13. It Was Not Just Her Grandfather, F.W. Woolworth, Who Gave Her An Inheritance
Barbara Hutton was well-off from the day she was born. Of course, most of this was because of her grandfather, F.W. Woolworth, who was the founder of the large Woolworth store chain. When Woolworth passed away on April 8, 1919, he left his massive fortune to his mentally disabled wife. At the time, Woolworth was worth about $65 million, which is close to $900 billion today. When his wife, Jennie, passed away in 1924, she left everything to her daughters. However, because Edna, Hutton’s mother, passed away in 1917, Hutton was left with her mother’s share of the fortune.
From her grandmother, Hutton received $26.1 million. She also received an additional $2.1 million in stock, which was placed into a separate trust and handled by Hutton’s father, Franklyn. When Hutton turned 21 years old in 1933, she received an inheritance of $42 million. This amount would be about $1 billion in today’s value. On top of this, Hutton still had another $8 million added to her inheritance from her mother’s estate. Therefore, on her 21st birthday, Hutton became known as one of the wealthiest women in the world.