Anne Weightman
Anne Weightman Walker Penfield (1844 - February 25, 1932), was a philanthropist and one of the richest women in world.[1][2]
Biography
She was born in 1884 to William Weightman,[3] "the quinine king," [4] and Louisa Stellwagen, and lived with her family at Ravenhill, in the East Falls section of Philadelphia. In 1880, Anne Weightman and her husband moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania where her father purchased thousands of acres and real estate after Peter Herdic's financial collapse.[5]
She married Robert J. C. Walker in 1862.[4] Walker died on December 19, 1903, in Philadelphia,[6] leaving her a $10 million inheritance.[4] At the death of her father in 1904, Anne solely inherited Ravenhill, a $60 million valued estate, his properties in Williamsport, and a partnership in his drug company.[4] Her sister-in-law, Sabine Josephine d'Invilliers Weightman fought in court for years to break William Weightman's will, which gave Anne the entire inheritance.[7] Anne moved to Manhattan, New York, for her safety.
In May 1907, she commissioned Adolfo Müller-Ury to paint a portrait of Pope Pius X (now at the Graduate House at the North American College in Rome). He also painted a portrait of Mrs. Walker alone, as well as a double portrait with her favorite niece Mrs. Richard Waln Meirs (for the latter's husband), and a posthumous portrait of her father.[8]
In 1908, she married Frederic Courtland Penfield, an orientalist, a Harvard alumnus and the United States Austria-Hungary ambassador, at St. Patrick's Cathedral.[9] To celebrate her wedding she gave $1 million to charity.[1] She also donated money and property to family members, World War I relief funds, art communities, and Catholic organizations. Pope Pius X bestowed on Anne the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in recognition of her numerous benefactions to Catholic Churches.[10]
She died on February 25, 1932 in Manhattan.[6][11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Mary Sieminski, "Anne Weightman: One of the wealthiest women in the world," The Williamsport Sun-Gazette, July 13, 2014.
- ↑ "Peter Herdic's Failure", The New York Times, "ProQuest Historical Newspapers," Nov. 4, 1884.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Weightman Will Case Reopened By Decree: Granddaughter Contests for $60,000,000 Estate," The New York Times, June 10.
- ↑ The portraits of William Weightman and Mrs Walker were exhibited in the artist's one-man show at M. Knoedler & Co, 355 Fifth Avenue, New York from January 13 thru 22, 1908 as Nos: 9 & 10, along with the portrait of Pope Pius X (No. 1); the portrait of William Weightman was shortly after exhibited at McClees Galleries, 1411 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, in February 1908 along with the portrait of Pope Pis X (No. 1). Handlists survive in the artist's papers in the Muller-Ury Stiftung, Hospenthal, Switzerland.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Robin Leidhecker, "Who Was Anne Weightman?" The Lycoming Lineage: Newsletter of the Lycoming County Genealogical Society, vol. XXV no. 4, July–August 2008.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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