Anne Weightman

Anne Weightman Walker Penfield (December 15, 1844 – February 25, 1932) was a philanthropist and one of the richest women in the world.[1][2]

Anne Weightman Walker Penfield
Born
Anne Weightman

(1844-12-15)December 15, 1844
East Falls section of Philadelphia
DiedFebruary 25, 1932(1932-02-25) (aged 87)
Manhattan, New York City
Nationality United States
Known forPhilanthropist
Spouses
  • Robert J. C. Walker 1862 till death on December 19, 1903
  • Frederic Courtland Penfield 1908 till death on June 19, 1922
Parent

Biography

She was born in December 15, 1844, 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 ($214,490,000 in 2023).[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 ($32,570,000 in 2023).[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]

WWI

While in the Austro-Hungarian Empire as the wife of the American ambassador Frederick Penfield she was awarded the Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Elizabeth for her work among the sick and wounded soldiers of the dual monarchy.[11] In 1914 the United States was neutral in World War I.[12]

Death
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anne Weightman.

She died on February 25, 1932, in Manhattan.[6][13] She is interred in the Weightman family plot at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

References
  1. "Celebrates Wedding by Giving $1,000,000. Mrs. Walker Remembers Relatives and Institutions in Marrying Frederic C. Penfield. Daughters of Mrs. Wister, Who Tried to Break Weightman Will, Among Beneficiaries". The New York Times. February 27, 1908. Retrieved 2010-09-28. Frederic Courtland Penfield, diplomat, author, and clubman, and Mrs. Anne Weightman Walker, one of the wealthiest women in the world, were married at 10:45 ...
  2. "Woman 60 Years Old, Worth $50,000,000, Manages Great Chemical Plant; Mrs. J.R.C. Walker, Now in Change of Powers & Weightman Business, Commands a Small Army of Employees. A Womanly Woman". The New York Times. September 4, 1904. Retrieved 2010-10-20. By the recent death of her father, William Weightman, head of the firm of Powers Weightman
  3. "William Weightman Dead. One of the Largest Real Estate Owners in the Country". The New York Times. August 26, 1904. Retrieved 2010-09-28. William Weightman, popularly known as the richest man in [ [Pennsylvania,] ] and certainly one of the largest real estate owners in the country, died this morning at his Summer home, "Raven Hill," in West School Lane, Falls of Schuylkill.
  4. Mary Sieminski, "Anne Weightman: One of the wealthiest women in the world," The Williamsport Sun-Gazette, July 13, 2014.
  5. "Peter Herdic's Failure", The New York Times, "ProQuest Historical Newspapers," Nov. 4, 1884.
  6. "Sketches of the Bench and Bar of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania". Retrieved 2010-09-30. Robert J. C. Walker died December 19, 1903, a resident of Philadelphia, where he and his wife then resided. Mrs. Walker later married Frederick Courtland Penfield, and she died February 25, 1932.
  7. "Weightman Will Case Reopened By Decree: Granddaughter Contests for $60,000,000 Estate," The New York Times, June 10.
  8. 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.
  9. "F.C. Penfield Dead at His Home Here. Ex-Ambassador to Austria Had Been Ill With Congestion of the Brain. Born in Connecticut 68 Years Ago and Was for Some Time on The Hartford Courant. Sent to Austria in 1913. Known as Traveler and Writer. Recipient of Many Degrees". The New York Times. June 20, 1922. Retrieved 2009-07-25. Frederic Courtland Penfield former Ambassador to Austria-Hungary, died just after 10 o'clock last night at his home, 787 Fifth Avenue.
  10. Robin Leidhecker, "Who Was Anne Weightman?" The Lycoming Lineage: Newsletter of the Lycoming County Genealogical Society, vol. XXV no. 4, July–August 2008.
  11. "Elisabeth-orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, Vienna: Druck und Verlag der K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1916, p. 255
  12. Arizona Republican, November 20, 1914, p. 1.
  13. "Penfield's Widow Dies In New York. Husband Was Ambassador to Austro-Hungary and at One Time on Courant Staff". Associated Press. February 27, 1932. Retrieved 2010-09-30. Mrs. Anne Weightman Penfield, widow of Frederick Courtland Penfield, who was American Ambassador to Austro-Hungary from 1913 until the United States entered the war, died here Thursday night.
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