Sarah Lockwood Winchester
| Sarah Winchester | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Sarah Lockwood Pardee c. 1840 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | September 5, 1922 (aged 81–82) San Jose, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart failure |
| Resting place | Evergreen Cemetery New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Winchester Mystery House |
| Spouse(s) | William Wirt Winchester (m. 1862; his death 1881) |
| Children | Annie, died in infancy 1866 |
| Parent(s) |
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| Relatives |
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Sarah Lockwood Winchester (née Pardee; c. 1840 – September 5, 1922) was an American heiress who amassed great wealth after the death of her husband, William Wirt Winchester. Her inheritance from his estate included USD$20 million (equivalent to $496,344,828 in 2016) as well as a 50% holding in the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, which made her one of the wealthiest women in the world at the time. She is best known for using her vast fortune to continue construction on the Winchester mansion in San Jose, California, for 38 consecutive years. Popular legends, which began during her lifetime, held that she was convinced she was cursed, and the only way to alleviate it was to add on to her California home. Since her death, the sprawling Winchester Mystery House has become a popular tourist attraction, known for its staircases that lead to nowhere, and its many winding corridors.
She was born Sarah Lockwood Pardee, the daughter of Leonard Pardee and his wife Sarah W. Burns, around 1840 in New Haven, Connecticut. On September 30, 1862 in New Haven, Connecticut, Sarah married William Wirt Winchester, the only son of Oliver Winchester, the owner of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.
The couple was married in 1862, had one daughter, Annie Pardee Winchester, who was born on June 15, 1866 and died on July 25, 1866 from the childhood disease marasmus. The couple had no more children.
Her father-in-law, Oliver Winchester, died in 1880, quickly followed in March 1881 by husband William, who died of tuberculosis, giving her an inheritance of $20 million (equivalent to $496,344,828 in 2016) in addition to approximately 50 percent ownership in the Winchester company and an income of $1,000 a day (equivalent to $24,817 in 2016).
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