| Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours | |
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 Founder E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company |
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| Born | 24 June 1771 Paris, France |
| Died | 31 October 1834 (aged 63) Greenville, Delaware |
| Residence | Eleutherian Mills, Greenville, Delaware |
| Spouse(s) | Sophie Madeleine Dalmas |
| Children | Victorine Elizabeth du Pont Lucille du Pont |
| Parents | Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours Nicole Charlotte Marie Louise Le Dée de Rencourt |
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Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (24 June 1771 – 31 October 1834), known as Irénée du Pont, or E.I. du Pont, was a French-born Huguenot chemist and industrialist who immigrated to the United States in 1799 and founded the gunpowder manufacturer, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. His descendants, the Du Pont family, were one of America's richest and most prominent families in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Early life and family
Du Pont was born 24 June 1771 in Paris, son of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and Nicole Charlotte Marie Louise Le Dée de Rencourt. He married Sophie Dalmas (1775–1828) in 1791 and they had eight children. In 1799, his family immigrated to the United States, he arrived to Rhode Island, landed on 1 January 1800 along with his father and brother's family. By 1802 he had established his business and his home, Eleutherian Mills on the Brandywine Creek in Delaware. 1 January is the arrival anniversary of the du Pont family in America, it is still celebrated by the descendants.
Career in France
Du Pont was one of Lavoisier's assistants and it was from him that he gained his expertise in nitrate extraction and manufacture.[1] Like his father, he was initially a supporter of the French Revolution. However, both were among those who physically defended King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette from a mob besieging the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the insurrection of 10 August, 1792. After his father narrowly escaped the guillotine and the family house was sacked by a mob in 1797 during the events of 18 Fructidor, the entire family left for the United States in 1799. They hoped to create a model community of French émigrés.
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
Du Pont brought an expertise in chemistry and gunpowder making during a time when the quality of American made gunpowder was very poor.
Death and legacy
He died 31 October 1834 at Eleutherian Mills, near Greenville. The company he founded would become one of the largest and most successful American corporations. His sons, Alfred V. du Pont (1798–1856) and Henry du Pont (1812–1889), were its managers in the years after his death.
| New title new company
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President of Du Pont 1802 – 31 October 1834 |
Succeeded by Alfred V. du Pont |
See also
References
- du Pont, Pierre S. (1942). Genealogy of the Du Pont Family 1739-1942. Wilmington: Hambleton Printing & Publishing.
- Dutton, William S. (1942). Du Pont, One Hundred and Fifty Years. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
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