William Du Pont, Sr. Papers 2724

William du Pont, Sr. papers 2724

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 14, 2021. Description is written in: English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Manuscripts and Archives PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library William du Pont, Sr. papers 2724

Table of Contents

Summary Information ...... 3 Biographical note ...... 3 Scope and Content ...... 5 Arrangement ...... 5 Administrative Information ...... 6 Related Materials ...... 6 Controlled Access Headings ...... 6 Collection Inventory ...... 7 Finances ...... 7 Banking ...... 7 Investments ...... 7 Correspondence ...... 8 Annie Rogers du Pont to William du Pont ...... 8 Sophie Madeleine du Pont Chandler to William du Pont ...... 9 Charles King Lennig to William du Pont ...... 9 John Sedgwick Andrews to William du Pont ...... 9 Miscellaneous correspondence ...... 9 Artifact ...... 10

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Summary Information

Repository: Manuscripts and Archives Creator: Du Pont, William, 1855-1928 Title: William du Pont, Sr. papers ID: 2724 Date [inclusive]: 1891-1905 Physical Description: 2 Linear Feet Language of the English . Material: Abstract: William du Pont (1855-1928) was an industrialist and member of the promienent du Pont family of Delaware, whose family business was the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, also known as the DuPont Company which was a large manufacturer of gunpowder. He worked for the first DuPont dynamite manufacturer, Repauno Chemical Company, as secretary and treasurer (1880-1884) and after the tragic death of Lammot du Pont (1831-1884), as president (1884-1892). This small group of papers encompass both correspondence and various financial and investment accounts, largely covering his ten years spent in England after leaving the United States in 1893.

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Biographical note

William du Pont (1855-1928) was an industrialist and member of the promienent du Pont family of Delaware, whose family business was the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, also known as the DuPont Company which was a large manufacturer of gunpowder. He was the youngest son of Louisa Gerhard du Pont (1816-1900) and General Henry du Pont (1812-1889), who was the third president of the DuPont Company. From 1869 to 1872, William du Pont attended the Lake Mohegan boarding school in New York State, and in 1872, he was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). However, he left MIT at the beginning of the 1873 spring semester due to medical problems with his eye.

William du Pont became involved in the family business in 1876. As an assistant to his father, DuPont Company president Henry du Pont, he managed the company's farms, developing skills instrumental in his future activities in horse and cattle breeding. His work in explosives manufacturing began in 1880, when he was appointed to help his cousin Lammot du Pont (1831-1884) in the first du Pont high explosives (dynamite) enterprise, Repauno Chemical Company. At first, William du Pont was the - Page 3- William du Pont, Sr. papers 2724 company's secretary and treasurer (1880-1884); then, after Lammot du Pont's tragic death on March 29, 1884, he became president from 1884 to 1892. At the same time, he performed treasurer and presidential duties for the Hercules Powder Company and the Torpedo Company, which were also associated with Lammot du Pont.

After his father died in 1889, he gave up his partnership in the DuPont Company and resigned from Repauno, Hercules and the Torpedo companies. In 1914, he returned for a short period of time to active duty as the director and the chairman of the Financial Committee of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Company. However, in March 1916, together with his cousin Alfred I. du Pont (1864-1935), he was expelled from the committee and the board due to their conflict with the company's new president, his coutsin Pierre S. du Pont (1870-1954). William du Pont's last involvement with the explosives industry was his investment and directorship, from 1919 through 1926, in the U.S. Flashless Powder Company (a.k.a. U.S.F. Powder Company), a company organized by his cousins Francis I. du Pont (1873-1942) and Ernest du Pont (1880-1944) to develop and manufacture powder for night gunfire.

In 1916, William du Pont, together with his cousin Alfred I. du Pont, bought the Delaware Trust Company. He remained affiliated with it for the next twelve years as its vice president (1916-1920), president (1920-1922), and chairman of the board (1923-1928). From 1917, he was on the board of directors of the United States Fidelity and Guarantee Company of Baltimore, also. His previous involvement in the banking business included service on the board of directors and on the Executive Committee of the Equitable Guarantee & Trust Company of Wilmington, Delaware in the late 1880s through the early 1890s.

As for his personal life, in 1878, William du Pont married his cousin May Lammot du Pont (1854-1927), the daughter of Victor du Pont (1828-1888) and Alice Hounsfield du Pont (1833-1904). The couple divorced in 1892 in South Dakota. He spent six month in that state in order to have residency for the divorce. In June 1892, he married Annie Rogers Zinn (1858-1927), the daughter of the locomotive maker Theodore Rogers (1829-1871) and Mary Andrews Rogers (1836-1918). Annie Rogers Zinn was the divorced wife of George Zinn (1842-1899) of New Castle, Delaware. William and Annie du Pont, alienated by the du Pont family and Wilmington society, left the United States and settled in Europe for ten years. The couple had two children: a daughter, Marion du Pont Somerville Scott (1894-1983) and a son, William du Pont Jr. (1896-1965), and supported a son from her previous marriage, George Zinn (1883-1929). While living in England, the family maintained their home at "Bellevue Hall" near Wilmington, and in 1900, purchased a home in Virginia named "Montpelier," formerly owned by the fourth President of the United States, James Madison. The family moved there in the beginning of 1902.

du Pont was affiliated through founding and board positions in the banking and railroad industry. He played a significant role in the American horse and cattle breeding industry. He performed judging duties at numerous horse shows around the country and financed prizes and awards. Also, he was a member of various hunting, yachting, and social clubs. As a member of the American Game Protective and Propagation Association, William du Pont worked in support of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

William du Pont died on January 20, 1928, at his estate Altama, near Brunswick, Georgia. His wife, Annie Rogers du Pont, had died in London a year earlier on January 22, 1927.

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Scope and Content

This small collection of William du Pont's papers primarily document his active business life between 1895 and 1905, encompassing both correspondence and various financial and investment accounts. The papers partially fill in a missing ten-year gap of correspondence and business records absent in Accession 2317 (group 1), William du Pont papers, and largely cover his ten years spent in England after leaving the United States in 1893.

The first series includes business correspondence, invoices, and other material related to William du Pont's finances and banking investments in both England and the United States. Included are notices of cash deposits, accounts, and currency exchanges. Other material reflects his various investments in street railways in Wilmington and Chester, Pennsylvania, real estate, and powder companies, as well as his membership in various horse and cattle breeding societies and related organizations.

The second series mostly encompasses incoming personal correspondence from family members. However, a large portion consists of letters from Charles King Lennig (1869-1940), William du Pont's personal secretary who cared for his assets within the United States. Lennig's letters and cablegrams informed William about his properties and rents, landscaping, estate maintenance, horses and cattle, and local investments and accounts. There are also incoming letters from William's wife Annie, as well as his cousin Julia Sophie du Pont (1877-1952) regarding various family affairs. Letters from John Sedgwick Andrews (1873-1962), William's second cousin-in-law who acted as an overseer at the family's Montpelier estate in Orange, Virginia, include such topics as business and family matters, property maintenance and repairs, and concerns regarding the raising and breeding of horses and cattle.

Lastly, a small group of miscellaneous correspondence covers such topics as William's purchase of yachts, rent of an estate at Binfield Park in England, household supplies and furniture, announcements of upcoming events, and professional societies. Of note are cabin plans for the Cunard Line steamships Campania and Lucania, as well as plans for the White Star Line's twin screw steamer, the Baltic.

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Arrangement

The William du Pont, Sr. papers are arranged into two series:

Series I: Finances, is divided into two subseries, each arranged chronologically.

Series II: Correspondence, is divided into five subseries, each arranged chronologically.

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Administrative Information

Publication Statement Manuscripts and Archives

PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library

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Related Materials

Related Material William du Pont papers (Accession 2317, Group I), Manuscripts and Archives Department, Hagley Museum and Library.

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Controlled Access Headings

• Du Pont family -- Homes and haunts • Banks and banking • Investments • Correspondence. • Financial statements • Railroads. • Gunpowder industry • Agriculture • Domestic relations • Du Pont, Annie Rogers, 1858-1927

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Collection Inventory

Finances, 1891-1905 Scope and Contents

Banking, 1891-1905 Title/Description Instances United States Trust Co. of New York; Thomas Cook and Sons box 1 folder 1 Foreign Bankers and Money Changers, 1891

William du Pont's cash account book and interest/dividend book, box 1 folder 2 1891-1895

Unidentified accounts, undated box 1 folder 3

Bank Books - Chemical Bank of New York; London and box 1 folder 4 Westminster Bank, Ltd., 1894

Union Trust Co. (Philadelphia), 1898 box 1 folder 5

E.W. Clark & Co. Bankers, 1898 box 1 folder 6

Mercantile Trust and Deposit Co. of Baltimore, 1898 box 1 folder 7

Currency exchange, 1898-1904 box 1 folder 8

Central Trust Co. of New York, 1898-1905 box 1 folder 9

Mason, Lewis and Co. Bankers (Philadelphia), 1904 box 1 folder 10

National Bank of Wilmington and Brandywine, 1904 box 1 folder 11

Chemical National Bank of New York, 1904-1905 box 1 folder 12

Investments, 1886-1905 Title/Description Instances Blair and Company Bankers - invested in Baltimore & Ohio box 1 folder 13 Southwestern Division et al., 1886-1904

Powder company investments - Hecla, Eastern Dynamite, box 1 folder 14 Smokeless Powder, DuPont Company explosion, 1891-1904

Real estate - inheritance in Contra Costa County, CA, box 1 folder 15 1896-1904

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Horses and cattle, 1897-1904 box 1 folder 16

Horses and cattle, 1904 box 1 folder 17

Horses and cattle, 1905 box 1 folder 18

Alfred & Elliott - Western Gas Company statement for box 1 folder 19 December 1896, 1897

Street railway and utilities investments, 1897-1904 box 1 folder 20

E.W. Clark's survival of the panic of 1873, 1898 January box 1 folder 21

John Russell's letter to William du Pont regarding the mistaken box 1 folder 22 news article claiming Russell bought William's stock, 1898 December

List - stocks, bonds, mortgages, undated box 1 folder 23

25 year gold bonds, 1900 February box 1 folder 24

Rents, 1904 December box 1 folder 25 General

see also correspondence with Charles King Lennig for rents and financial information in the USA while William du Pont resided in England.

Stockholders' meeting notices - DuPont, Northern Central box 1 folder 26 Railway Company, 1905

Scott & Co. Bankers and Brokers - news about Everett Railway, box 1 folder 27 Light and Water Co. earnings, 1905 July

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Correspondence, 1889-1905 Scope and Contents

Annie Rogers du Pont to William du Pont, 1889-1905 - Page 8- William du Pont, Sr. papers 2724

Title/Description Instances 1889 July-1898 March box 1 folder 28

1899 January-1899 April box 1 folder 29

1899 July-1899 October box 1 folder 30

1900-1905 box 1 folder 31

Sophie Madeleine du Pont Chandler to William du Pont, 1896-1900 Title/Description Instances 1896 February-1897 March box 1 folder 32

1897-1898 box 1 folder 33

1899-1904 box 1 folder 34

Charles King Lennig to William du Pont, 1896-1900 Title/Description Instances 1896 October-1897 March box 1 folder 35

1897 April-1897 December box 1 folder 36

1898 box 1 folder 37

1899-1900 box 1 folder 38

John Sedgwick Andrews to William du Pont, 1904-1905 Title/Description Instances 1904 box 1 folder 39

1905 box 1 folder 40

Miscellaneous correspondence, 1893-1904 Title/Description Instances Yachts - steam yachts, Au Revoir Manning's Yacht Agency, et box 1 folder 41 al., 1893-1899

Binfield Park, 1896-1904 box 1 folder 42

Employees, 1896-1905 box 1 folder 43

Tailoring, house furnishings, Bellevue, St. Peter's College, et al., box 1 folder 44 1897-1898

Miscellaneous family letters, 1897-1900 box 1 folder 45

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Scope and Content

One letter from Ellen du Pont; one from Eugenia Collatt, and three letters from Letie

Dogs, 1897-1904 box 1 folder 46

Invoices from Minchin Bros. (farm supplies), 1898-1904 box 1 folder 47

Henly on Thames, Old Swede's Church, du Pont mystery, St. box 1 folder 48 Peter's College, 1900

Laws of Croquet, Hawthorne Hill House, steamship information, box 1 folder 49 1900-1903

Lynwood lease, 1904 August box 1 folder 50

Information on lodging, dinnerware, haberdashery, Royal box 1 folder 51 Agricultural Society, and Pennsylvania Historical Society, 1904-1905

Marion du Pont to William du Pont, circa 1905 box 1 folder 52 Scope and Content

Letter includes dried, pressed violets.

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Artifact Title/Description Instances Records storage tin - William du Pont, 1896 shelf KK-9-D Scope and Content

manufactured by Chubb and Son, 68 St. James's St. S.W., London

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