Years Married: 19
Father's Birthplace: England
Mother's Birthplace: England
Years in US: 19
Naturalization: Naturalized
Occupation: Nursing Gstd
Can Read: Yes
Can Write: Yes
Can Speak English: Yes
House Owned or Rented: Rent
Farm or House: H
Household Members:
Name
John Bidlake Age 41
Odelen Bidlake Age 39
John Bidlake Age 18
Clarence Bidlake Age 16
Hellen H BidlakeAge 13
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Married July 2, 1880 in Elderslie, Ontario presbyterian church according to Ontario, Canada Marriages 1826-1938 Ancestry.com Index. Helen was 19 yrs old and John 22 years old.