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Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours

French writer, economist, and government official (1739–1817)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ573712
Source-derived summary

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours ( dew-PONT, DEW-pont, French: [pjɛʁ samɥɛl dy pɔ̃ d(ə) nəmuʁ]; 14 December 1739 – 7 August 1817) was a French-American writer, economist, publisher and government official. During the French Revolution, he, his two sons and their families migrated to the United States.

His son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont was the founder of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. He was the patriarch and progenitor of one of the United States's most successful and wealthiest business dynasties of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Early life and family

Pierre du Pont was born on 14 December 1739, the son of Samuel du Pont and Anne Alexandrine de Montchanin. His father was a watchmaker and French Protestant, or Huguenot. His mother was a descendant of an impoverished minor noble family from Burgundy.

Du Pont married Nicole-Charlotte Marie-Louise le Dée de Rencourt in 1766, also of a minor noble family. They had three sons: Victor Marie (1767–1827), a manufacturer and politician; Paul François (December 1769–January 1770); and Éleuthère Irénée (1771–1834), the founder of E.I. duPont de Nemours and Company in the United States. Nicole-Charlotte died 3 September 1784 of typhoid.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours” as french writer, economist, and government official (1739–1817). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pierre, Samuel and Pont.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1739, 1817, 1766, 1767—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1739-12-14, 1739—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Pierre, Samuel and Pont providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours”, the useful work is to connect “french writer, economist, and government official (1739–1817)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q573712. VIAF identifies the subject as 95229508. The Library of Congress control number is n50074505. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1739, 1817, 1766 and 1767.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours primary sources, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours archive and Pierre research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.