America's 54 Richest Families Are Worth $1.9 Trillion

Inside Forbes’ definitive ranking of the wealthiest families in the U.S. including a record number of multi-generational clans with 11-figure or 12-figure fortunes. As America’s 250th anniversary approaches, Forbes is celebrating our own version of founding fathers (and mothers): the entrepreneurs behind what have become the largest family fortunes in the country. Most built one (or more) of the nation’s most successful businesses. Many, though not all, of these companies are still owned and run by the descendants of their founders all these years later. That includes everyone from the Hughes family (estimated fortune: $14.7 billion) behind Public Storage, who are now in their third generation, to the oldest clan on the list, the Du Ponts ($22 billion), who founded what became the chemical giant bearing their name in 1802, and are now in their ninth generation.