Julia Dent Grant life and biography

Because of her friendly, outgoing personality, Julia Dent Grant proved to be a smashing success as first lady. She handled the job with a friendliness and unpretentiousness that outshined nearly every other president's wife, noted Classic American Homes.

Julia Dent Grant was born on January 26, 1826, in White Haven, Missouri, to Frederick and Ellen Wrenshall Dent. As one of eight children, Grant's childhood was happy and carefree. According to a biography of Grant posted on the White House website, Grant once wrote that her childhood consisted of "one long summer of sunshine, flowers, and smiles."

Married a Military Man

Grant spent seven years at Misses Mauros's boarding school in St. Louis, Missouri, studying in the company of other girls from well-to-do homes. When she was 17, Grant was introduced to her brother's former West Point roommate, Lt. Ulysses S. Grant.

"Soon she felt lonely without him, dreamed of him, and agreed to wear his West Point ring," commented the White House's official Grant biography. However, Julia Grant's father disapproved of the match, believing that the young lieutenant was far too poor for his daughter.

In 1844, the two decided to marry. The marriage, however, was postponed for four years while Lt. Grant fought in the Mexican War. Finally, on August 22, 1848, the couple married, and Julia Grant spent the next six years trying to be the best army wife she could as the couple moved constantly from post to post. Despite the hardships, Julia Grant stood behind her husband because she "knew how much he loved the army" and "never wavered from her belief that he was destined for greatness," noted American National Biography Online. In 1854, Ulysses Grant resigned his commission and the Grants soon fell on hard times.

Throughout the late 1850s, Ulysses Grant endured many failed business ventures, including farming, and Julia Grant found herself living in poverty on a profitless farm outside of St. Louis. By 1860, the Grants and their four children moved back to Ulysses Grant's home in Galena, Illinois, where he found work in his father's leather goods store.

Followed Husband to Battlefields

Ulysses Grant found direction in his life again when the Civil War began in 1861 and he was called into military service. According to American National Biography Online, Julia Grant wrote in her memoirs that the war saved them from "desperate unhappiness."

Julia Grant spent the Civil War traveling to battlefields to visit her husband as often as she could. According to American National Biography Online, one of Gen. Grant's aides commented that "she and the general would sit at headquarters in the field holding hands, looking shy and ruffled if anyone caught them."

Gen. Grant became a hero of the Civil War and following its end, he was easily elected president of the United States in 1868. For the next eight years, Julia Grant enjoyed what she fondly recalled as the happiest years of her life.

Was Friendly, Visible First Lady

During her White House years, Julia Grant became a favorite of both the press and the public. Even though she had a crossed eye that often twitched and forced her to pose in profile, Julia Grant was not shy. The self-assured first lady welcomed reporters into the White House and was the first president's wife to grant personal interviews. She also was the first president's wife to close the White House grounds to visitors, although this decision only added to the Grant family's mystique, creating even more interest in them. According to American National Biography Online, Julia Grant wrote fondly of those years, saying, in her memoirs, "I am very fond of society and enjoyed to the fullest extent the opportunity afforded me at the White House."

Thus, Julia Grant busied herself with public appearances, planning her daughter's wedding at the White House, and contemplating whether or not to undergo surgery to fix her crossed eye. Her husband "refused to allow it, saying 'I might not like you half so well with any other eyes' " reported Classic American Homes.

Struggled after Leaving Washington

After eight years at the White House, the Grants reluctantly left. However, one of Julia Grant's ingenuities remains-the closets she had built at the White House. The Grants soon settled into New York City's high society, but, after another business venture failed, they were left penniless. Not happy being poor, Julia Grant struggled to adjust to a lifestyle that she felt she did not deserve. Though they were poor, Julia Grant did not rush to find a job as many wives did during this early period of the women's movement. "I may be old-fashioned. I don't like this modern movement.... And yet, there are certain sorts of work a woman may well do; teaching, being governess, or any taking care of children," she once stated, according to The Columbia World of Quotations.

Thus, ex-President Grant, deathly ill with throat cancer, began writing his personal memoirs, hoping that it would become a best-seller and return his wife to the wealthy life she had grown accustomed to. The book earned $500,000. However, Julia Grant had to enjoy this new wealth alone, as her husband had died soon after finishing the book in 1885. Julia Grant, inspired by her husband's book, began writing her personal memoirs-the first president's wife to do so. Yet, publishers backed away from printing her story.

Julia Grant's memoirs were finally published in 1975, more than 70 years after her death. What the memoirs illustrate is how fond Julia Grant was of her husband, despite his shortcomings that often left them poor. According to The First Ladies by Margaret Brown Klapthor, Julia Grant declared in her memoirs that, "the light of his glorious fame still reaches out to me, falls upon me, and warms me." Julia Grant died on December 14, 1902, and was buried next to her husband at Grant's Tomb in New York City.

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