Huidekoper was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, on July 17, 1839, the son of Edgar Huidekoper and Frances (Shippen) Huidekoper and the grandson of
Harm Jan Huidekoper (the founder of
Meadville Theological School). He received his
A.B. from Harvard College in 1862, and received his
M.A. from the same college in 1872. In 1864, Huidekoper married his cousin, Emma Gertrude Evans, the daughter of Thomas Wallis Evans and Anne De Costa Yard Evans of
Germantown,
Philadelphia. They had one daughter, Gertrude, born in 1865, who later married Professor
Munroe Smith of
Columbia University, and one son, Thomas, born in 1870. His great-great-granddaughter is
Meg Whitman, former CEO of
eBay and candidate for
Governor of California. ==Civil War and National Guard==