Jacques Antoine Bidermann (April 17, 1790 – June 8, 1865), also known as James Antoine Bidermann, was an American businessman of French and Swiss origins who became the business partner and son-in-law of

Éleuthère Irénée du Pont Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours ( , ; 24 June 1771 – 31 October 1834) was a French-American chemist and industrialist who founded the gunpowder manufacturer E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. His descendants, the du Pont family, ha ...

. He married into the

Du Pont family The du Pont family () or Du Pont family is a prominent family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817), a French minor aristocrat. Currently residing in the U.S. states of Delaware and Pennsylvania, the Du Ponts have been ...

and founded the estate that later became the

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home of Henry Francis du Pont ...

Early life and family

Bidermann was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1790 to Swiss parents Jacques André Bidermann and Gabrielle Aimée Odier. His father was a millionaire financier whose ancestors had established themselves in

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, in the sixteenth century. Culturally French and Protestant, the senior Bidermann became a French citizen in 1790 and flourished in the good graces of Republican and

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

ic regimes. In 1791, he loaned almost six million francs to the Republic and loaned another four million francs to Napoleon in 1804. To protect his young son from the tumult of the Republican period, he sent Antoine home to the family estate in Winterthur, where he spent his boyhood. Antoine returned to Paris by 1804 and went to work for his father's business.

Du Pont partnership

The senior Bidermann owned one-third of all shares in Du Pont de Nemours, a company formed by Pierre Samuel du Pont to develop land in the United States. In 1801, Bidermann and other French investors funded son

's new gunpowder factory on Brandywine Creek in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

. However, the elder du Pont's branch of the company failed in 1811, and the younger du Pont failed to produce dividends for his shareholders. In 1814, the French investors sent Antoine Bidermann to investigate, bearing letters of introduction from the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

and

Bushrod Washington Bushrod Washington (June 5, 1762 – November 26, 1829) was an American attorney and politician who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1798 to 1829. On the Supreme Court, he was a staunch ally of Chi ...

. Bidermann examined du Pont's accounts and cleared the company of any fraud or mismanagement. In short order, he became du Pont's trusted business partner and son-in-law. Bidermann had landed in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, in August 1814. By the end of the following year, he had bought out the stake of Pierre Bauduy de Bellevue (an early partner in du Pont's gunpowder operation who had spread rumors of du Pont's defaulting on his debts) and married E. I. du Pont's daughter, Evelina Gabrielle (born in Paris in 1796; married on September 14, 1815; died in 1863). Evelina and Antoine Bidermann resided at Hagley House (on the grounds of the future

Hagley Museum and Library The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Po ...

), where their only child, James Irénée, was born in 1817. As his father-in-law's sole business partner from 1815 to 1834, Bidermann oversaw the accounts, purchased supplies, arranged sales, and managed personnel. He inherited his father's shares in 1817, expanding his stake in the company. He ran the entire business between 1828, when E. I. du Pont's wife Sophie died, and 1834, when E. I. du Pont followed her to the grave. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was then producing nearly one million pounds of gunpowder annually. After their father's death, the seven du Pont heirs asked Bidermann to serve as CEO and train Alfred V. du Pont to lead the company. Bidermann paid off the company's debts and bought out the French shareholders, making the du Pont family the full owners. In 1837, Bidermann retired in favor of Alfred, planning to live off the substantial income generated by his and his wife's shares.

Winterthur estate

On April 4, 1837, Bidermann purchased from the du Pont heirs a 450-acre tract in northwestern Delaware, which E. I. du Pont had acquired between 1810 and 1818 and used for sheep grazing and fodder. For the ensuing quarter century, Bidermann's occupation was one of a

gentleman farmer In the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, a gentleman farmer is a landowner who has a farm (gentleman's farm) as part of his estate and who farms as a hobby rather than for profit or sustenance. The Collins English Dictionary defin ...

. He constructed a three-story

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

mansion of his own design, planted extensive gardens and orchards, bred livestock, and developed a model farm and dairy. He was active in the day-to-day management of the farm, often rising before dawn to oversee the morning chores. No later than 1842, he named his estate "Winterthur" after his childhood and ancestral home in Switzerland. Like his du Pont relatives, Bidermann was a staunch Whig and Union supporter. His wife's favorite riding horse was named Henry Clay, in honor of the Kentucky senator. Bidermann's health began to fail in the late 1850s, obliging him to rent out parts of the farm. After his wife Evelina died on March 19, 1863, he left Winterthur to reside with his son's family in France. Bidermann died in Paris on June 8, 1865. E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company owed its early success in no small part to his leadership. The Winterthur estate passed to Bidermann's son, James Irénée Bidermann, who had attended the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

, married a Frenchwoman in 1844, and chosen not to return to America. James sold the Winterthur Estate to

Henry du Pont Henry du Pont (August 8, 1812 – August 8, 1889) was an American military officer and businessman from Delaware, and a member of the Du Pont family. Early life and education Du Pont was born at Eleutherian Mills, Wilmington, Delaware, the s ...

, who intended it as a domicile for his eldest son, Henry Algernon. Passed down through the family, the estate became the

in 1952 and "houses one of the nation's outstanding collections of furniture and the

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well as interior design, but typically excl ...

References

External links

James Antoine Bidermann papers, 1810–1872
–

Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera
–

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bidermann, Jacques Antoine 1790 births 1865 deaths Du Pont family Businesspeople from Paris French emigrants to the United States People from Winterthur Businesspeople from Wilmington, Delaware 19th-century American businesspeople Burials at Du Pont de Nemours Cemetery People associated with Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library