She also received 48.9 percent of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and an income of about $1000 per day, which was not taxable until 1913.īut her new-found wealth could do nothing to ease her pain. As a result of his death, Sarah inherited over $20 million dollars, an incredible sum, especially in those days. William, now heir to the Winchester empire, was struck down with pulmonary tuberculosis. Not long after Sarah returned to her family and home, another tragedy struck. In the end, it would be nearly a decade before she returned to her normal self but she and William would never have another child. Sarah was so shattered by this event that she withdrew into herself and teetered on the edge of madness for some time. Just a short time later, the first disaster struck for Sarah, as her daughter contracted an illness known as 'marasmus', a children’s disease in which the body wastes away. The family prospered and on September 30, 1862, at the height of the Civil War, William Wirt Winchester and Sarah Pardee were married in an elaborate ceremony in New Haven.įour years later, on July 15, 1866, Sarah gave birth to a daughter named Annie Pardee Winchester. He re-organized the company and changed the name to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Money began to pour in and Oliver Winchester soon amassed a large fortune from government contracts and private sales. It became the first true repeating rifle and a favorite among the Northern troops at the outbreak of the Civil War.

Because it was easy to reload and could fire rapidly, the Henry was said to average one shot every three seconds. In 1860, the company developed the Henry Rifle, which had a tubular magazine located under the barrel. Obviously, this type of gun was a vast improvement over the muzzle-loading rifles of recent times, but Winchester still saw room for advance. In 1857, he took over the assets of a firm which made the Volcanic Repeater, a rifle that used a lever mechanism to load bullets into the breech. The young man’s name was William Wirt Winchester and he was the son of Oliver Winchester, a shirt manufacturer and businessman. Although she was petite and stood only four feet, ten inches, she made up for this in personality and loveliness.Īt the same time that Sarah was growing up, a young man was also maturing in another prominent New Haven family. Her beauty was also well-known by the young men about town, despite her diminutive size. She was well-received at all social events, thanks to her musical skills, her fluency in various foreign languages and her sparkling charm. The baby’s name was also Sarah and as she reached maturity, she became the belle of the city. The story of the Winchester House began in September 1839 with the birth of a baby girl to Leonard and Sarah Pardee of New Haven, Connecticut.

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