Anne Weightman Walker Penfield (December 15, 1844 – February 25, 1932) was a philanthropist and one of the richest women in the world.
Biography She was born in December 15, 1844, to William Weightman 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."Peter Herdic's Failure", The New York Times, "ProQuest Historical Newspapers," Nov. 4, 1884.
She married Robert J. C. Walker in 1862.Mary Sieminski, "Anne Weightman: One of the wealthiest women in the world," The Williamsport Sun-Gazette, July 13, 2014. Walker died on December 19, 1903, in Philadelphia, leaving her a $10 million inheritance ($ in ). 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. 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."Weightman Will Case Reopened By Decree: Granddaughter Contests for $60,000,000 Estate," The New York Times, June 10. 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.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.
In 1908, she married Frederic Courtland Penfield, an orientalist, a Harvard alumnus and the United States Austria-Hungary ambassador, at St. Patrick's Cathedral. To celebrate her wedding she gave $1 million to charity ($ in ). 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.Robin Leidhecker, "Who Was Anne Weightman?" The Lycoming Lineage: Newsletter of the Lycoming County Genealogical Society, vol. XXV no. 4, July–August 2008.
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. In 1914 the United States was neutral in World War I.
Death
She died on February 25, 1932, in Manhattan. She is interred in the Weightman family plot at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.
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