Alfred I. du Pont
Encyclopedia
Alfred Irénée du Pont was an American industrialist
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...

, financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...

 and philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...

. A member of the influential Du Pont family
Du Pont family
The Du Pont family is an American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours . 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...

, Alfred du Pont first rose to prominence through his work in his family's Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

-based gunpowder manufacturing plant, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (better known as Du Pont or DuPont), in which for many years he served as a director of the board
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 and Vice President of operations. Following an acrimonious departure and a brief dip in personal fortunes, he embarked on business of his own, investing in land and banking in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. He died a multimillionaire, with the bulk of his fortune sustaining the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust
Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust
The Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust is a non-profit organization created by philanthropist Alfred I. du Pont in 1935, devoted to supporting the Trust's sole charitable beneficiary, the Nemours Foundation. As of December 31, 2008, the trust’s value was $3.25 billion and employed nearly 3,500...

.

Early years

Du Pont was born in the Brandywine Valley region of Delaware to which his great-great-grandfather Pierre Samuel duPont de Nemours had emigrated with his sons after the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. The son of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, II, a partner in the DuPont family gunpowder business, and Charlotte Shepard Henderson, he had two older sisters and two younger brothers. When du Pont was 13, his mother, who had a history of mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...

, was committed to an asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...

 following an episode of hysteria
Hysteria
Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...

. Within a week, she died. The du Pont children were orphaned a month later when Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, II, followed, a victim of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

.

Du Pont's family intended to separate the children and sell their family home, Swamp Hall, but were persuaded otherwise by the fierce resistance of the children. The girls remained in the home, but du Pont was sent to boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...

: first, to the religious Shinn Academy in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 and then, two years later, Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...

 at Andover, Massachusetts
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...

. After graduation, he enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

, rooming with his cousin Coleman du Pont
T. Coleman du Pont
Thomas Coleman du Pont was an American engineer and politician, from Greenville, Delaware. He was President of the of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, and a member of the Republican Party who served parts of two terms as United States Senator from Delaware...

.

Family business

In 1884 he went to work at the family's gunpowder manufacturing plant in the Brandywine mills. Though he started in a low position, he eventually became known, according to the Alfred I. du Pont Foundation, as "one of the nation's top powder men." Most of the over 200 patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

s he registered were related to this work.

Du Pont married his cousin Bessie Gardner (1864–1949) in 1887, and she was the mother of his first four children. In 1889, the manufacturing plant passed to the management of Eugene du Pont
Eugene du Pont
Eugene du Pont was an American businessman who served as the first head of modern day DuPont. Son of Alexis Irénée du Pont and grandson of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. Eugene graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and joined the business in 1861...

, at which time it was reorganized and renamed E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, and du Pont was made a limited partner. Beyond that, Eugene du Pont and other family members largely ignored du Pont, excluding him from the company board.

In 1902, upon the death Eugene du Pont, the three senior partners considered selling the company to competitor Laflin & Rand. Du Pont proposed keeping the company in the family, and the senior partners agreed on condition that du Pont be joined in the venture by Coleman du Pont, who would be president, and Pierre S. du Pont
Pierre S. du Pont
Pierre Samuel du Pont was president of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company from 1915 to 1919, and served on its Board of Directors until 1940...

. They had no money, but the cousins were able to convince other family members to exchange their company shares for a promissory note
Promissory note
A promissory note is a negotiable instrument, wherein one party makes an unconditional promise in writing to pay a determinate sum of money to the other , either at a fixed or determinable future time or on demand of the payee, under specific terms.Referred to as a note payable in accounting, or...

 instead of cash, plus shares in the reorganized company. According to the Trust organization, the company was purchased "for $15.4 million—$12 million in notes and 33,000 shares of the reorganized DuPont", with the partners retaining $8.6 million worth of shares (86,400). The actual amount of money which the partners were required to pay was $2,100, at $700 each for lawyers' fees.

Pierre du Pont was named Treasurer and Executive Vice President of the company, while du Pont served as Vice President for operations and took over the black powder manufacture and sat on the Executive Committee. Du Pont was directly engaged with the company and instituted major changes to its operation that resulted in greater efficiency and safety, leading to a boom in business.

Divorce and remarriage

During this period, du Pont was involved in a hunting accident that would eventually cost him an eye. The same year, 1906, he divorced his first wife, Bessie. The couple's marriage had never been a happy one, and although du Pont supported his family financially, with $24,000 a year in support, he cut off contact with all but his eldest child, Madeleine du Pont. With a week's eviction notice, he removed them from the family home at Swamp Hall and had it destroyed. This, coupled with du Pont's remarriage to a divorced second cousin in 1907, seriously strained relations between du Pont and other members of his family.

Du Pont's relationship with his second wife, Mary (Alicia) Heyward Bradford (1875–1920), had already been the subject of family scandal, as family members had remarked on the close relationship of the two even before Alicia Bradford's marriage to Du Pont's secretary, George Amory Maddox. Maddox and his wife lived close to du Pont and were frequently visited by him; du Pont and Bradford, who had borne a daughter in the meantime, left their spouses at around the same time and were married two weeks after Bradford's divorce was final. Du Pont's adoption of Bradford's daughter, Alicia Maddox, brought fresh gossip to the family, who largely rallied in support of his first wife, which in turn inspired du Pont to file several lawsuits against family members and friends for slander, all of which were dropped in due time.

Du Pont gave Bradford a new home built on 300 acres (1.2 km²) in Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

. Construction of the Nemours Mansion and Gardens
Nemours Mansion and Gardens
The Nemours Mansion and Gardens is a country estate with jardin à la française formal gardens and a classical French mansion located in Wilmington, Delaware. The mansion resembles a Château and contains more than seventy rooms spread over five floors occupying nearly . It shares the grounds with...

 occurred between 1909 and 1910. The mansion is a five story, 77-room, 47000 sq ft (4,366.4 m²) structure that was designed by renowned architects, Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings , located in New York City, was one of the outstanding Beaux-Arts architecture firms in the United States. The partnership operated from 1885 until 1911, when Carrère was killed in an automobile accident...

, who also designed the New York Public Library
New York Public Library Main Branch
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library, more widely known as the Main Branch or simply as "the New York Public Library," is the flagship building in the New York Public Library system and a prominent historic landmark in Midtown Manhattan. The branch, opened in 1911, is...

, New York City's Frick Mansion
Frick Collection
The Frick Collection is an art museum located in Manhattan, New York City, United States.- History :It is housed in the former Henry Clay Frick House, which was designed by Thomas Hastings and constructed in 1913-1914. John Russell Pope altered and enlarged the building in the early 1930s to adapt...

, and Whitehall, the Henry Flagler Museum
Flagler Museum
Flagler Museum, also known as Whitehall, is a 55-room mansion open to the public in Palm Beach, Florida in the United States. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.-History:...

 in Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...

. The building looks like a French château
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...

 and the architectural style is Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....

. The estate was named after the French town affiliated with his ancestor, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours was a French nobleman, writer, economist, and government official, who was the father of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder of E.I...

.

Within short time of the marriage, Bradford bore two children for du Pont, neither of whom long survived.

Lawsuit and departure from E.I. du Pont de Nemours

Through the early 1910s, Alfred du Pont was engaged in fierce debate over the future of the family's business with Coleman and Pierre du Pont, whose support for du Pont's first wife had extended to building her and her children a home after their eviction from Swamp Hall. The struggle became bitter after Coleman du Pont decided to leave the company for health concerns in 1914.

As he was departing, ill and in need of money for another business transaction, Coleman du Pont decided to sell 20,000 shares in the company to key company employees, but when Alfred du Pont and Pierre du Pont disagreed on the proper pricing and handling of the transaction, wound up selling considerably more shares (over 77,000 shares combined of common and preferred stock) to Pierre du Pont and five associates, who had formed the DuPont Securities Company. This secret and swift transaction gave Pierre du Pont, 60% owner of DuPont Securities, considerable control over the family business. While the value of the shares greatly increased due to the success of the company during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Alfred du Pont and other minority shareholders launched a lawsuit against Pierre du Pont, alleging that he had acted as an agent of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours company, who should be rightful holders of the shares.

The suit was extremely well publicized and acrimonious. In 1916, shortly after company shareholders voted to remove Alfred du Pont from its board of directors, the United States District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...

 found that Pierre du Pont had operated in bad faith, ordering a stockholder vote to determine if the stock holders (aside from those who owned the disputed shares) wished to purchase the disputed shares. By a share ratio of 33:13, shareholders did not, and, accordingly, in 1918, the court dismissed the action. Alfred du Pont brought an appeal which ended unsuccessfully in March 1919.

No longer involved in running E.I. du Pont de Nemours, du Pont instead began to invest in newspapers, as a publisher of which he successfully opposed Coleman du Pont's bid for presidency and Henry A. du Pont
Henry A. du Pont
Henry Algernon du Pont , known as "Colonel Henry", was an American soldier and politician from Winterthur, near Greenville, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a veteran of the American Civil War, and a member of the Republican Party, who served two terms as U.S...

's third run for Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

. According to the du Pont Trust, he also "established an investment firm Nemours Trading Corporation, and an import-export business in New York" and acquired a majority interest in the Delaware Trust Company.

Widowed and third marriage

All was not well with du Pont. A bad business transaction had left him nearly bankrupt
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 when, in January 1920, his second wife died. Missing an eye since his earlier accident, he was now also nearly deaf. But his life was about to change with his third marriage.

Du Pont had been corresponding with Jessie Ball, twenty years his junior, since their meeting in 1898 when she was 14. By 1920, Ball was an assistant principal at an elementary school in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

, and du Pont began courting her,at the same time divesting himself of assets and cutting back on spending. He wed Ball on January 22, 1921, and the couple returned to the East coast to settle into Nemours. The couple had no children of their own, but Ball du Pont accepted young Denise, a child du Pont had fostered with his second wife, as her own. She also helped mend rifts between du Pont and the estranged children of his first marriage.

Ball du Pont proved to be a great assistance to him as well in his work, as did her younger brother. Edward Ball and du Pont hit it off and Edward Ball began working for his brother-in-law in 1923, moving to Delaware where he was publicly named manager of the Clean Food Products Company. Privately, he was du Pont's confidential business partner and became a shrewd financier and caretaker of the du Pont de Nemours estate fortune.

Relocation and later life

Du Pont and his third wife had already made several trips to Florida on their motor yacht, Nenemoosha, when Pierre du Pont was named Tax Commissioner of Delaware in 1925. Harboring hard feelings against his cousin, Alfred du Pont and Jessie Ball du Pont moved to Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

 in 1926, where they established permanent residency. There, du Pont purchased 58 acres (234,717.9 m²) of land on the St. Johns River
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...

 and built a 25-room mansion and landscaped grounds, as well as a berth for the couple's motor yacht. Ball du Pont named the estate Epping Forest
Epping Forest (Jacksonville, Florida)
Epping Forest was an historic, estate in Jacksonville, Florida where a luxurious riverfront Mansion was built in the mid-1920s by industrialist Alfred I. du Pont and his third wife, Jessie Ball du Pont. It was added to the U.S...

, after the Virginia plantation of Mary Ball Washington
Mary Ball Washington
Mary Ball Washington was the second wife to Augustine Washington, and was the mother of George Washington.-Life:...

, George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

's mother and Ball du Pont's relative. Edward Ball, too, relocated to Florida, to continue working with du Pont.

In Florida, du Pont made primarily small real estate investments at first, correctly fearing a drop in real estate values, before turning his attention to acquiring interest in banks. He acquired an interest in Florida National Bank
Florida National Bank
Florida National Bank , founded in 1905, grew to became the second largest commercial bank in Florida. Florida National Group was acquired in 1990 by First Union Corporation, which was renamed Wachovia in 2001.-Early years:...

 (FNB) of Jacksonville, keeping it solvent during a bank run
Bank run
A bank run occurs when a large number of bank customers withdraw their deposits because they believe the bank is, or might become, insolvent...

 of 1929 by putting $15 million of his own money into an account. During the early 1930s, six other Florida National Banks were opened throughout Florida, including Lakeland and Bartow.

During this time, du Pont was expanding his philanthropic activities. He personally funded a pension plan program for seniors in Delaware in 1929 and turned his attention to revitalizing Florida after the devastation of a 1926 hurricane
1926 Miami Hurricane
The 1926 Miami hurricane was a Category 4 hurricane that devastated Miami in September 1926. The storm also caused significant damage in the Florida Panhandle, the U.S. state of Alabama, and the Bahamas...

 and the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

.

Other activities

Besides his interest in business, du Pont was an accomplished and passionate violinist and composer. Using friends and his factory workers from E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, he formed an orchestra that was named the Tankopanicum Musical Club. According to the du Pont Trust, du Pont "published nine pieces of music [during his lifetime], eight marches and one gavotte, a French peasant dance, which was performed at the Grand Opera House
Grand Opera House (Wilmington, Delaware)
The Grand Opera House, also known as The Grand or Masonic Hall and Grand Theater, is a 1,208-seat theater for the performing arts in Wilmington, Delaware. The four-story building was built in 1871 by the Delaware Grand Lodge of Masons to serve as a Masonic Temple and auditorium. The construction...

 in Wilmington in 1907." John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....

, who was a friend, performed one of his marches.

Death and legacy

When du Pont died in 1935 in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

 at age 70, his estate was valued at over $56 million, which, after estate taxes of $30 million, left $26 million.

The vast majority of his fortune was left in testamentary trust
Testamentary trust
A testamentary trust is a trust which arises upon the death of the testator, and which is specified in his or her will...

 with Ball du Pont named as the principal trustee with complete discretion regarding use of any money, but in reality, she deferred business decisions to her brother, who took control of the assets, which included the large Florida landholdings of the St. Joe Company
St. Joe Company
The St. Joe Company is a land development company formerly headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It is Florida's second largest private landowner, owning about in the state at the end of 2009.-Beginning:...

 and industrial interests, including the Florida East Coast Railway
Florida East Coast Railway
The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida; in the past, it has been a Class I railroad.Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a project of Standard Oil principal Henry Morrison...

. Ball du Pont preferred to handle the philanthropic activities of the trust while Edward concentrated on making money. The fortune did not become a charitable trust until Jessie's death in 1970, which explains why $30 million in estate taxes were paid in 1935. The Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust
Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust
The Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust is a non-profit organization created by philanthropist Alfred I. du Pont in 1935, devoted to supporting the Trust's sole charitable beneficiary, the Nemours Foundation. As of December 31, 2008, the trust’s value was $3.25 billion and employed nearly 3,500...

's charitable beneficiary is the Nemours Foundation
Nemours Foundation
The Nemours Foundation is a non-profit organization in Jacksonville, Florida, created by philanthropist Alfred I. du Pont in 1936, and dedicated to improving the health of children. The Foundation operates the Alfred I...

, which runs children's medical facilities in Delaware and Florida.

The trust was valued at $72.5 million in 1939; $2 billion in 1981; $4.5 billion in 2006.

Both Nemours and Epping Forest have been restored to their original splendor. A public school in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

 is named after him. The Alfred I. duPont Middle School is located not far from his Epping Forest estate.

Alfred du Pont was designated a Great Floridian
Great Floridians
Great Floridian is a title bestowed upon citizens in the state of Florida by the Florida Department of State. There were actually two formal programs...

 by the Florida Department of State in the Great Floridians 2000 Program. A plaque attesting to the honor is located at the entry gate to the Epping Forest estate in Jacksonville.

External links

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