He lived with his parents in New York City until they established themselves in the wool-manufacturing business across from the Brandywine Creek from the Eleutherian Mills near Greenville, Delaware.

He was educated at Mount Airy College in Germantown, Philadelphia, from 1809 to 1813, when he left school to work with his father in Delaware.

Du Pont was a member of the Whig Party, who served in the State Senate from New Castle County for four terms in the Delaware General Assembly from 1841 to 1847.

[3] They had three children: Victor, Mary Van Dyke and Charles Jr. After Dorcas' death in 1838,[4] he married Ann Ridgely (born 1815).

They had two children: Amélia Elizabeth (who married her cousin Eugene du Pont) and Henry Ridgely.