Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 47

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978

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Despairing of being of further use to his country, to which he had given the best years of his life and almost life itself, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours decided to emigrate to America, and, accompanied by his two sons, Victor Marie (who had but recently returned to France from a diplomatic mission in America) and Eleuthere Irenee, and their families, he embarked for America, and they landed at Bergen Point, New Jersey, January 1, 1800, where he continued to reside with his elder son for two years. In 1802, the affairs of his native country having somewhat cleared, he returned to France and was offered official position by the great First Consul, but declined it, and devoted himself exclusively to literary pursuits. He was employed by the United States to assist in arranging the treaty of 1803, by which the great territory of Louisiana, extending from the Mississippi to the Pacific, was ceded to the United States by France. Through his services in this capacity he acquired the friendship and confidence of Thomas Jefferson, then President of the United States, and was by him requested to pre- pare a plan of national education, which was published in 1812, and, though never adopted by the United States, its salient features were incorporated into the plan of education adopted by France, which forms their present code. On the down- fall of Napoleon in 1814, du Pont de Nemours again entered the service of his native country, becoming Secretary of the Provisional Government, and on the restoration of the monarchy became a Councillor of State. On the return of Na- poleon from Elba in 1815, he left France permanently, and, again coming to America, made his home with his sons on the banks of the Brandywine, near Wilmington, Delaware, where he died August 6, 1817. He had been for nearly a half century an extensive and prolific writer on scientific, political and literary subjects and published many works of the highest merit. He was a member of the Institute of France, and contributed many valuable papers to its archives.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours married, January 26, 1766, Nicole Char- lotte Marie Louise le Dec de Rencourt, a woman of rare qualities of mind and character, a loving and devoted wife and mother, who died in France in 1784.

Issue of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and Marie Louise le Dec de Ren- court :-

VICTOR MARIE DU PONT DE NEMOURS, b. 1767, d. 1827: m. Gabrielle Josephine de la Fitte de Pelleport : of whom presently ;

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ELEUTHERE IRENÉE DU PONT DE NEMOURS, b. in Paris, France, June 24, 1772, d. at Nemours, New Castle co., Del., Oct. 31, 1834; m. Sophie Madelline Dalmas; of whom later.

VICTOR MARIE DU PONT DE NEMOURS, eldest son of the distinguished statesman and patriot, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, and his wife, Marie Louise le Dec, born in Paris, France, October, 1767, received an excellent education in the best educational institutions of his native country, and in 1774, at the age of sixteen years, entered the Bureau of Commerce, at Paris, of which his father was In- spector General. From June, 1785, to January, 1787, he travelled over the greater part of the kingdom in the collection of statistics on French agriculture, commerce and manufactures, for the use of the Department of Commerce and Agriculture over which his father was then presiding. In 1787 he was appointed an attaché of the French Legation in the United States, and spent two years in this country. Returning to France, he filled various official positions there until 1791, when he again came to America as Second Secretary of the French Legation, and was promoted to the position of First Secretary in 1795. Again returning to France in 1796, he was appointed French Consul at Charleston, South Carolina, and re- moved there with his young wife.

He returned to France in 1799, but in the latter part of the same year emi- grated permanently to America, with his father and younger brother, landing at Bergen Point, New Jersey, where he resided until 1809, when he joined his brother on the Brandywine, near Wilmington, Delaware, where he established a woolen mill, and was actively engaged in the manufacturing business for the remainder of his days. He was for some time a member of the General Assembly of the State of Delaware, and took an active interest in the affairs of his adopted country. He also filled the position of Government Director of the Bank of the United States, at Philadelphia, dying in that city, while on a business visit, Janu- ary 30, 1827.

Victor Marie du Pont de Nemours married at Paris, France, April 9, 1794, Gabrielle Josephine de la Fitte de Pelleport, daughter of the Marquis Gabriel Renee Louis de la Fitte de Pelleport, a noble of ancient lineage, and a member of the household of Count D'Artois, later Charles X., and Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry. She was born at Stenay, France, March 20, 1770, and died at "Lou- viers," the seat of the family near Wilmington, November 6, 1837, having sur- vived her husband nearly eleven years. An obituary of her written by her son, Rear Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont, U. S. N., is in part as follows :

"Died at Louviers, on the Brandywine, November 6, 1837, Gabrielle Josephine de Pelleport, relict of the late Victor du Pont, whose memory is still cherished by the friends who have mourned him in this State. The deceased was born in 1770, and was educated at Versailles, where her father, the Marquis de Pelleport, held an appointment in the household of the King's brother. She witnessed the commencement of all the monstrous events of the Revolution of 1789, the con- templation of which made her appreciate more fully the blessings of peace and tranquility which she found in her adopted country."

Issue of Victor Marie and Gabrielle Josephine (de Pelleport) du Pont :-

AMELIA ELIZABETH DU PONT, b. 1796, d. 1869; of whom later ;

CHARLES IRENÉE DU PONT, b. Charleston, S. C., March 29, 1797, d. "Louviers," Jan. 31, 1869; m. (first) Dorcas Van Dycke; (second) Ann Ridgely; of whom presently;

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SAMUEL FRANCIS DU PONT, b. Bergen Point, N. J., Sept. 27, 1803, d. Phila., June 23, 1865; m. Sophie Madelline du Pont ; of whom presently ;

Julie Sophie du Pont, b. Bergen Point, N. J., June 4, 1806, d. 1882; m. 1824, Commo- dore Irvine Shubrick, and they had issue: Thomas Shubrick, Francis Shubrick, Elisha Shubrick, Gabriella Shubrick, Richard Shubrick.

REAR ADMIRAL SAMUEL FRANCIS DU PONT, youngest son of Victor and Gabri- elle Josephine, born at Bergen Point, New Jersey, September 27, 1803, removed with his parents to "Louviers," on the banks of the Brandywine, at the age of six years. On December 19, 1815, he was appointed a midshipman in the United States Navy at the instance of President James Madison, who had offered him a cadetship in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, but he chose the Navy. Ex-President Thomas Jefferson, the staunch friend of the family, in a letter to his father congratulating him on the appointment of his son. expressed the prophetic hope that he might become an Admiral. The young mid- shipman made his first cruise of three years in the "Franklin" as an aide to Com- modore Stewart, and was transferred to the "Erie" before his return. He was made a Sailing Master in 1824, and promoted to Lieutenant in April, 1826, and in 1835, during the Florida War, was in command on the "Warren" and the "Con- stitution" in the Gulf of Mexico. From 1839 to 1842 he was in the Mediterranean, and in that year was made Commander, and took command of the frigate "Con- gress." In 1845 he had command of the flagship of Commodore Stockton's Pacific Squadron, and made a brilliant record during the War with Mexico. He was made a Captain in 1855, and sent on an important mission to China. In 1860 he was in command at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and at the outbreak of the Civil War, on his own responsibility, sent an armed steamer to Chesapeake Bay to protect the transit of the United States troops to Annapolis. In September, 1861, he was appointed flag-officer, and placed in command of the South Atlantic Squadron, and carried General W. T. Sherman, and his command of 10,000 men to the attack on Port Royal. South Carolina. He attacked and captured Forts Walker and Beauregard in November, 1861, and, moving down the Florida coast, captured nearly every post on his way. He was commissioned Rear Admiral, July 16, 1862, and in 1863 conducted the attack on Fort Sumter and Charleston. In July, 1863, he was relieved of active command and returned to his home near Wilmington. He died in Philadelphia, June 23, 1865.

Rear Admiral du Pont was the author of a treatise on the use of floating batteries for coast defense ; was one of the commission to consider the project of establishing the Naval Academy, in 1844, and formulated the plan of its organiza- tion. He married, in 1833, his cousin, Sophie Madelline du Pont, daughter of his uncle, Eleuthere Irenée du Pont, but they had no issue. A statue was erected to his memory by the United States Government, in du Pont Circle, Washington, D. C.

CHARLES IRENÉE DU PONT, eldest son of Victor M. and Gabrielle Josephine, was born at Charleston, South Carolina, March 29, 1797, while his distinguished father was filling the position of French Consul at that port. Therefore, with the exception of a portion of the year 1799, when his parents resided in Paris, he was a lifelong resident of the United States, his parents having permanently located in this country at Bergen Point, New Jersey, on the first day of the nineteenth century. At the age of twelve years he removed with his parents to Brandywine

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Hundred, New Castle county, Delaware, where the remainder of his life was spent. At an early age he became actively interested in the woolen mills estab- lished by his father at "Louviers," and continued to conduct them after his father's decease. He took an ardent interest in the development of the resources of his adopted State; was one of the promoters of the Delaware railroad, of which he was one of the original board of directors. He was later a director of the Phila- delphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad Company, and of the Farmers' Na- tional Bank of Wilmington. He was several times elected to the General Assem- bly of the State of Delaware, and became a member of the State Senate in 1841 and was again elected to the same body in 1855. During the later years of his life he lived retired at the family seat of "Louviers." taking little part in public affairs.

Hon. Charles Irenée du Pont married (first), October 5, 1824, Dorcas Mont- gomery Van Dycke, born at New Castle, Delaware, February 4, 1806, died at "Louviers," July 9, 1838. She was the seventh child of Hon. Nicholas Van Dycke, of New Castle, a distinguished lawyer, member of Assembly, member of Congress, and United States Senator from Delaware, by his wife Mary Van Leu- vanigh, and therefore of Holland descent of both paternal and maternal lines; on the paternal from Jan Tomasse Van Dycke, who emigrated from Holland in 1652, and on the maternal side from Bartholomew Van Leuvanigh, an emigrant of about the same date.

Hon. Charles Irenée du Pont married (second), May 11, 1841, Ann Ridgely. born February 21, 1815, died October 20, 1898, daughter of Hon. Henry Ridgely, member of Congress, and United States Senator from Delaware, by his wife, Sarah Baning. Ann Ridgely du Pont was a lady of much grace and beauty and of unusual intellectual powers, the favorite and companion of her intellectual father ; she became, like him, a great classical scholar and linguist.

Issue of Charles Irenée and Dorcas M. (Van Dycke) du Pont:

MARY VAN DYCKE DU PONT, b. April 19, 1826, lived near Wilmington, Del., unmar- ried; d. Sept. 25, 1909;

VICTOR DU PONT, b. May 11, 1828, d. May 13, 1888; m. Alice Hounsfield; of whom presently ;

Charles Irenée du Pont, Jr., b. Aug. 5, 1830, d. Jan. 7, 1873; Nicholas Van Dycke du Pont, d. inf.

Issue of Charles Irenée and .Ann (Ridgely) du Pont :--

AMELIA ELIZABETH DU PONT, b. "Louviers," Feb. 26, 1842; m. July 5, 1866, her second cousin, Eugene, son of Alexis Irenée du Pont, and grandson of Eleuthere Irenée du Pont de Nemours, founder of E. I. du Pont de Nemours Co .; of whom later; Henry Ridgely du Pont, b. "Louviers," Nov. 19, 1848; d. April 29, 1893, unm .; stud- ied law with his half-brother, Victor du Pont, and was admitted to Delaware Bar in 1871; practiced at Wilmington, Del .; was appointed U. S. Jury Commissioner for Del., 1870.

VICTOR DU PONT, eldest son of Hon. Charles Irenée du Pont, by his wife. Dorcas Montgomery Van Dycke, was born at "Louviers," May 11, 1828, and spent his boyhood there. He entered Delaware College at Newark, and after graduating there entered Harvard University, from which he graduated in the class of 1846. In the same year as his graduation he began the study of law in

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the office of Hon. Edward W. Gilpin, Chief Justice of Delaware, and attended lectures at Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1849. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Wilmington, and became one of the leading practitioners of the State in point of legal ability. He was several times appointed Chancellor ad litem to adjudicate difficult questions, and could have held high judicial position could he have been induced to accept, but preferred to devote himself to the practice of his profession. He early manifested an interest in political affairs, originally as a Whig, with which party all his fam- ily had been affiliated, but the association of a number of prominent members of that party with the Know-Nothing, or American party, in the crusade against persons of foreign birth, drove him into the Democratic party, with which he. thereafter affiliated. He was exceedingly popular with the masses and influential in political circles, and was several times urged to become a candidate for Gov- ernor of the State ; in 1874 an especially strong effort was made to induce him to become a candidate for that office, to which he would certainly have been elected could he have been induced to accept the nomination tendered him. He was also pressed to become a candidate for United States Senator, but persistently refused to accept any office that interfered with the practice of his chosen profession. He was for some years a member of the Board of Visitors to the United States Mili- tary Academy at West Point, and was a Presidential Elector for McClellan in 1864. He took an active interest in the business and financial institutions of his native State; was a director of the Union National Bank from 1852, and its president from 1866 to his death; was many years a director of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Wilmington, and its president from 1880 until his death; a director of the Wilmington & Reading Railroad Company; and con- nected with a number of other local institutions. He was considered a practical and sagacious business man, and a successful and faithful manager of large busi- ness interests entrusted to his care and management in the line of his profession. He was a vestryman of Trinity (Old Swedes) Protestant Episcopal Church, and took a deep interest in religious and charitable enterprises and institutions ; sym- pathetic and charitable by nature, he was a large, though unostentatious contrib- utor to charity and benevolence. He died at Wilmington, April, 1888.

Victor du Pont married, October 16, 1851, Alice Hounsfield, and they had issue, as follows :-

VICTOR DU PONT, JR., b. June 30, 1852; of whom presently;

Mary Lammott du Pont, b. Aug. 9, 1854; m. Apr. 24, 1878, William du Pont: (second) Dec. 5, 1893, Willard Saulsbury, Jr., of the Wilmington Bar;

Ethel du Pont, b. June 13, 1857; m. Feb. 13, 1890, Hamilton Macfarland Barks- dale; issue :

Greta du Pont Barksdale, b. Jan. 3, 1891;

Hamilton Macfarland Barksdale, Jr., b. Oct. 25, 1895, d. inf .:

Samuel Francis du Pont Barksdale, b. July 24, 1896, d. inf .;

Ethel du Pont Barksdale, b. August 26, 1898:

Charles Irenée du Pont, b. Aug. 15, 1859, d. Oct. 4, 1902, unm .:

Samuel Francis du Pont, b. 1861, d. inf .;

ALICE DU PONT, b. Oct. 13, 1863; m. Jan. 17, 1889, Gen. THOMAS COLEMAN DU PONT. son of Antoine Biderman and Ellen Susan (Coleman) du Pont, and grandson of Eleuthere Irenée du Pont de Nemours : see account of his line later in this narra- tive;

Samuel Francis du Pont, b. June 14, 1865, d. Aug. 27, 1893; unm .; educated at Univ. Pa., where he was a member of the Ø K Z fraternity; was clerk in employ of

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E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company, and later treasurer of the Rapauno Chem- ical Company;

Greta du Pont, b. Aug. 25, 1868, d. Dec. 29, 1878;

Sophie du Pont, b. Apr. 8, 1871; m. Feb. 3, 1904, Bruce Ford;

René de Pelleport du Pont, b. Feb. 28, 1874; m. Jan. 9, 1904, Leroy Harvey; had issue : Alice du Pont Harvey.

VICTOR DU PONT, JR., eldest son of Victor and Alice (Hounsfield) du Pont, born in Wilmington, Delaware, June 30, 1852, is still a resident of that city. He is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the eldest male repre- sentative of the American branch of the du Pont family. He is a member of the Delaware Society of Colonial Wars, the Netherland Society, the Wilmington Country and Whist Clubs, and other social organizations. He married, February 4, 1880, Josephine, daughter of Joseph and Emma (Neill) Anderson, of Philadel- phia. They had issue :---

Victor du Pont (3d), b. Feb. 19, 1882, m. June 2. 1906, Elizabeth Tybout Everett, dau. of Charles and Emily (Tybout) Everett.

ELEUTHERE IRENÉE DU PONT DE NEMOURS, youngest son of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, and the founder of the famous du Pont Powder Works, in New Castle county, Delaware, in 1802, was born in Paris, June 24, 1772, and was edu- cated on his father's estate of Bois des Fosses, near the village of Chevennes, De- partment of the Seine and Marne. His favorite studies were botany and chem- istry, in both of which he greatly excelled. At the death of his mother in 1784, when he was at the age of thirteen, he was placed by his father under the tutelage of the famous chemist Lavoisier, whom Turgot had made superintendent of the government powder works at Essone, France, and he early acquired a knowledge of the special science of powder making that has made his name famous over the civilized world.

He had not yet attained his majority, when his father established the large printing and publishing house (June 8, 1791) at the head of which he placed his son. After the terrible ordeal at the Tuilleries on August 10, 1792, when by his sagacity and courage he saved his father and himself from arrest and slaughter by the infuriated mob, he found shelter for a time at Essone, but was finally arrested and confined with his father at La Force, and, escaping the guillotine by the timely death of Robespierre, he was able during the reactionary period to re- sume the publication business and assist his father in the various official positions he held from 1795 to 1797. In 1799 he emigrated to America with his father and brother, and a few months after their arrival in America, January 1, 1800, learn- ing that the powder manufactured in America was far inferior to that manu- factured abroad, conceived the idea of establishing a plant in America, and at once returned to Essone, France, and made a careful study of the most improved methods used there, and returned to America in August, 1801, with plans for a factory, and began to look about for a suitable site upon which to erect his plant. Thomas Jefferson, with whom his distinguished father had become acquainted, was anxious to have him locate in Virginia, but in June, 1802, he purchased a large tract of land on the Brandywine, four miles from Wilmington, Delaware, and removed his family there in July and began the erection of the "Eleutherian Powder Mills," on a barren rocky tract of land on which there was then no human

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habitation or other improvement, a cabin being fitted up for the reception of his family until more commodious quarters could be erected. His later residence was, it is said, built from a single rock quarried from the spot where it now stands, and is known as "Nemours." The business was a success from the start, and by 1810 the invested capital of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company exceeded $75,000, and was many times doubled in the half century following, branch estab- lishments being erected in Montgomery, Schuylkill, Luzerne and Northumberland counties, Pennsylvania, and in New Jersey and other parts of the United States. E. I. du Pont de Nemours, generally known as Irenée du Pont, was a man of extraordinary business ability, a man of simple unostentious manners and tastes, generous and sympathetic, honorable in all his dealings, his highest ambition ap- parently being to be useful and productive in the great plan of the universe, rather than to amass riches or acquire glory for himself. He was foremost in the de- velopment of agriculture and industrial enterprises in his adopted state, and was greatly loved by all who knew him. He was a director of the Bank of the United States at Philadelphia, and closely allied with the business and industrial interest of the City of Brotherly Love, where he died while on a business visit, October 31, 1834.

Eleuthere Irenée du Pont de Nemours married in Paris, France, November 26, 1791, Sophie Madelline Dalmas, who was born in Paris, July 22, 1775, and died at "Nemours," on the Brandywine, November 27, 1828.

Issue of Eleuthere Irenee and Sophie Madelline (Dalmas) du Pont :-

Victorine Elizabeth du Pont, b. France, 1792, d. on the Brandywine, 1861; m. Ferdi- nand Banduy; no issue;

Evalina Gabrielle du Pont, b. France 1796, d. 1863; m. in 1816, Antoine Biderman; issue, James Biderman;

ALFRED VICTOR PHILADELPHUS DU PONT, b. Paris, France, April 1I, 1798; d. "Nem- ours," Oct. 4, 1856; m. Margretta Elizabeth Lammot; of whom presently;

Eleuthera du Pont, b. Dec. 7, 1806, d. Jan. 1, 1876;

Sophie Madelline du Pont, b. 1810, d. 1888; m. her cousin, Rear Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont, (see above) ; no issue;

HENRY DU PONT, b. Aug. 8, 1812, d. Aug. 8, 1889; m. 1837, Louisa Gerhard; of whom later;

ALEXIS IRENÉE DU PONT, b. Feb. 14, 1816, d. Aug. 23, 1857; m. 1836, Joanna Maria Smith; of whom later.

ALFRED VICTOR P. DU PONT, eldest son of Eleuthere Irenée du Pont de Nemours, by his wife Sophie Madelline Dalmas, was born in Paris, France, April II, 1798, and was less than two years of age when he accompanied his parents to America, and had just passed his fourth year when the family located on the Brandywine, New Castle county, where his father had established his Eleutherian Powder Mills, some months earlier. After the completion of his education he was asso- ciated with his father in the manufacture of powder, and became thoroughly con- versant with the various processes used. On the death of his father, 1834, he became the head of the firm of E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company, and the principal management of its affairs devolved upon him; his brother Henry, who had resigned from the army the same year of his father's death, becoming a member of the firm; and the youngest son, Alexis Irenée, becoming a member of the firm on coming of age two years later. Alfred Victor P. du Pont, was a man of fine executive ability. and under his management the business established by

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his father continued to prosper and expand. Like his father, he was a man of generous and sympathetic nature, considerate of the wants and needs of the immediate community in which he lived, which was largely supported by the establishment of which he was the responsible head, and now grown to large pro- portions. He was also a public-spirited citizen, actively interested in the develop- ment of the natural resources of his State and the establishment of better trans- portation facilities. He died at "Nemours," the family seat on the Brandywine, New Castle county, October 4, 1856.

Alfred Victor P. du Pont married, October 28, 1824, Margaretta Elizabeth Lammot.

Issue of Alfred Victor P. and Margaretta Elisabeth (Lammot) du Pont :-

Victorine Elizabeth du Pont, b. Aug. 13, 1825, d. Jan., 1887; m. Jan. 18, 1849, Peter Kemble; issue. William Kemble, Meta K. Kemble, Mary Charlotte Kemble, Peter Kemble, Jr., Richard Law Kemble.

Emma Paulina du Pont, b. July 23, 1827, at "Nemours;" unm .;

Eleuthere Irenée du Pont, b. Aug. 3, 1829, d. Sept. 17, 1877; entered Univ. Pa., 1844, grad. 1848; identified with firm of E. I. du Pont de Nemours, and member from time of coming of age; m. Oct. 28, 1858, Charlotte Sheppard Henderson, dau. of Col. Archibald Henderson, M. C. from Delaware; issue:

Annie Cazenove du Pont, b. May 1, 1860, d. Oct., 1899; m. Absolom Waller; no issue ;

Marguerite Lammot du Pont, b. Dec. 21, 1862, Swamp Hill, Del .; m. Sept. 20, 1881, Cazenove G. Lee, had issue: Cazenove Lee, Jr., Maurice du Pont Lee;

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 47

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 978

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978