Pierre Bauduy
Pierre Marie Joseph de Bauduy de Bellevue | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Bordeaux, France |
| Died | August 15, 1833 (aged 64) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Early French refugee from Haitian Revolution to settle in the US; founding role in DuPont |
Pierre Marie Joseph de Bauduy de Bellevue (born 10 June 1769 – died 15 August 1833), also referred to as Peter or Pierre Bauduy, was a French-Haitian American entrepreneur. He holds the distinction of being the earliest French refugee from the Haitian Revolution to settle in the United States, arriving in Wilmington, Delaware in October 1791. He played a foundational role in establishing the enterprise that evolved into DuPont.
Biography
Originating from a slave-owning family based in Bordeaux, France, his relatives possessed significant stakes in Haitian sugar plantations, including Bellevue, recognized as one of the largest globally. His grandfather, sharing his name Pierre de Bauduy, served as a captain in the French militia stationed in Haiti, then called Saint-Domingue.
Upon marrying Marie Madeleine de Goiran, her dowry comprised 52 enslaved individuals and a sum of 10,000 French livres. Correspondence dated 26 September 1769 reveals that each family member received sugar valued at 550,000 livres, while another letter from June 1770 estimated drought-related damages at 600,000 livres.
On 7 October 1771, the grandfather transferred his Haitian sugar interests for 2.2 million livres to his sole son, Jean-Baptiste de Bauduy de Bellevue. Jean-Baptiste and his spouse had four children: two daughters named Céline and Félicité, and two sons, Pierre and Louis.
Pierre and his brother Louis (later known as Baron Louis Alexandre Amélie Bauduy) were educated in France. At seventeen, Pierre attained the rank of lieutenant in the "Chasseurs de Picardie," while Louis served as a dragoon officer. The siblings returned to the Caribbean in 1790. On 4 October 1790, Pierre wed Juliette des Chapelles, whose extensive correspondence has been invaluable to historians. Juliette was a childhood acquaintance of Joséphine de Beauharnais, daughter of Martinique planters and future spouse of Napoleon Bonaparte. The couple enjoyed an annual income of 30,000 livres provided by both families.
The onset of the Haitian Revolution in August 1791 saw their plantation become an early target. For four months, Pierre's brother, father, and six others remained barricaded within Bellevue. His father was ultimately killed by insurgents, and the plantation was set ablaze.
Following these events, Pierre's father-in-law—whose wife had apparently also perished—urged Pierre and Juliette to escape with a promise to reunite later with their infant son Ferdinand. They departed Haiti on 27 September 1791 aboard a vessel owned by French-American financier Stephen Girard, arriving in Philadelphia on 14 October.
After settling in Wilmington, Delaware, Pierre launched a hackney carriage manufacturing enterprise before returning briefly to Haiti in 1795 to liquidate his plantation assets. In 1798, he acquired Monckton Park—a substantial estate previously owned by financier Robert Morris—renaming it Eden Park. He is also credited with designing Wilmington's original City Hall constructed that same year and contributed to the building of the Cathedral of Saint Peter.
Pierre and Louis Bauduy maintained a close friendship with Victor du Pont de Nemours, who introduced them to his brother Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, recently arrived from France at the close of 1799. The partnership agreement for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was signed in Paris on 21 April 1801; Pierre Bauduy joined later by purchasing four out of eighteen shares.
Headquartered in Wilmington, the company initially concentrated on military supplies, producing woolen uniforms for French troops attempting to reclaim Haiti—including Pierre’s brother who had become a captain in the French Army. Pierre advocated for using merino wool recently introduced to America by David Humphreys. The agreed price was $25,000 but eventually rose to $100,000. To prevent conflicts of interest, the French consul in Washington insisted on forming a new company with existing assets transferred back to France.
The American branch focused on gunpowder production but struggled to find a suitable site for a powder mill. In January 1802, E.I. du Pont de Nemours visited the Bauduy brothers in Wilmington; however, both had departed—one headed for Haiti and the other for Argentina. Upon his return, Pierre entered into a management agreement with du Pont in August. A letter dated 23 November 1804 from President Thomas Jefferson confirmed government use of du Pont’s powder. This enterprise ultimately expanded into the global corporation DuPont.
Beyond this collaboration, Bauduy engaged further business ventures with du Pont. In 1810, Du Pont, Bauduy & Co was established by Victor du Pont, E.I. du Pont, Peter Bauduy, and Raphael Du Planty to manufacture merino woolen garments at a factory located in Louviers, Delaware.
Correspondence indicates that relations between partners deteriorated over time; consequently, Bauduy exited the company in December 1814 and divested his DuPont shares on 18 February 1815 following the War of 1812’s conclusion. Subsequently, he founded a sugar mill in Matanzas Province, Cuba. By 1827 his family relocated to New York before moving back to Eden Park in 1829. Later years saw him return to Cuba where he obtained Spanish citizenship and ultimately succumbed to cholera in Havana in 1833.
References
Further reading
- Holland, Dorothy Garesché (1963). The Garesché, De Bauduy, and Des Chapelles Families: History and Genealogy. St. Louis, Missouri: Schneider Printing Co. Available at: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/book/Garesche-Bauduy.pdf
- Catanese, Lynn A. (25 November 1997). Women's History: A Guide to Sources at Hagley Museum and Library. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-313-30270-1. Accessible via: https://books.google.com/books?id=fNEGmhGXcCoC&pg=PA16