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. Widener was ranked #29 on the American Heritage list of the forty richest Americans in history, with a net worth at death of $23 billion to $25 billion. 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.[citation needed]
Family tree
Peter A. B. Widener (1834–1915), married Hannah Josephine Dunton (1836–1896)
(son) Harry Widener (1859–1874), died unmarried and without issue
(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-grandson) James Widener Ray (1952–2005), died without issue[5][6]
(great-great-granddaughter) Joan Chandler Ray (1955–2009), 1 child Tyrone Cagney Ray (born 1983)[7]
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 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.[citation needed]
