Incest has long been known to increase the likelihood of health issues in offspring that result from the practice. The increased risk of health complications is due to the fact that many diseases and conditions require two recessive versions of a gene in order to be expressed in an individual. The more closely related two people are, the more likely they are to be carriers of the same disease. This increases the likelihood that each will pass on a recessive version of the same gene to their offspring. Therefore, if the offspring is shared between two related individuals, that child has a higher chance of having a condition that is the result of receiving the same recessive version of a gene from each parent. Despite the risk, many prominent families in history have allowed incest between members. One of these prominent groups was the du Pont family.
The du Ponts
The story of the du Pont family begins in France with the actions of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and his son E.I. Both attempted to physically defend Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette from an angry mob during the French Revolution. Pierre, having just barely escaped execution due to his part in the event, fled to the United States with his two sons in 1800. These two sons, E.I. and Victor-Marie, went on to found two distinct branches of the du Pont family. Victor-Marie became a director of the Bank of the United States while E.I. became the founder of a gunpowder plant in Delaware. E.I.’s endeavors are what produced the family’s vast fortune in later years. His company, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. passed through many generations of the du Pont family and expanded into manufacturing various other products in the 20th century.
Pierre’s Advice
Their fortune is currently so large that the clan has been ranked by Forbes as the 17th richest family in America. However, their 16 billion dollar net worth is spread amongst approximately 3,500 family members. This was an issue that past generations of the family tried to prevent by engaging in incest. The original patriarch of the family, Pierre, greatly encouraged incestuous relationships among his descendants, leading to seven marriages between cousins in the 19th century alone. In the 20th century, Alfred I. Dupont married and had children with his cousin Bessie du Pont and proceeded to marry another of their cousins after a contentious divorce.
The Consequences
It has been suggested that the extent of inbreeding within the family severely impacted the health of its members. Several prominent members of the family struggled with their mental health. Whether or not this is due to the du Pont’s long history of incest is still unclear; however, inbreeding is known to increase the risk of schizophrenia and mood disorders in offspring. The most notable case of mental illness within the family is that of John du Pont. John, a great-great-grandson of E.I., experienced a period of declining mental health before he infamously murdered Olympic gold medalist Dave Schultz in 1996. The aforementioned Alfred I. du Pont is known to have had glass shards placed along the walls surrounding his estate in order to keep members of his family away (this estate now serves as the location for the renowned Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware). Alfred seemingly never explained why he wished to protect himself from his relatives.
A Lost Fortune
After years of attempting to keep money within the family, the clan’s growth has resulted in a diminishing fortune while divorces and remarriages have caused trust funds to be broken up. Currently, no members of the family run the company that shares their name and only one du Pont sits on its board. It now appears as though the du Ponts, while continuing to be well-known, are slowly losing their power and wealth.
