Du Pont family

Du Pont
Ethnicity	French American
Current region	Delaware and New York, United States
Information
Place of origin	France
Notable members	Eleuthère Irénée Du Pont De Nemours, Samuel Francis Du Pont
Connected families	Roosevelt family, Vanderbilt family
Name origin and meaning	"Of the bridge"

The Du Pont family is an American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817). The son of a Paris watchmaker and a member of a Burgundian noble family, he and his sons, Victor Marie du Pont and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, emigrated to the United States in 1800 and used the resources of their Huguenot heritage to found one of the most prominent of American families, and one of its most successful corporations, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, initially established by Eleuthère Irénée as a gunpowder manufacturer. Various members of the family managed the company well into the twentieth century and to this day family trusts constitute a substantial portion of the company's ownership. This and other companies run by the du Pont family employ some five to ten percent of Delaware's population. The family also played a very large part in politics during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and were responsible for the idea of the Louisiana purchase. During the 19th century, the Du Pont family maintained their family wealth by carefully arranged marriages between first cousins^[1] which, at the time, was the norm for many rich families.

Spelling of the name

The usual spelling of the family name is du Pont when quoting an individual's full name and Du Pont when speaking of the family as a whole; some individual Du Ponts have chosen to spell it differently, perhaps most notably Samuel Francis Du Pont. However, the name of the chemical company founded by the family is commonly referred to as DuPont, or, in the long form, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. Other members spelled it as duPont, notably the renowned thoroughbred racehorse owners William duPont, Jr. and his sister, Marion duPont Scott.^[2]

Below is an alphabetical listing of selected notable members of the family. It is followed by a listing of their families in order of descent. The listing is intended only to illustrate the relationships among the notable members of the family and is not a complete genealogy. The only family groupings and lines of descent shown are those necessary to illustrate relationships for notable members of the family. By 1942 there were believed to be 705 direct descendants of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and there are now well over 2000 living members of the family.

Alphabetical list of selected descendants of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours

• A. Felix du Pont (1879–1948)
• A. Felix du Pont, Jr. (1905–1996)
• Alexis Irénée du Pont (1816–1857)
• Alexis Irénée du Pont, Jr. (1843–1904)
• Alexis Irénée du Pont, III (1869–1921)
• Alfred Irénée du Pont (1864–1935)
• Alfred Victor Philadelphe du Pont (1798–1856)
• Amy Elizabeth du Pont (1875–1962)
• Benjamin Franklin du Pont (born 1964) founder of yet2.com
• Charles Irénée du Pont (1797–1869)
• Charles Irénée du Pont, II (1859–1902)
• Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771–1834)
• Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, II (1829–1877)
• Ethel du Pont (1916–1965)
• Eugene du Pont (1840–1902)
• Eugene du Pont, Jr. (1873–1954)
• Eleuthère Paul du Pont (1887–1950)
• Francis Gurney du Pont (1850–1904)
• Francis Irénée du Pont (1873–1942)
• Francis Marieanne Wilson du Pont (1940-)
• Henry du Pont (1812–1889)
• Henry Algernon du Pont (1838–1926)
• Henry Francis du Pont (1880–1969)
• Jane du Pont Lunger (1914–2001)
• John Eleuthère du Pont (1938–2010)
• Irénée du Pont (1876–1963)
• Lammot du Pont (1831–1884)
• Lammot du Pont II (1880–1952)
• Marion duPont (1894–1983)
• Maximillian Hobson du Pont (born 1985)
• Louise Evelina du Pont Crowninshield (1877–1958)
• Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817)
• Pierre S. du Pont (1870–1954)
• Pierre du Pont III (1911–1988)
• Pierre S. "Pete" du Pont, IV (born 1935)
• Pierre S. duPont, V (born 1959-) (Co-founder of ZephyrDocs which was acquired by IntraLinks in May, 2000. Partner in Occom)
• Reynolds du Pont (born 1918)
• Richard C. du Pont (1911–1943)
• Samuel Francis Du Pont (1803–1865)
• Thomas Coleman du Pont (1863–1930)
• Victor Marie du Pont (1767–1827)
• William du Pont (1855–1928)
• William duPont, Jr. (1896–1965)

See also

• Hagley Museum and Library
• Longwood Gardens
• Winterthur Museum and Grounds
• Nemours Mansion and Gardens

References

1. ^ Go Ahead, Kiss Your Cousin by Richard Conniff, From the August 2003 issue, published online August 1, 2003
2. ^ http://emc.vetmed.vt.edu/emcmariondupontscott.html

• Gates, John D. (1979). The du Pont Family. New York: Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-13043-0. 
• Duke, Marc. (1976). The du Ponts, Portrait of a Dynasty. New York: Saturday Review Press, E.P. Dutton & Co. ISBN 0-8415-0429-6. 
• Dutton, William S. (1942). Du Pont, One Hundred and Forty Years. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 
• du Pont, Pierre S. (1942). Genealogy of the Du Pont Family 1739-1942. Wilmington: Hambleton Printing & Publishing. 
• Du Pont Family The Pennocks of Primitive Hall

External links

• Dominick Dunne's "Maternal Instinct" - Lisa Dean, greatgrandaughter of Lammont du Pont - murder for hire
• Occom Partners, Pierre S. duPont, V