Rebecca Webb Pennock1

F, #2443, b. 1794, d. 1854
Last Edited: 30 Jul 2011

Parents:

Father: Isaac Pennock1 b. 1767, d. 1824
Mother: Martha Webb (?)1 b. 1765, d. 1844

Family:

Charles Lukens M. D. b. 1 Aug 1786, d. 23 Jun 1825

Notes

  • Note*: Rebecca Lukens (1794-1854) born Rebecca Webb Pennock was the owner and manager of the iron and steel mill which became the Lukens Steel Company of Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Fortune Magazine called her "America's first female CEO of an industrial company" and its board of editors named her to the National Business Hall of Fame in 1994...
    Charles died in 1825, leaving Rebecca in charge of a company near bankruptcy.[2] An inheritance dispute and the Panic of 1837 further complicated matters...
    She ran the company until 1847, making it into the country's premier manufacturer of boilerplate. During her retirement she wrote an autobiography for her grandchildren.
    [Wikipedia, Feb. 2011]
  • Note: Judith Scheffler's article on Rebecca Webb Pennock Lukens is highly recommended.2

Citations

  1. [S405] Roberts, Clarence V., Ancestry of Clarence V. Roberts & Frances A. (Walton) Roberts : comprising a chart and sketches of some fifty-six ancestral families who settled mostly in or near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Wm. F. Fell, printers, 1940), p. 173-175.   Roberts--Roberts.pdf
  2. [S415] Scheffler, Judith, "The Family and Business Leadership of Rebecca Lukens", Pennsylvania History Vol. 66 No. 3 (1999), p. 276-310.   Scheffler--Rebecca-Lukens--Penn-Hist-v66.pdf