The Widener surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 5,464 people carried this name — #6,250 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 54,100 people counted. That is up 3% from 5,324 in 2000.

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In print

Widener in American newspapers,
1896–1897.

Newspaper page from Foster's Daily Democrat carrying the name Widener
Foster's Daily Democrat 1897-12-13
Newspaper page from Foster's Daily Democrat carrying the name Widener
Foster's Daily Democrat 1896-02-04
Newspaper page from The Portland Daily Press carrying the name Widener
The Portland Daily Press 1896-02-12

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain.

In print

Widener in Australian newspapers,
1900s–1970s.

658 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Widener. The most, 273, date from the 1910s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in Western Australia, at 1.7 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 222
Western Australia 106
South Australia 95
Victoria 90
Queensland 84
Tasmania 53
ACT (Canberra) 3
Northern Territory 2

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Widener.

Who carried it

People named Widener,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Peter Arrell Brown Widener
    Peter Arrell Brown Widener 1834–1915 · financier
  • George Dunton Widener
    George Dunton Widener 1861–1912 · businessperson
  • Eleanor Elkins Widener
    Eleanor Elkins Widener 1861–1937 · heiress
  • Eleanor Elkins Widener
    Eleanor Elkins Widener 1862–1937 · heiress
  • Joseph E. Widener
    Joseph E. Widener 1871–1943 · businessperson
  • Emma Jane Widener 1837–1901

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Widener,
in the records of 2 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States242 records

242 records of the Widener name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 157
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 55
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 10
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 9
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 5
  • U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War 4
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 1
  • U.S. service members who died in the Korean War 1
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record John F. Widener

    Born 1923 in Virginia. Enlisted 1943 at Abingdon; driller from Tazewell County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1997, buried at Fair View Cemetery, Roanoke, Virginia.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Josef Widener

    Arrived at Baltimore in 1887 aboard the Peruvian from Liverpool, aged 26; laborer. From Des Moines-Ia, Germany; bound for Baltimore.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)
  3. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Larry Allen Widener

    Born 1947; from Youngstown, Ohio. U.S. Army, pioneer; killed in action 1968 in Gia Dinh, South Vietnam.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain)

Showing 3 of 242 records for Widener in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain).

Canada1 record

1 record of the Widener name in Canada Nova Scotia Archives name indexes
  1. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Birth record Muriel Ada Widener

    Born 1920 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Widener.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Widener is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

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