Jessie Ball du Pont

Jessie Ball du Pont (January 20, 1884 - September 26, 1970) was a teacher, spouse of Alfred I. du Pont, benefactor, philanthropist and older sister to Edward Ball. She used her personal wealth and that of her husband to enhance the lives of others by supporting education, social services, communities and the arts in Florida.

Youth

She was born Jessie Dew Ball at Cressfield, the Ball ancestral home, in Hardings, Northumberland County, Virginia. She was the third of five children born to Thomas Ball (1836-1917) and Lalla Gresham (1856-1920) who lived to adulthood. Her siblings were: Thomas (1879-1960); Isabel Ball Baker (1882-1971); Elsie Ball (Wright) Bowley (1886-1972); and Edward (1888-1981).

Jessie's father shared a colonial ancestor with Mary Ball, mother of George Washington. Thomas Ball served as a cavalry captain in the Confederate army during the American Civil War and later became an attorney. While serving as an assistant United States Attorney General, he moved his family to Austin, Texas for one year when Jessie was eight, then spent the following year in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ball family returned to Virginia where Jessie continued her studies at the Wytheville (Virginia) Seminary.

At age fourteen, Jessie met Alfred I. du Pont, twenty years her senior. He had come to Ball's Neck, Virginia, to hunt. Other visits followed for fishing or duck and quail shooting. Between trips, he corresponded with several new friends, including Jessie.

Jessie attended the Farmville (Virginia) Normal School, (later called Farmville State College, now Longwood University) for a year and graduated, returning home with a Life Certificate to teach any grade in Virginia. [http://www.stratfordhall.org/jbd.html Stratford Hall Plantation website: Jessie Dew Ball duPont] ] At the age of eighteen, Jessie embarked on a teaching career in Lancaster County, Virginia and assisted her father in his law practice.

California

The family moved to San Diego, California in 1909 where she continued to teach, eventually rising to the position of vice-principal at the city’s largest elementary school. She also began investing in real estate and the stock market. She used the profits to award college scholarships to needy students, which eventually totaled over 100. [http://www.dupontfund.org/about/history.asp Jessie Ball DuPont Fund: History] ] Jessie also helped support her aging parents. Her father passed away in 1917, and after her mother's death three years later, [http://library.wlu.edu/specialcollections/jessiebd.pdf Washington and Lee University Library: Special collections-JESSIE BALL duPONT PAPERS] ] she wrote to Alfred, whose second wife had died in 1920. In early 1921, he boarded a train for the West coast. After a brief courtship, she resigned from her position and they were quietly married by an Episcopal clergyman on January 22, 1921. They returned to the East coast and settled into the Nemours Mansion and Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware.

Perfect Team

After her marriage vows, Jessie took on the responsibility of raising Alfred's youngest child, Denise, and running Nemours, the 77-room house built by Alfred for his second wife. Partly because Alfred was losing his hearing, Jessie set up a business office adjoining his offices in Wilmington. She kept regular business hours and sat in on many of his business meetings, then began to accompany him to board meetings and conferences. She became his "ears" and his trusted advisor. As Jessie's knowledge of her husband's diverse business interests expanded, he came to value her objective judgment and discussed his ideas with her before making important decisions.

Jessie's younger brother, Edward Ball, was hired by Alfred in 1923 to assist in the du Pont businesses. Ed was paid the lofty salary of $5,000 a year, and moved to Delaware where he was publicly named manager of the Clean Food Products Company. Privately, he was Mr. du Pont’s confidential business partner and became an astute financier and caretaker of the du Pont de Nemours estate fortune. [http://www.fsu.edu/~fsuml/spring2000.html Florida State University: Coastal Laboratory Tidings-Spring, 2000] ] Edward's involvement allowed Jessie to spend more time on charitable activities.

Florida relocation

In the fall of 1926, Jessie and Alfred decided to move their principal residence to Florida. He opened offices in Jacksonville and formed Almours Securities, Inc., transferring everything he owned to it with the exception of Nemours. His assets were reported to total $34 million.

Epping Forest

Alfred purchased 58 acres of land on the St. John's River and built a 25-room mansion and landscaped grounds, as well as a berth for their motor yacht. It was small compared to Nemours, but adequate for their needs. Jessie named the estate, Epping Forest after the Virginia plantation of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's mother and Jessie's relative. [ [http://www.alfrediduponttrust.org/about/alfred-i-dupont.asp Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust: About Alfred I. duPont (1864-1935)] ] Alfred designed the formal English gardens while Jessie selected the furnishings.

Business Focus

Edward moved to Jacksonville also, and helped Alfred develop a banking and railroad network in the state. Florida suffered a real estate bust in 1927 and land values, particularly in South Florida, plummeted. During the late 1920's and early 1930's, Edward purchased huge tracts of land in Florida's panhandle, often for "dollars an acre". They acquired a major interest in Florida National Bank of Jacksonville and Jessie was named a director of the bank in the early 1930s. By 1935, the duPonts had created a financial empire that virtually dominated the economy of Florida.

tratties

One of Jessie's favorite projects was the acquisition and preservation of Stratford Hall Plantation, birthplace of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, which was only a few miles from where she was born. She accepted an invitation to join the Board of Directors of the "Robert E. Lee Memorial Association" (RELMA), which had representatives from all 50 states, the "Stratties", as Jessie called them. She wrote to a friend:

"Though the first desire in the mind of all Southerners is that there should be a lasting, great memorial to General Lee, I have always felt that there are also other compelling reasons why Stratford should be preserved. Being operated as a living Colonial plantation, it is one of the few places in the country which can teach the present and future generations of youngsters the self-contained way of life adopted by the Fathers of our Country."

The goal of RELMA was to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars at the height of the Depression. A short term loan of $190,000 for the original purchase of Stratford Hall Plantation by RELMA was paid "in cash through another loan by an interested party in January 1929." Within six years, Stratford was restored to its' original beauty and the mortgage paid off. In 1935, it was officially dedicated and opened to the public. No reference reveals the source of the money, but the Stratford website includes a full web page about Jessie Ball du Pont. The text states: "At Stratford, as in every other endeavor touched by her generosity..."

Recreation

The couple made several trips to England, the European continent, and North Africa. They spent considerable time on their 125’ yacht, the "Nenemoosha", and at Cherry Island, a hunting lodge near Cambridge, Maryland. They frequently entertained members of both the Ball and duPont families as well as many friends.

Alfred’s Death

When Alfred died on April 29, 1935, Jessie was Alfred's primary beneficiary. She retained ownership of the trust until her death, when it would pass to the named foundations. Jessie was named principal trustee of the estate, along with her brother, Edward, and Alfred's son-in-law, Elbert Dent. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30A17F63B5511728DDDA80994DB405B898BF1D3&scp=4&sq=Edward%20Ball&st=cse New York Times: March 11, 1979-Ed Ball at 91: Embattled, Implacable; The Millionaire Du Pont Trustee Faces Law Suits by Jon Nordheimer] ] Three foundations were created in Alfred's memory:

* the "Nemours Foundation's" objective was to build a children's hospital in Delaware to provide for the care and treatment of crippled children; Jessie was named president
* the "Alfred I. duPont Foundation" provided assistance to needy persons in Delaware, Florida and Virginia; Jessie was also the president
* the "Alfred I. duPont Awards Foundation" was established to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of broadcast journalism; Columbia University was designated to administer the process

Additionally, Jessie was a member of the board of managers for the Alfred I. duPont Institute for Crippled Children at Nemours, which opened in 1941, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the St. Joe Paper Company in Jacksonville. Even though she was principal trustee of her husband's estate, she deferred business decisions to her brother, Edward. Jessie preferred to handle the philanthropic side of the trust.

For over four decades she designated gifts to churches, major charities, children’s homes, historic buildings and art museums. She funded hundreds of scholarships for college students, and supported religious organizations, hospitals and libraries. Jessie not only contributed money, but generously gave of her time by serving on numerous boards and committees.

Honors

* Jessie received numerous awards and honors for meritorious service, including thirteen honorary degrees.
* She became the first woman to serve on Florida Board of Control of the state's higher education system in 1951.
* In 1963, Queen Elizabeth II made Jessie a Sister of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.
* "Jessie Ball duPont Park" in downtown Jacksonville is named in her honor and surrounds the Treaty Oak.
* She was designated a Great Floridian by the Florida Department of State in the "Great Floridians 2000 Program". A plaque attesting to the honor is located at the Chateau Nemours Seaport Inn Bed and Breakfast in Port St. Joe. [ http://www.flheritage.com/services/sites/floridians/?section=p#Port St. Joe (Northwest) Florida Department of State: Great Floridians 2000 Program-Port St. Joe] ]
* Inducted in 2001 into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame [ [http://www.fcsw.net/halloffame/WHOFbios/jessie_ball_dupont.htm Florida Commission on the Status of Women: Members of the Florida Women's Hall of Fame-Jessie Ball duPont] ]
* The "Riverside YMCA" in downtown Jacksonville was renamed "Jessie Ball duPont YMCA" in her honor

Later Years

At age 78, she suffered from a variety of debilitating medical conditions that limited her activities, and spent the last years of her life in Delaware. She died at Nemours on September 26, 1970. The conditions of her will stipulated that all her assets, except bequests to friends and families, were transferred to the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in Jacksonville, where she was still a legal resident at the time of her death.

Jessie Ball duPont Fund

Officially, it was the Jessie Ball duPont Religious, Charitable and Educational Fund. Mrs. duPont's estate, at the time one of the largest in Florida history, was estimated at $42 million. The Fund was designed to benefit any institution that had been a recipient of Mrs. duPont's gifts between Jan. 1, 1960 and Dec. 31, 1964.

The trustees didn't hold their first meeting until January, 1977 due to unresolved tax and legal issues related to Jessie's estate. The first four trustees were: Edward Ball, Mrs. duPont's brother; William Mills, who had advised Mrs. duPont on her giftmaking for years; Rev. Alexander duBose Juhan, son of Mrs. duPont's close friend, Episcopal Bishop Frank A. Juhan; and Irvin P. Golden, representing the corporate executor, Florida National Bank.

The only staff was Hazel Williams, who had been Mrs. duPont's personal secretary for many years. Because it had been more than six years since Mrs. du Pont's death and no gifts had been made during that timeframe, the trustees decided to expedite the process that first year and rely on the knowledge and judgement of Miss Williams, who recommended grants to 113 organizations totalling $4.2 million.

References

External links

* [http://www.dupontfund.org/about/history.asp Jessie Ball duPont Fund website]
* [http://www.stratfordhall.org/jbd.html Stratford Hall Plantation website]
* [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/St-Joe-Paper-Company-Company-History.html Funding Universe: Company Histories-St. Joe Paper Company]
* [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Florida-East-Coast-Industries-Inc-Company-History.html Funding Universe: Company Histories- Florida East Coast Industries, Inc.]