Widener family

The Widener family is an American family from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by Peter Arrell Browne Widener (1834–1915) and his wife, Hannah Josephine Dunton (1836–1896), it was once one of the wealthiest families in the United States. In 1883, Peter Widener was part of the founding partnership of the Philadelphia Traction Company, and he used the great wealth accumulated from that business to become a founding organizer of U.S. Steel and the American Tobacco Company.

Portrait of Peter A. B. Widener (1902) by John Singer Sargent
Lynnewood Hall in 2007
The Miramar mansion

Family tree
  • Peter A. B. Widener (1834-1915), married Hannah Josephine Dunton (1836–1896)
    • (son) Harry Widener (1859–1874), died unmarried and without issue
    • (son) George Dunton Widener (1861–1912), married Eleanor Elkins (1862-1937), began construction of Miramar, died aboard the RMS Titanic
      • (grandson) Harry Elkins Widener (1885-1912), died aboard the RMS Titanic, died unmarried and without issue
      • (grandson) George D. Widener Jr. (1889-1971), married Jessie Sloane Dodge (1883-1968), purchased Erdenheim Farm, died without issue
      • (granddaughter) Eleanor Widener Dixon (1891-1953), married banker Fitz Eugene Dixon (1888-1982), built Ronaele Manor
        • (great-granddaughter) Eleanor Widener Dixon (1913-1967), married James Cuthbert Gentle (1904-1986), died without issue
        • (great-grandson) Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr. (1923-2006), married Edith Bruen Robb (b. 1925), inherited Erdenheim Farm
          • (great-great-grandson) George Widener Dixon (b. 1953)
          • (great-great-granddaughter) Edith Eleanor Dixon (b. 1957)
    • (son) Joseph Early Widener (1871–1943), married Eleanor Holmes Pancoast (1873-1929)
      • (grandson) Peter Arrell Browne Widener II (1895-1948), married Gertrude Douglas Peabody (1897-1970)[1]
        • (great-grandson) Peter Arrell Browne Widener III (1925-1999), married Louise B. Van Meter (1928-2018)
          • (great-great-grandson) Peter Arrell Browne Widener IV (b. 1950)
          • (great-great-grandson) George D. Widener (b. 1954)
        • (great-granddaughter) Ella Ann Widener (1928-1986), married Cortright Wetherill (1923-1988)
          • (great-great-grandson) Cortright Wetherill Jr. (b. 1951), married Janice Nestle
          • (great-great-grandson) Peter Widener Wetherill (d. 2010), died unmarried and without issue
      • (granddaughter) Josephine "Fifi" Widener Leidy Holden Wichfeld Bigelow (1902-1961)[2]
        • (great-granddaughter) Joan Widener Leidy Paine Ray (1923-1988), 1st married George Eustin Paine Jr. (divorce 1950), 2nd married James Chandler Ray (1923-2017)
          • (great-great-grandson) George Eustin Paine III (1942-2001), died without issue
          • (great-great-grandson) James Widener Ray (1952-2005), died without issue[3][4]
          • (great-great-granddaughter) Joan Chandler Ray (1955-2009), 1 child Tyrone Cagney Ray (b. 1983)[5]

Legacy

The legacy of Peter and Hannah Widener includes the Widener Library at Harvard University, but even more important was the implanting of a social conscience in their children that has been passed down from generation to generation. While the family fortune dwindled over time through estate taxes and the natural division and redivision by inheritors, many of their 21st-century descendants continue to be involved in charitable works. Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, was named after the Wideners as a result of a very large contribution the family made when the college was transitioning from an all-male military college to a co-educational civilian university.

Peter and Hannah Widener built Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, a 110-room Georgian-style mansion designed by Horace Trumbauer, where they assembled one of the most valuable art collections in the country. Left a vast fortune, their offspring became among the most prominent factors in American Thoroughbred horse racing history, as well as founding benefactors of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, and the Widener School for Crippled Children.

See also

References
  1. "P.A.B. WIDENER 2D WEDS MRS. PEABODY | Philadelphian Marries Former Wife of F. S. Peabody at Lynnewood Hall, Eikins Park. | IN THE REMBRANDT ROOM | Bride Is a Recent Reno Divorcee -- Couple Sail Today for a Honeymoon in Europe". The New York Times. 5 November 1924. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  2. Josephine "Fifi" Widener's husbands were: 1. Carter Randolph Leidy (m. 1920, divorce 1926); 2. Milton Whitely Holden (m. 1926, divorce 1932); 3. Askel C. P. Wichfield (m. 1933, divorce 1951); 4. Anson Alexander Bigelow (m. 1954).
  3. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/special-reports/a-millionaires-guardian-many-hats-many-questions/
  4. http://www.raynier.org/history/
  5. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/azcentral/obituary.aspx?pid=132218611
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