Victorine du Pont (1792-1861), the eldest child of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) and Sophie Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828), was born in Paris and came to the United States in 1800. He father was the founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. She was educated at a school for French-speaking children in New York and, after the family moved to Delaware, at a Wilmington boarding school and Mrs. Rivardi's Academy for Young Ladies in Philadelphia. As the eldest child and with an ailing mother, she was responsible for overseeing her younger siblings.

She married Ferdinand Bauduy (1791-1814) in 1813, but he died six weeks later, and she never remarried. After a period of grieving, she became involved in the Brandywine Manufacturers' Sunday School, sponsored by her father to teach workers' children, and was a teacher and superintendent until her death. Victorine also taught her siblings, nieces and nephews at home.

Ferdinand Bauduy was the son of Peter Bauduy (1769?-1833), business partners with du Pont, and Theresa Bretton des Chapelles (1773-1837). Victorine's father did not approve of the courtship, so Bauduy was sent to France for two years. The couple remained committed to each other, and E.I. relented when Bauduy returned. He died shortly after his marriage to Victorine from pneumonia.