Description
Book SynopsisVictorine Elizabeth du Pont, the first child of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont and his wife Sophie, was seven years old when her family emigrated to America, where her father established the humble beginnings of what would become a corporate giant. Through correspondence with friends and relatives from the ages of eight to sixty-eight, Victorine unwittingly chronicled the first sixty years of the du Pont saga in America. As she recovered from personal tragedy, she became first tutor of her siblings and relations. This biography makes the case that Victorine has had the broadest—and most enduring—influence within the entire du Pont family of any family member. The intellectual heir of her venerable grandfather, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, although Victorine grew up in an age where women's opportunities were limited, her pioneering efforts in education, medicine, and religion transformed an entire millworkers’ community.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Genealogies
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours Family Portraits
Foreword
Dr. David Cole Preface
Acknowledgments
Note to the Reader
1 France, 1792–1795
2 America’s Turn
3 Wilmington, Delaware
4 Emergence
5 Post-Rivardi Years
6 Ferdinand
7 Mourning on the Brandywine
8 Departures and Arrivals
9 Life and Spirit on the Brandywine
10 The Brandywine Manufacturer’s Sunday School
11 A New Superintendent
12 Second Mother
13 A Growing Family, a Thriving Community
14 National Recognition
15 Legacies and Conflicts
16 Loss and Restoration
17 A Time to Build
18 Bells
19 Feeling an Interest
20 Nearing Home
21 Pathway’s End
22 Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
