John Rhea Barton Willing


John Rhea Barton Willing was an American music enthusiast and violin collector who was prominent in New York and Philadelphia society during the Gilded Age.

Early life

Willing was born in Philadelphia on December 21, 1864. He was the only surviving son of Edward Shippen Willing and Alice Bell Willing. His siblings included Susan Ridgway Willing, who married Francis Cooper Lawrence Jr.; Edward Shippen Willing Jr., who died at age six; and Ava Lowle Willing, who was married to John Jacob Astor IV until their divorce in 1910, and, thereafter, to Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale.
His maternal grandfather, and namesake, was the wealthy Dr. John Rhea Barton, an orthopedic surgeon best remembered for describing Barton's fracture. His maternal grandmother, Ann Fries Barton, died in 1837 and his grandfather remarried to heiress Susanna Ridgway Rotch, the daughter of merchant Jacob Ridgway. His grand-uncle, Dr. William P.C. Barton, was also a renowned doctor and surgeon. Willing's father, the son of Richard Willing, was the paternal grandson of Thomas Willing, who served as Mayor of Philadelphia and the first president of First Bank of the United States, and the great-grandson of Charles Willing, also a Mayor of Philadelphia.

Career

Willing entered the University of Pennsylvania, where his father graduated from in 1864, in 1881 and graduated with an A.B. degree in 1885. At Penn, he was a member of Delta Psi fraternity. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1886.

Society life

In 1892, Willing was included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.
Willing, like his sister, moved in the "highest social circles" and was considered an accomplished athlete. He was a founding member of the Philadelphia Fencing and Sparring Club. Willing made and collected violins, including several instruments considered the finest known, and art works, including a renowned copy of the Henry Inman portrait of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States. After several years of prominence in society in New York, Philadelphia and Newport, around 1893 he "gave up the usual social gayeties" to travel around the U.S. and Europe "in search of violins and violin lore. His passion for music and for the violin especially soon grew until he gave most of his time to its indulgence."

Personal life

Willing occupied 511 South Broad Street in Philadelphia, which was directly across the street from the home of his grandfather, John Rhea Barton, where his mother grew up.
Willing, who did not marry and had no children, died from pneumonia at the Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia on September 2, 1913. He was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. Willing left the bulk of his estate to his sisters and his nephew, Vincent Astor. In his will, he left a Stradivarius violin to his longtime friend, A. Lanfear Norrie, who predeceased him.