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Alfred du Pont and Jessie Ball du Pont
Mrs. Jessie Ball du Pont, a Virginian, was a decendent of Mary Ball, mother
of George Washington. Born in Northumberland County, Va., Jessie was educated in a one-room country
school and later attended what is now Longwood College in Farmville, Va. She was a teacher when she and her parents
moved to San Diego, Calif. There she became assistant principal of the largest elementary school in the city.
She married Alfred I. du Pont, whom she had met as a teenager when he visited her town from Nemours, near Wilmington, Delaware,
to go duck hunting.
Alfred du Pont and Jessie decided together which worthy causes to support with du Pont money.
In the 1960's the du Ponts gave $40,000.00 to refurbish Richmond monuments to
southern Civil War heros. Later SCV, Sons of the Confederate Veterans organization and Robert E. Lee - Thomas
"Stonewall" Jackson Education Foundation in Virginia, were considered worthy and du Pont support came through The
Jessie Ball du Pont Fund. Both continue to be worthy and eligible for du Pont support money today.
The du Ponts believe that both these Americans, Confederate General R.E. Lee and General T.J. Jackson possessed
distinguished traits of character that should be emulated by future generations. Therefore, du Pont invested
money is available to the Lee-Jackson Foundation today to support education.
Mrs. du Pont's father was a Confederate Soldier - Thomas Ball, III, CSA, Virginia
GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE'S BIRTHPLACE HOME - STRATFORD HALL
Mrs. Jessie Ball du Pont's closest friends felt that some of her happiest
times were spent at General Robert E. Lee's home, Stratford Hall in Virginia. Organized with a Board representative
of every state, the "Stratties", as Jessie named them, set about the task of raising funds
to restore Stratford Hall, Lee's home.
Because of Stratford's remote location, no hotels were available to
the ladies for their semi-annual meetings. They therefore built log cabins for their own use, heated only by stoves or fireplaces.
Mrs. du Pont called her cabin "Owl's Roost" because of the late hours that she kept. There, when the business
of the day was finished, she and her cabin mate, Mrs. Granville Gray Valentine of Richmond, would entertain the other members
of the Board.
As a result of Mrs. du Pont's efforts, the great southern
General's home Stratford Hall, beautifully restored, was officially dedicated to the public, its mortgage paid off.
At Stratford, as in every other endeavor touched by her generosity, her vision for its role in human enlightenment, particularly
that of the young, was large. She wrote to a friend, "Though the first desire in the mind of all Southerners is that
there should be a lasting, great memorial to General Lee, I have always felt that there are also other compelling reasons
why Stratford should be preserved. Being operated as a living Colonial plantation, it is one of the few places in the country
which can teach the present and future generations of youngsters the self-contained way of life adopted by the Fathers of
our Country."
Du PONT MONEY DONATED TO STRAFFORD HALL
Mrs. du Pont established the Jessie Ball du Pont Fund.
She directed its trustees to devote its earnings to the institutions to which she had contributed personally, those closest
to her heart. General Lee's home, Stratford was one of them. The library and its endowment are her gifts to us.
The Jessie Ball du Pont financed library at General Lee's birthplace
home is a living memorial to General Robert E. Lee, his family, and the history of his beloved southland and our country.
The Jessie Ball du Pont Library contains images, emblems and flags of the Civil War.
Mrs. du Pont was a great lady whose long life recorded a variety
of human service. Mrs. du Pont will be remembered for her contributions to educations which opened new vistas to
thousands of young people. That our affection and admiration for Mrs. du Pont should be expressed in a library at Stratford
containing the history and pictures of flags of the south seems to us eminently appropriate.
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