Joseph Widney - Marriages

Marriages

Widney married twice. His first wife was Ida DeGraw Tuthill Widney (born November 17, 1844 in Orient in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York), whom he married on May 17, 1869 in San Jose, California. They had three children, each of whom died in infancy: Ada, who died at the age of fourteen months in August 1870; an unnamed son who died in 1872; and another son, Joseph T. Widney, who died aged six months old in June 1874. They lived in a Victorian mansion at 129 S. Hill Street in the Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California area, next to his brother Judge Robert M. Widney. Ida died in Los Angeles on February 10, 1879 and is buried in the Los Angeles City Cemetery, in the family plot.

Widney then married on December 27, 1882 in Santa Clara, California to Miss Mary Bray (born April 26, 1845 in Missouri), the daughter of the late John G. Bray, a pioneer merchant of San Francisco, and first president of the San Jose Bank. Mrs. Mary Widney was a respected artist prior to her marriage. They had no children. On February 18, 1884 flooding of the Los Angeles River resulted in the loss of 43 homes. "Widney lost the most expensive house in the area, built fifteen months before at the foot of Sainsevain Street at a cost of $2000". Dr. and Mrs. Widney then established their new home at 150 W. Adams Boulevard (formerly S. 26th Street), nearer the newly established University of Southern California. As the founder of the Flower Festival Society, Mary Widney was responsible for organising flower festivals that raised money to support the Woman's Home, a home for up to seventy poor working women. Mary Bray Widney died on March 10, 1903 at their home at 150 W. Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles. Dr Widney never remarried.