The Richest Family in Philadelphia Boarded the Titanic. The Fortune Never Recovered

Peter A.B. Widener began behind a butcher's block and died worth close to $100 million, one of the 40 richest Americans who ever lived, with a 110-room palace built to hold his family for three generations. On the night of April 15, 1912, the maiden voyage of the Titanic took his son George and his grandson Harry, the two men the whole fortune was meant to pass through, while George's wife Eleanor survived in lifeboat 4. Widener's money had even helped finance the shipping trust that owned the ship. He died in 1915 leaving a probated estate of about $31.5 million, and by 1952 the palace that cost roughly $8 million to build sold for $192,000. The fortune was never destroyed in a crash. It simply drained away. Subscribe to the channel: @cursedfortunes In this video, we talk about the rise and long emptying of the Widener fortune, including Peter A.B. Widener's climb from a Philadelphia meat stall to a streetcar, tobacco, and steel empire, the maiden voyage that killed George and Harry Widener, Harry's rare books and the small Bacon Essays lost with him, Eleanor's survival and the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard, Joseph Widener's gift of more than 2,000 artworks to the National Gallery of Art, and where the money finally went. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss a story of how the Gilded Age made and unmade its greatest families. 💬 Comment where you're watching from and tell me whether you'd have kept your family off that ship. 📢 Share this with anyone who loves history, on Facebook, Reddit, or in your group chats. You are the reason this channel keeps telling these stories. DISCLAIMER: This video is based on real historical events and figures, drawn from primary archives, biographies, court records, period press, and leading historical scholarship. While every video is heavily researched, occasional minor inaccuracies in dates, quotes, or specific details may occur — historical sources sometimes disagree, and interpretation is sometimes required where the historical record is silent. Any errors are unintentional. #Wideners #WidenerFamily #Titanic #GildedAge #GildedAgeHistory #Lynnewood #LynnewoodHall #Philadelphia #HarryWidener #EleanorWidener #JosephWidener #WidenerLibrary #Harvard #NationalGalleryOfArt #AmericanHistory #History #LostFortunes #OldMoney #Titanic1912 #CursedFortunes #GildedAgeScandal #Heirs #FamilyFortune