| du Pont family | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms of Samuel Francis Du Pont | |
| Current region | Delaware and Pennsylvania in the United States |
| Earlier spellings | du Pont de Nemours du Pont |
| Etymology | du Pont, "Of the bridge" |
| Place of origin | French American Community — France, United States |
| Connected families | |
| Motto | Rectitudine sto (Latin for 'Stand upright') |
| Estate(s) | Eleutherian Mills (Wilmington) Nemours (Wilmington) Winterthur Mansion and Gardens (Winterthur) |
The du Pont family (English: /duːˈpɒnt/)[1] or Du Pont family is a prominent American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817), a French minor aristocrat. It has been one of the richest families in the United States since the mid-19th century, when it founded its fortune in the gunpowder business. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it expanded its wealth through the chemical industry and the automotive industry,[2][3] 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 museums, gardens or parks, such as Winterthur, Nemours, Eleutherian Mills, Longwood Gardens, Gibraltar, Mt. Cuba, and Goodstay.[4] 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."[5]
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, as well as philanthropic causes.
Two family members were the subjects of well-publicized criminal cases. John Eleuthère du Pont was convicted of murdering wrestling coach Dave Schultz.
As of 2016, the family fortune was estimated at $14.3 billion, spread across more than 3,500 living relatives.[3]
- ^ Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, archived from the original on 2020-10-10, retrieved 2019-01-23.
- ^ Dutton, William S. (1942), Du Pont: One Hundred and Forty Years, Charles Scribner's Sons, LCCN 42011897.
- ^ a b "Du Pont family". forbes.com. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
- ^ "Friends of Goodstay Gardens". Archived from the original on 2020-11-28. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
- ^ Denise Magnani, The Winterthur Garden: Henry Francis du Pont's Romance with the Land (Wilmington: Harry N. Abrams and The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc., 1995).