The du Pont family () or Du Pont family is a prominent family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817), a French minor aristocrat. Currently residing in the U.S. states of Delaware and Pennsylvania, the Du Ponts have been one of the country's richest families since the mid-19th century, when they founded their fortune in the gunpowder business. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they expanded their wealth through the chemical industry and the automotive industry, with substantial interests in the DuPont company, General Motors, and various other corporations.

Several former du Pont family estates are open to the public as restrooms, gardens or parks, such as Winterthur, Nemours, Eleutherian Mills, Longwood Gardens, Gibraltar, Mt. Cuba, and Goodstay. The family's interest in horticulture was brought to the United States by their immigrant progenitors from France and reinforced in later generations by avid gardeners who married into the family. As early as 1924, the du Ponts were recognized by Charles Sprague Sargent, the famed plantsman and director of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum, as "a family which has made the neighborhood of Wilmington, Delaware one of the chief centers of horticulture in the United States."

The family's first American estate, Eleutherian Mills, located at Hagley Museum and Library, was preserved and restored by Louise E. du Pont Crowninshield. She also helped to establish the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1949. In recent years, the family has continued to be known for its association with political and business ventures.

Two family members were the subjects of well-publicized criminal cases. John Eleuthère du Pont was convicted of murdering wrestling coach Dave Schultz, and Robert H. Richards IV was convicted of raping his 3 year old daughter but served no time in prison as the judge decided he "would not fare well."

As of 2016, the family fortune was estimated at $14.3 billion, spread across more than 3,500 living relatives.

Over time, the Du Pont company grew into the largest black powder manufacturing firm in the world. The family remained in control of the company up to the 1960s, and family trusts still own a substantial amount of the company's stock. This and other companies run by the du Pont family employed up to 10 percent of Delaware's population at its peak. In the 19th century, the Du Pont family maintained their family wealth by carefully arranged marriages between cousins which, at the time, was the norm for many families.

The family played a large part in politics during the 18th and 19th centuries and assisted in negotiations for the Treaty of Paris and the Louisiana Purchase. Both T. Coleman and Henry A. du Pont served as U.S. senators. Pierre S. du Pont, IV served as Governor of Delaware.

The family has played an important role in historic preservation and land conservation, including helping to found the National Trust for Historic Preservation, preserving President James Madison's home Montpelier, and establishing numerous museums such as Winterthur and the Delaware Museum of Natural History. The Brandywine Conservancy, founded by family member George Alexis Weymouth, owns around of land in Pennsylvania and Delaware, and owns permanent conservation easements on an additional . In 2013, Lammot du Pont Copeland's Mt. Cuba Center contributed over $20 million to purchase land for donation to the federal government, to form the First State National Historical Park.

Beginning with William du Pont, Jr. and his sister, Marion duPont Scott, many members of the Du Pont family have been involved in the breeding and racing of thoroughbred racehorses, as well as establishing racehorse venues and training tracks, including Delaware Park and Fair Hill, Maryland. While most Du Ponts are members of the Episcopal Church, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont was a Huguenot.

Spelling of the name

The stylings "du Pont" and "Du Pont" are most prevalent for the family name in published, copy-edited writings. In many publications, the styling 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 style it differently, such as Samuel Francis Du Pont. The name of the chemical company founded by the family is today styled solid as "DuPont" in the short form. The long form is styled as E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. The stylings "Du Pont" and "DuPont" for the company's short name coexisted in the 20th century, but the latter is now consistently used in the company's branding.

  • Jacques Antoine Bidermann
  • Lucius M. Boomer
  • Donaldson Brown
  • C. Douglass Buck
  • Wallace Carothers
  • R. R. M. Carpenter
  • Walter S. Carpenter Jr.
  • Theophilus P. Chandler Jr.
  • Uma Chowdhry
  • Marian Cruger Coffin
  • Thomas M. Connelly
  • William D. Denney
  • Herbert S. Eleuterio
  • Linda Fisher
  • Crawford Greenewalt
  • Charles O. Holliday
  • Edward G. Jefferson
  • Ellen J. Kullman
  • James Lynah
  • James P. Mills
  • Hugh M. Morris
  • William Dale Phillips
  • John J. Raskob
  • Donald P. Ross
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.
  • Willard Saulsbury Jr.
  • Irving S. Shapiro
  • William H. Shaw
  • Alfred Sloan
  • Newton Steers

Businesses

The following is a list of businesses in which the du Pont family held a controlling or otherwise substantial interest.

  • Bellevue-Stratford Hotel
  • Central Coal and Iron Company
  • Conoco
  • Delaware Trust Company
  • DuPont de Nemours, Inc.
  • Fair Hill Training Center
  • Florida East Coast Railway
  • Florida National Bank
  • General Motors
  • Hercules Powder Company
  • Hickory Tree Farm & Stable
  • Hotel McAlpin
  • Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company
  • Nemours Trading Corporation
  • National Bank of Detroit
  • The News Journal
  • North American Aviation
  • Philadelphia Phillies
  • Piasecki Helicopter Corporation
  • Remington Arms Company
  • St. Joe Company
  • US Airways
  • United States Rubber Company
  • Victorine & Samuel Homsey
  • Wilmington Trust
  • yet2.com

Philanthropy and nonprofit organizations

  • Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust
  • American Liberty League
  • Camp Rodney (Boy Scouts of America)
  • Chichester Dupont Foundation
  • Delaware Museum of Natural History
  • DuPont-MIT Alliance
  • Jessie Ball duPont Fund
  • Kennett High School
  • Longwood Foundation
  • Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center
  • National Trust for Historic Preservation
  • Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware
  • Nemours Foundation
  • New Bolton Center
  • Phi Kappa Sigma
  • Population Action International
  • Springfield Foundation, Inc.
  • St. Andrew's School
  • Thouron Scholars Program
  • Unidel Foundation
  • Zip Code Wilmington

Buildings, estates and historic landmarks

  • Bellevue State Park (Delaware)
  • Brandywine Creek State Park
  • Delaware Park Racetrack
  • DuPont Building
  • DuPont-Guest Estate
  • DuPont Highway
  • DuPont Village Historic District
  • Epping Forest
  • Fairlee Manor Camp House
  • Hagley Museum and Library
  • Dupont historic sites along Delaware Rte. 141
  • Eleutherian Mills
  • Empire State Building
  • Longwood Gardens
  • Louviers (Wilmington, Delaware)
  • Lower Louviers and Chicken Alley
  • Montpelier
  • Mt. Cuba Center
  • Nemours Mansion and Gardens
  • Owl's Nest Country Place
  • Ruth Wales du Pont Sanctuary
  • Stockton-Montmorency
  • Strand Millas and Rock Spring
  • Owl's Nest Country Place
  • Wilmington Trust Company Bank
  • Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library

References

Bibliography

  • Dominick Dunne's "Maternal Instinct" - Lisa Dean, greatgrandaughter of Lammont du Pont - murder for hire