The Wideners: An American Family

Peter Arrell Brown Widener II
Peter Arrell Brown Widener II, the son of Joseph Early Widener and Ella Pancoast Widener, was born June 25, 1895 at Long Branch, New Jersey. He spent his childhood with the extended Widener family at Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park, graduated from private school in Massachusetts in 1915, and then went to Harvard for a year. While at Newport in July 1916 he made the papers for rescuing a daughter of prominent locals who had gone under in rough surf at Baileys Beach and held her in the water for 10 minutes until lifeguards arrived.

In 1917 he went to Washington, D.C. with his father Joseph who persuaded the Surgeon General to admit him to the Army as a Private despite his flat feet and a suspect heart condition which was caused by a childhood bout of pneumonia. PAB then served in World War I with the U.S. Expeditionary Forces in France with a medical unit, tending to the wounded and also serving as an interpreter because of his fluency in French. He rose through the ranks to Sergeant, and then returned to Elkins Park as 1st Lieutenant in March 1919 at which time he humbly praised both American Infantrymen and Army nurses to the press.

PAB II spent the next several years at Lynnewood Hall and began to breed champion German Shepherd dogs. He purchased one dog in Germany for $8,000 and in 1920 built extensive kennels on the grounds of Lynnewood Hall. Old newspaper clippings contain photographs of the youthful looking, well dressed PAB II with his dogs. Throughout the 1920's and into the 1930's his Shepherds won titles, sometimes several years in a row, at various dog shows all over the East Coast, including the Westminster Kennel Club show in New York. He later branched out to include other breeds including Dachshunds.

PAB II followed in his father's footsteps and bred and raced championship race horses for decades beginning after World War I. He and his wife were prominent in racing circles both as owners as well as hosts of numerous functions, on the racetrack and off. In March 1939 PAB II took over as president of Hialeah Park from his father and also assumed control and ownership of Elmendorf Farm in Kentucky.

In November 1924 it was announced that PAB II would marry Gertrude T. Douglas Peabody, daughter of Senator Curtis Noble Douglas of New York, and niece of John A. Dix, former Governor of New York. The marriage took place only a few weeks after her Reno divorce from Frederick Peabody a wealthy men's clothing manufacturer. In her petition for divorce, Gertrude stated that Peabody had used liquor in excess and had punched her and knocked her down at their residence in the presence of Elizabeth Drexel, wife of John Drexel of the well known Philadelphia Drexels. Both Gertrude and Elizabeth Drexel later took up residence in Reno about the same time, both with the intent of divorcing their husbands.

The wedding of PAB II and Gertrude took place in the Rembrandt Room at Lynnewood Hall, which housed 14 paintings by the artist of that name, in front of 20 family members and friends. The newlyweds set sail on the Berengaria to spend their honeymoon in Europe.

In Aug.12, 1925 a son PAB III was born in New York. They later had a daughter, Ella Anne.

The Wideners were prominent on the Newport summer scene during the 1920's and entertained regularly. In August 1930 it was reported that Gertrude Widener underwent an unknown type of surgery at a Newport hospital.

Several members of the Widener family also maintained residences in Palm Beach, Fla. On a Saturday evening the first week of February 1934, while driving from Hialeah Park in Miami to their estate Il Palmetto in Palm Beach, PAB II, Gertrude, and his father Joseph were involved in an auto accident when their car struck a truck parked on Federal Highway. PAB cut his head, Gertrude broke her wrist and Joseph was said to be shaken up. The newspaper article did not say who was driving or what the cause of the accident was. Shortly thereafter the Wideners hosted a reception for the Earl and Countess of Athlone at Il Palmetto, the Earl being the brother of Queen Mary. In 1939 PAB II was briefly admitted to Abington Hospital in Pennsylvania due to a heart ailment.

PAB II wrote his autobiography Without Drums in 1940 in which he described his gilded upbringing, referred to Lynnewood Hall as "a mausoleum" and then took swipes at Philadelphia society. All royalties from the book went to the Ella Pancoast Widener Memorial Fund which provided medical school scholarships.

He was generous in allowing others to use portions of the Lynnewood Hall estate and in 1940 he let the Red Cross use the gatehouse as a local chapter office. During World War II he turned the grounds into a training facility for military dogs. In July 1946 PAB II purchased Waverly, a 7-acre estate with a Georgian style residence in Haverford, Pennsylvania, for $100,000 and reportedly spent many times that amount in remodeling.

Charity was one of his greatest interests particularly the Widener Home for Crippled Children which he described as "a vital interest ... and truly satisfying work".

Peter Arrell Brown Widener II died at age 52 on April 20, 1948 at Lankenau Hospital in Bryn Mawr, from a rheumatic heart condition. He was a patient there for 3 weeks prior to this death and his obituary says that he had sought treatment in Maine and Florida before entering Lankenau.

A 20 minute funeral service attended by 300 family members and friends was held at the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr. Of note, the Church of the Redeemer is the site of the family burial plot of Titanic survivor John B. Thayer and family.

PAB II left his estate to his family having created trust funds for his wife and daughter and willing his racing farm to his son PAB III.

PAB II's widow Gertrude Widener died at age 71 in her apartment at the Lowell Hotel on East 63rd Street in New York City on February 3, 1970. She also had a home in Paris but lived in New York for the last 3 years of her life. Her funeral was held at St Albans Church in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, near the home of her daughter Ella Wetherill and she was interred in the Widener mausoleum.

Peter Arrell Widener III
Peter Arrell Brown Widener III was born Aug.12, 1925 the only son of PAB II and Gertrude Widener. He attended private school and traveled with his family to the usual places such as Palm Beach. PAB III served as Private First Class with an Army combat engineers unit for two years during World War II and then attended the University of Kentucky.

He became interested in law enforcement and was appointed a deputy constable with Fayette County, Kentucky in 1948. He was later promoted to Chief of Patrol, a position from which he resigned after a brief period of time. The same year he inherited Elmendorf Farm racing stable in Lexington upon the death of his father. He married Louise Van Meter of Lexington, Kentucky in 1947 and had two sons, PAB and George. They divorced in 1958 and Louise was given custody of their sons.

In 1955 PAB III was appointed Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police by Governor Happy Chandler, an old friend. He went into his office daily, wore his uniform on formal occasions only, and did not draw a salary leaving it in the department budget instead. A year later he was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety for Kentucky, resigning that position in 1957, saying that he wanted to devote time to his cattle ranch in Montana.

On May 21, 1959 PAB III married 1946 Baltimore debutante and Palm Beach resident Mrs. Patricia Massie Tavender in Philadelphia. An elaborate reception followed at the Cortright Wetherill's Happy Hill Farm. The couple honeymooned in the Bahamas and scheduled an August trip to Paris followed by an African safari.

The Wideners maintained homes in Kentucky, Palm Beach, and a 500 acre horse breeding farm near Ocala, Florida. The year 1961 saw PAB III named Sheriff of Palm Beach County and the birth of a son Joseph Cabell Widener in February.

On Feb. 4, 1963 Patricia Widener was killed at age 35 in an airplane accident while returning to Ocala after visiting relatives in Philadelphia with her daughter Genevieve. They had flown to Miami by commercial jet and then boarded the family's private jet for a flight to Palm Beach where Genevieve was dropped off. The twin engine Aero Commander then took off for Ocala, flown by the Widener's pilot Robert G. Staab, age 40.

PAB III was waiting to meet the plane at the Jim Taylor Airport in Ocala. He saw the plane descend to about 200 feet then pull up and bank away into the rain. The plane did not report in anywhere else and the next morning the wreckage was discovered in a wooded area nearby.

According to a newspaper story the plane appeared to have clipped treetops on a second approach to the airport, cut a swath 100 yards long and then disintegrated and burned on impact.

The bodies of the pilot and Patricia Widener were found in the wreckage. PAB III was told that his wife had died instantly and did not suffer because the plane was not found until the next day.

Staab, General Manager of Central Aviation Services, left a wife and 2 children. Patricia's remains were taken to Palm Beach and a funeral service was held at the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea. She was then interred in the Widener mausoleum in Philadelphia.

A year later in 1964 PAB III married 22 year old Delta Airlines stewardess Frances Miriam Crenshaw in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and they set off for a honeymoon in Paris. They lived at the Widener residence near Ocala and were regulars at Hialeah over the next few years where PAB III had been elected to the Board of Directors in 1962.

The Billings Gazette reported that Peter Arrell Brown Widener III, 74, died Friday, Sept. 3, 1999, in Sheridan, Wyoming, where he had a ranch, after a long illness. Funeral services were held at St Peter's Episcopal Church with a private internment in the family mausoleum in Philadelphia.

Ella Anne Widener and Cortright Wetherill
Ella Anne Widener was born June 14, 1928, the daughter of PAB II and Gertrude Widener. She attended private school in Virginia and Bryn Mawr and was formally presented as a debutante at a large ball thrown by her parents at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia in December 1946. In February 1949 she married Cortright Wetherill in large wedding at the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr. They took up residence at Happy Hill Farm in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

Cortright Wetherill was born Nov. 26, 1923, son of C.A. Wetherill and Edwina Elkins Wetherill. He enrolled at Princeton but took time away from school to serve in the Army's 84th Infantry Division in Germany and France during WW II where he saw action and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He attended the Sorbonne but returned to Princeton. He then became a stockbroker with the Philadelphia firm of Janney Montgomery Scott from which he later resigned to breed and race horses at his Happy Hill Farm. His most famous horse was Raise A Native who produced over 70 stakes winners.

Ella Anne Widener Wetherill died May 6, 1986 at the American Hospital in Paris. Cortright Wetherill passed away May 23, 1988 in Philadelphia.

The Wetherills had two sons, Peter Widener Wetherill, an investor and equestrian, and Cortright Wetherill Jr., who in 1974 married Janice Nestle daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Nestle of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Today Cortright Wetherill Jr. owns car dealerships in suburban Philadelphia and he and his wife are active on the social scene, often raising money for charity. In 2006 President George Bush appointed Cortright Wetherill Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

Josephine "Fifi" Pancoast Widener
Josephine Pancoast Widener, daughter of Joseph and Ella Pancoast Widener, was born in 1902 in Philadelphia, and spent her childhood years, along with several generations of the Widener Family, at Lynnewood Hall. Nicknamed "Fifi" she made her social debut in 1919, and a year later in 1920 eloped with Carter Leidy a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. Their elopement and marriage created quite a stir in social circles and the New York Times reported that the couple, both laughing at the prospect of a formal ceremony, were wed in Knoxville, TN, without the knowledge of the bride’s parents.

The couple took up residence in a small house in Berwick, a small town along the Susquehanna River in North-eastern Pennsylvania. Carter had landed a factory job with the American Car Company, a manufacturer of train and subway cars. Berwick was a thriving company town from the turn of the century until the company closed in the early 1960's.

Today the American Car Company's massive factory buildings stand in a state of decay. Berwick is likewise depressed and rather run down. Newspapers reported the Leidys were a "party couple" and that Carter occasionally appeared in court on charges such as speeding, sometimes with his wife. Joseph Widener later softened his attitude towards the marriage and the couple made occasional appearances on the New York and Newport scene. A daughter, Joan Leidy, was born August 19, 1923.

After several years of marriage Fifi filed for divorce which was granted in the Montgomery County Court in Norristown in January 1926. Of interesting note, several years later Carter Leidy was injured and his second wife Marjorie Woodhouse Leidy was drowned when a car he was driving plunged 40 feet into the Bronx River. Mr. Leidy told police that he was confused by rain and fog when the accident occurred.

Fifi's second husband was Milton Whitely Holden, a Philadelphia stockbroker. This marriage was apparently sanctioned by Joseph Widener since the wedding took place on Dec 2, 1926, at Lynnewood Hall. The Holdens were married until 1932 when Fifi arrived in Reno, Nevada to file for divorce on grounds of cruelty. The New York Times curiously states that she arrived in Reno "wearing a heavy pair of spectacles ... concealing her identity" but., once recognized, admitted she was there to file for divorce against Holden who was purportedly on a yacht at the time with Vincent Astor, son of Titanic passenger John Jacob Astor. Fifi did not seek alimony and the divorce was granted the same year.

On January 11, 1933, Fifi married Danish born Aksel C. P. Wichfeld in Reno. Wichfeld had come to the United States in 1910, working in banking and operating taxi cab companies. In 1916 he became attaché of the Danish Legation in Washington. Only hours before the wedding he had divorced his wife of 18 years, Maybelle Swift Wichfeld, heiress to the Swift meat-packing fortune and former wife of Clarence Moore, who perished on the Titanic. The same judge who granted the divorce also performed the wedding ceremony in Reno. During their marriage Aksel and Fifi traveled extensively, and wintered in Palm Beach.

Old newspaper clippings tell of their many social activities and an Associated Press photo dated February 24, 1939, shows Fifi dressed in costume and wearing shorts, leading an elephant down Worth Avenue in a circus parade on Washington's Birthday. Aksel devoted his time to his charity Thrift, Inc. and to marlin fishing, the sport in which he was a world champion .

Fifi Widener Wichfeld, Ella Widener Wetherill, and George D. Widener Jr., 1949
Courtesy Temple University Urban Archives

Fifi once again filed for divorce, this time in West Palm Beach, in May 1951, on grounds of extreme cruelty. She claimed Aksel had been critical of her ownership of race horses and that he insisted she sell her horses and spend some money on clothing. The Wichfelds were granted a divorce and the settlement was not made public. Aksel C. P. Wichfeld died at age 67 on September 11, 1956, at the Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, during a visit to his homeland.

Fifi next married Commander Anson A Bigelow, U.S.N. Retired, and a veteran of both World Wars, at her Palm Beach estate, The Reef, which had its own tunnel that ran under the street to the ocean. Fifi continued to race horses and her colors were seen often at Hialeah. A November 1955 newspaper article recounts how her colt Nail won the Remsen Stakes at the Jamaica racetrack along with a $64,425 purse. Fifi had purchased the colt for $20,000 and his earnings to date were $171,950.

Trainer George P. Odom said that Mrs. Bigelow's reason for purchasing Nail was because he (the horse) had winked at her in the Saratoga sales ring. Commander Bigelow died on Dec. 3, 1958, in Palm Beach.

Josephine "Fifi" Pancoast Widener Leidy Holden Wichfeld Bigelow died March 6, 1961 at age 58 in the Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach, after an illness of several weeks. Her obituary lists her survivor as her daughter, Mrs. James C. Ray of Switzerland. Fifi Widener is buried next to her fourth and final husband, Commander Bigelow at Woodlawn Cemetery in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Conclusion
From the turn of the century through the 1960's the Widener Family received extensive press coverage in the Philadelphia and New York newspapers. Their births, marriages, divorces, deaths, money, social activities, travels, and sporting life were all reported in great detail. Old clippings tell of grand formal balls and parties they held in Philadelphia, Newport, and Palm Beach. Living on gated estates, attended by dozens of servants, they lived in a formal, elegant manner that few people will ever experience. Times change and today life is much less formal, even for Upper Class East Coast high society and the descendants of the extended Widener family although they still make the news occasionally.

Credits
The New York Times
The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin
The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Without Drums" by PAB Widener II, G.P Putnam and Sons 1940
"Widener-Dunton-Elkins-Broomall & Allied Families" compiled by Thomas Bateman
National Dictionary of Biography
National Gallery of Art web site
Temple University Archives
Encyclopedia-Titanica.org
The Seattle Times

Library Of Congress photo numbers
LC-G612-T-51392
LC-G612-T-51407

For more photos of Vaulcuse Farm, R.I. go to: http://www.loc.gov/ 
Then enter "Mrs. George F. Ryan" in the Search field. Check the results column for links to the photos.

Copyright David Whitmire 2003, 2008
Revised edition of an article first published on Encyclopedia Titanica in 2004