Susan Ridgway Willing Lawrance (August 2, 1865 – May 2, 1933) was an American socialite who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.
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Early life
Willing was born on August 2, 1865, in Newport, Rhode Island. She was the eldest child of Edward Shippen Willing (1822–1906) and Alice Caroline (née Barton) Willing (1833–1903). Her siblings included John Rhea Barton Willing, who did not marry, 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.
Her maternal grandfather was the wealthy Dr. John Rhea Barton, an orthopedic surgeon best remembered for describing Barton's fracture. Her maternal grandmother, Ann Fries (née Frazer) Barton, died in 1837 and his grandfather remarried to Willing's namesake, heiress Susanna Ridgway Rotch, the daughter of merchant Jacob Ridgway. Her 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.