Evening star., 1937-06-27
BY SIGRID ARNE,

IL hRNL,
Associated Press Feature Writer.
WILMINGTON, Del, June 26-
In three days two of Americas mos,
powerful families, poles apart in po.
litical philosophers, will be bound to-
gether by the tWine of matrimony.
At sunset on Wednesday, Franklin
Roosevelt, jr., and Ethel du Pont viii
kneel together before two Episco-
pallan pastors in quaint. little stone
church outside of Wilmington tc
promise ito love and cherish until
death do us part"
Behind them under the same roof
though widely separated by thought
will sit dozens Of their elders.
The ceremony will be a triumph
for romance, young romance with
no Establishments hanging over it
no terrific sacrifices. All OF life lies
ahead.
Story Goes Back to Europe
The story of Franklin Roosevelt
and Ethel du Pont goes back to El-
rope in 1850. Even then their fam
lilies were prominent ones; even then
they were tangled with the politics
Of the times
The first Du Pont to step into the
limelight was Pierre Samuel du Pont
who believed in the Huguenots fight
for religious tolerance He started as
a matchmaker, but he soon became SC
engroSsed in the woes of pre-revolu-
ton France that he turned to pamph-
lettering on economics and sociology
He was friend OF Thomas Jefferson
and Benjamin Franklin.
Behind Franklin Roosevelt lie two
European families: The Rosenvelts OF
Holland, who were rich merchants
and the De La Noyes OF France. The
latter family was Huguenot.
Come to America.
Among the De La Moves was an ad-
venturous lad of l9 who landed in
this country at Plymouth in 1921.
And among the ROoSevelts there was
patriarch. Claes Martenzen van
Rosenvelt, who believed 50 strongly in
the future OF America that he packed
up his whole tribe and settled in New
Amsterdam. now New York. in l649.
In 1897 one of the Du Points came
across TO explore the Hudson River
country, and returned with favora BILE
reports Around 1900 Pierre Samuel
arrived with two sons. one of them
Eleuthere Irennee. who had been in
the French governments munitions
factories.
1t is told that he imported French
powder to hunt over the same hills
where his descendants now have mag
nif1cent homes On one trip his
French powder gave out and he
stopped for American powder at a
trading post. But the American pow
der sputtered and refused to explode.
So Eleuthere Irennee sat down and
decided:
If this is the best powder Amer
leans can make, I'll start q powder
mill. 1t should make good living"
Erected Stone Building.
He picked a spot on the Brandy
wine River and put up little stone
building in 1902 and started the pow
der factory which has made his FAM
ilys name famous around the world.
His first building still stands, cov-
cred with ivy. 1t isn't used now, but
the present generation Of Du Points
preserve 1t in his memory, because
the family is a clannish lot that
clings TO family tradition.
The gun he took on that hunting
expedition has passed down througn n
eight generations, and is now owned
by Ethels father. Eugene Du Pont,
who hangs 1t in his oak-paneled study.
AS the families grew the Nation
grew. The colonies broke away from
England. They spread to the Pacific,
they engaged in wars and finally they
became the worlds greatest industrial
and financial power.
In those years the Rosenvelts (nov
the Roosevelts) and the De La Moves
(now the Delanos) and the Du Points