The Widener family is an American family from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Founded by

Peter Arrell Browne Widener Peter Arrell Browne Widener (November 13, 1834 – November 6, 1915) was an American businessman, art collector, and patriarch of the Widener family of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Widener was ranked #29 on the ''American Heritage'' list of the f ...

(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 United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

and the

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...

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 George Dunton Widener (June 16, 1861 – April 15, 1912) was an American businessman who died in the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic''. Early life Widener was born in Philadelphia on June 16, 1861. He was the eldest son of Hannah Josephine Du ...

(1861–1912), married Eleanor Elkins (1862–1937), began construction of Miramar, died aboard the *** (grandson)

Harry Elkins Widener Harry Elkins Widener (January 3, 1885 – April 15, 1912) was an American businessman and bibliophile, and a member of the Widener family. His mother built Harvard University's Widener Memorial Library in his memory, after his death on the founde ...

(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 Erdenheim Farm is a 450-acre (1.82 km2) working farm in Springfield and Whitemarsh Townships, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located just outside the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, it is bordered by the Morris Arb ...

, died without issue *** (granddaughter)

Eleanor Widener Dixon Eleanor Widener Dixon (18911966) was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was the daughter of George Dunton Widener and Eleanor Elkins Widener, and the younger sister of George Dunton Widener Jr. and Harry Elkins Widener. She married Fi ...

(1891–1966), 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. Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr. (August 14, 1923 – August 2, 2006) was an American educator, sportsman, and philanthropist. Early life He was the son of banker Fitz Eugene Dixon Sr. and Eleanor Widener (1891-1966), a member of the wealthy Widener family ...

(1923–2006), married Edith Bruen Robb (born 1925), inherited Erdenheim Farm *****(great-great-grandson) George Widener Dixon (born 1953) *****(great-great-granddaughter) Edith Eleanor Dixon (born 1957), married Donald P. Rosendale ** (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) **** (great-grandson) Peter Arrell Browne Widener III (1925–1999), married Louise B. Van Meter (1928–2018) *****(great-great-grandson) Peter Arrell Browne Widener IV (born 1950) *****(great-great-grandson) George D. Widener (born 1954) **** (great-granddaughter) Ella Ann Widener (1928–1986), married Cortright Wetherill (1923–1988) *****(great-great-grandson) Cortright Wetherill Jr. (born 1951), married Janice Nestle *****(great-great-grandson) Peter Widener Wetherill (died 2010), died unmarried and without issue *** (granddaughter) Josephine "Fifi" Widener Leidy Holden Wichfeld Bigelow (1902–1961) **** (great-granddaughter) Joan Widener Leidy Paine Ray (1923–1988), 1st married George Eustis Paine Jr. (divorce 1950), 2nd married James Chandler Ray (1923–2017) *****(great-great-grandson) George Eustis Paine III (1942–2001), 1st married Dianne Marie Barton (m. 1965, divorce 1974), 1 child Eustis Barton Paine (born 1969), 2 children Samuel Eustis Paine (born 2006), Nathan Michelle Paine (born 2006) *****(great-great-granddaughter) Leidy Simpson *****(great-great-grandson) James Widener Ray (1952–2005), died without issue *****(great-great-granddaughter) Joan Chandler Ray (1955–2009), 1 child Tyrone Cagney Ray (born 1983)

Legacy

The legacy of Peter and Hannah Widener includes the

Widener Library The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, housing some 3.5million books in its "vast and cavernous" stacks (library architecture), stacks, is the centerpiece of the Harvard College Libraries (the libraries of Harvard's Harvard Faculty of Arts an ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, but even more important was the implanting of a

social conscience A social conscience is "a sense of responsibility or concern for the problems and injustices of society". While our conscience is related to moral conduct in our day-to-day lives with respect to individuals, social conscience is concerned with th ...

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 Widener University is a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania. The university has three other campuses: two in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg and Exton) and one in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded as The Bullock School for Boys in 1821, the school ...

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester is ...

, 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 Lynnewood Hall is a 110-room Neoclassical Revival mansion in Elkins Park, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Vacant today, it was designed by architect Horace Trumbauer for industrialist Peter A. B. Widener and built between 1897 and 1900. Consid ...

Elkins Park, Pennsylvania Elkins Park is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is split between Cheltenham and Abington Townships in the northern suburbs outside of Philadelphia, which it borders along Cheltenham Avenue roughly from Cent ...

, a 110-room

Georgian-style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Geor ...

mansion designed by

Horace Trumbauer Horace Trumbauer (December 28, 1868 – September 18, 1938) was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of ...

, 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 Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in t ...

history, as well as founding benefactors of the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in Chester, Pennsylvania, and the Widener School for Crippled Children.

References

* {{cite web , title=The Wideners: An American Family , website=encyclopedia-titanica.org , date=2004-01-14 , url=https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/widener-family.html , access-date=2022-12-30 * "''Without Drums''" by

Peter A. B. Widener II Peter Arrell Browne Widener II (June 25, 1895 – April 20, 1948) was a prominent American Horse racing, racehorse owner and Horse breeding, breeder. He inherited a fortune from his father, Joseph E. Widener, a founding benefactor of the Nation ...

G. P. Putnam's Sons G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and J ...

(1940)
National Gallery of Art website
*

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

Archives American art collectors American businesspeople in the oil industry American philanthropists American racehorse owners and breeders Business families of the United States Foundations based in the United States History of Philadelphia National Gallery of Art Widener University

Family tree

Legacy

See also

References