Rebecca Webb Pennock Lukens

In 1825, 31-year-old Rebecca Lukens found herself a widow, pregnant with her sixth child, and the new owner of an almost bankrupt company. She inherited a company that her father, Isaac Pennock, established in 1810. The Brandywine Iron Works was in Coatesville, PA. It specialized in the production of small itron products such as nails, wheels, barrel hoops, and blacksmith rods. Rebecca was trained by her father in the business and often joined him on business trips. It was on a trip to Philadelphia that she met Dr. Charles Lukens. They married in 1813 and within two years, her husband would change careers and become involved in her father's business. 

Charles led the company from 1815-1825. He invested in modernizing the plant to meet the rapid changes that were taking place in the transportation industry. Rebecca's father Isaac Pennock died in 1834, and her husband Charles unexpectedly passed away one year later. As Rebecca struggled to keep her father's and husband's dreams alive she was forced to deal with family relatives filing lawsuits for mill ownerships. Finally, an out-of-court settlement was reached, and payment was made to the family and the ownership issue was resolved. 

Less than ten years later, the Brandywine Mill was thriving and was a leader in the iron industry. In 1834, Rebecca expanded her business by opening a store, warehouse, and freight agency. Lukens also successfully steered her company through the national fiscal crisis known as the Panic of 1837, by relying on solid business principles, modernizing her mill. and refusing to slash iron prices. 

More than 30 years after her death, Brandywine Iron and Nail became Lukens Iron and Steel and was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange until 1998, when it was purchased by Bethlehem Steel. In 1994, Fortune magazine posthumously crowned Likens "America's First Female CEO of an Industrial Company," and named her to the National Business Hall of Fame.