Julia Grant

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}}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#if:||{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}}}} }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| regexp1 = 1blankname[%d]* | regexp2 = 1namedata[%d]* | regexp3 = 2blankname[%d]* | regexp4 = 2namedata[%d]* | regexp5 = 3blankname[%d]* | regexp6 = 3namedata[%d]* | regexp7 = 4blankname[%d]* | regexp8 = 4namedata[%d]* | regexp9 = 5blankname[%d]* | regexp10 = 5namedata[%d]* | allegiance | alma_mater | regexp11 = alongside[%d]* | alt | regexp12 = ambassador_from[%d]* | regexp13 = appointed[%d]* | regexp14 = appointer[%d]* | regexp15 = assembly[%d]* | awards | battles | battles_label | birth_date | birth_name | birth_place | birthname | regexp16 = blank[%d]* | bodyclass | branch | branch_label | cabinet | candidate | caption | categories | regexp17 = chancellor[%d]* | children | citizenship | regexp18 = co%-leader[%d]* | commands | committees | regexp19 = constituency[%d]* | regexp20 = constituency_AM[%d]* | regexp21 = constituency_MP[%d]* | regexp22 = convocation[%d]* | regexp23 = country[%d]* | regexp24 = data[%d]* | date | death_cause | death_date | death_manner | death_place | demo | regexp25 = deputy[%d]* | regexp26 = district[%d]* | education | election_date | embed | father | regexp28 = firstminister[%d]* | footnotes | regexp29 = governor[%d]* | regexp30 = governor_general[%d]* | regexp31 = governor%-general[%d]* | height | honorific_prefix | honorific-prefix | honorific_suffix | honorific-suffix | image | image name | image_name_alt | image_size | imagesize | image_upright | incumbent | regexp32 = jr/sr[%d]* | regexp33 = jr/sr and state[%d]* | known_for | regexp34 = leader[%d]* | regexp35 = legislature[%d]* | regexp36 = lieutenant[%d]* | regexp37 = lieutenant_governor[%d]* | mainwidth | regexp38 = majority[%d]* | regexp39 = majority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp40 = majority_leader[%d]* | regexp41 = majorityleader[%d]* | mawards | regexp42 = military_blank[%d]* | regexp43 = military_data[%d]* | regexp44 = minister[%d]* | regexp45 = minister_from[%d]* | regexp46 = minority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp47 = minority_leader[%d]* | regexp48 = minorityleader[%d]* | regexp49 = module[%d]* | regexp50 = monarch[%d]* | mother | name | nationality | native_name | native_name_lang | nickname | nocat | regexp51 = nominator[%d]* | nominee | occupation | regexp52 = office[%d]* | opponent | regexp53 = order[%d]* | otherparty | parents | regexp54 = parliament[%d]* | regexp55 = parliamentarygroup[%d]* | partner | party | party_election | portfolio | regexp56 = preceded[%d]* | regexp57 = preceding[%d]* | regexp58 = predecessor[%d]* | regexp59 = premier[%d]* | regexp60 = president[%d]* | regexp61 = primeminister[%d]* | regexp62 = prior_term[%d]* | profession | pronunciation | rank | rank_label | relations | relatives | residence | resting_place | resting_place_coordinates | restingplace | restingplacecoordinates | regexp63 = riding[%d]* | runningmate | salary | serviceyears | serviceyears_label | signature | signature_alt | signature_size | smallimage | smallimage_alt | source | speaker | speaker_office | spouse | spouses | regexp64 = state[%d]* | regexp65 = state_assembly[%d]* | regexp66 = state_delegate[%d]* | regexp67 = state_house[%d]* | regexp68 = state_legislature[%d]* | regexp69 = state_senate[%d]* | regexp70 = status[%d]* | regexp71 = suboffice[%d]* | regexp72 = subterm[%d]* | regexp73 = succeeded[%d]* | regexp74 = succeeding[%d]* | regexp75 = successor[%d]* | regexp76 = taoiseach[%d]* | regexp77 = term[%d]* | regexp78 = term_end[%d]* | regexp79 = term_label[%d]* | regexp80 = term_start[%d]* | regexp81 = termend[%d]* | regexp82 = termlabel[%d]* | regexp83 = termstart[%d]* | regexp84 = title[%d]* | unit | unit_label | regexp85 = vicegovernor[%d]* | regexp86 = vicepremier[%d]* | regexp87 = vicepresident[%d]* | regexp88 = viceprimeminister[%d]* | regexp89 = assuming[%d]* | website | width | year }} Julia Boggs Grant (née Dent; January 26, 1826 – December 14, 1902) was the first lady of the United States and wife of President Ulysses S. Grant. As first lady, she became the first woman in the position to write a memoir.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Her memoirs, The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant, were published in 1975.

Early life and educationEdit

Julia Boggs Dent was born on January 26, 1826, at White Haven plantation west of St. Louis, Missouri.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her parents were Frederick Dent (1787–1873), a planter and merchant, and Ellen Wrenshall Dent.<ref name=":1" /> Frederick enslaved about 30 Africans, whom he freed only when compelled by law, having previously resisted moral arguments against slavery.<ref name=":2" /> Her family were of English descent, and her mother was born in England.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Grant, a distant maternal relative to Confederate general James Longstreet, was the fifth of eight children.<ref name=":2" /> In her memoirs, Grant described her childhood as "one long summer of sunshine, flowers, and smiles…"<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news Template:PD-notice</ref>

Around 1831–1836, Julia attended the Gravois School, a co-educational one-room schoolhouse in St. Louis.<ref name=":2" /> From age 10 to age 17, Grant attended the Mauro Academy for Young Ladies in St. Louis with the daughters of other affluent parents.<ref name=":3" /> Grant was a boarding student during the week and returned home to White Haven on weekends.<ref name=":2" />

The Dent family was highly social, with visitors coming from among the elite class of Cincinnati, Louisville, and Pittsburgh.<ref name=":2" /> William Clark (of Lewis and Clark) and politician Alexander McNair were family friends.<ref name=":2" />

As a young woman, Grant was a skilled pianist, an expert horsewoman, and a voracious reader of novels.<ref name=":2" />

StrabismusEdit

Grant was born with strabismus (more commonly known as "crossed eyes"), which prevents both eyes from lining up in the same direction.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite news</ref> When she was younger, one of the best surgeons in the country offered to perform the simple operation that would fix them.<ref name=":4" /> Grant was not keen on surgery, however, and declined.<ref name=":4" />

Because her strabismus was never corrected, Grant almost always posed in profile for portraits.

Engagement and marriage to GrantEdit

While a student at West Point, New York, Fred Dent wrote to his sister Julia about how impressed he was with a fellow student, Ulysses S. Grant: "I want you to know him, he is pure gold."<ref name=":2" /> In 1844, Grant began visiting the Dent family.<ref name=":2" /> In April of that year, Ulysses asked Julia to wear his class ring as a sign of their exclusive affection.<ref name=":2" /> Eighteen-year-old Julia initially demurred.<ref name=":2" /> Ulysses' regiment was then ordered to Louisiana in preparation for service in the Mexican–American War.<ref name=":2" /> Distraught at their separation, Julia had an intense dream, which she detailed to several people, that Ulysses would somehow return within days, wearing civilian clothes and state his intention of staying for a week.<ref name=":2" /> Despite the unlikeliness of the dream, Ulysses did return just as Julia had predicted, and the two became engaged.<ref name=":2" />

File:Julia Dent Grant with Frederic & Ulysses Jr, 1854.jpg

Portrait of Julia Dent Grant with her eldest children, Frederic Dent Grant and Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., 1854

Neither set of parents was enthusiastic about the match, with her parents doubting his future earnings capability and his parents disliking her father for being an enslaver.<ref name=":1"/> Nonetheless, the engagement held,<ref name=":0"/> and Ulysses often sent letters to her, including ones that described his first exposure to the horrors of battle.<ref name="cvm-julia"/> The couple would not get married until 1848, four years later, once Ulysses returned from the war.<ref name="cvm-julia"/> He then was posted to several far-away locations, including Panama and Vancouver Barracks, where she did not accompany him,<ref name=":2"/> although he continued to write her.<ref name="cvm-julia"/> He suffered from loneliness, boredom, and a possible drinking problem, and resigned from the Army in 1854.<ref name="cvm-julia"/>

Over the next few years, he tried several business ventures, none too successful, and her friends indicated that she had been unhappy for much of the first decade of their marriage.<ref name=":0"/> Meanwhile, she gave birth to four children between 1850 and 1858.<ref name="cspan"/> In 1860, the family located themselves in Galena, Illinois, where Ulysses worked as a clerk in a store owned by his brother.<ref name="cvm-julia"/>

With the American Civil War underway, Ulysses rejoined the Army.<ref name="cvm-julia"/> During some parts of the war, Grant traveled to be near her husband,<ref name=":1"/> something unusual at the time.<ref name=":2"/> The rest of the time, the two sent letters to each other. While she was careful to preserve his letters to her — which have been published in several forms — none of her letters to him are known to survive, possibly because at some point she destroyed them.<ref name="cvm-julia">Template:Cite news</ref>

ChildrenEdit

File:Ulysses Grant and Family at Long Branch, NJ by Pach Brothers, NY, 1870.jpg

President Ulysses Grant and First Lady Julia Dent with their four children: Jesse, Ulysses Jr., Nellie, and Frederick in front of their cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey, 1870

The Grants had three sons and a daughter:<ref name="cspan">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Frederick Dent Grant (1850–1912)Template:Sndsoldier, public official
Ulysses Simpson Grant Jr. known as "Buck" (1852–1929)Template:Sndlawyer
Ellen Wrenshall Grant known as "Nellie" (1855–1922)Template:Sndhomemaker
Jesse Root Grant (1858–1934)Template:Sndengineer

First LadyEdit

Template:Expand section Grant often referred to her time in the White House as the "happiest period" of her life.<ref name=":3" /> She hosted parties frequently, including gathering Union Army Officers and orchestrating elaborate and lavish dinners for politicians and guests. She was the originator of the State Dinner at the White House, which honored King Kalākaua of the Kingdom of Hawai'i.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

During her husband's first term in office, Grant redecorated the family living quarters into a Renaissance Revival style, with money appropriated from Congress for the renovations. During his second term in 1873, Congress appropriated $100,000 for additional renovations from 1873–1874.<ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> To prepare for First Daughter Nellie Grant's wedding, the Grants focused their refurbishing on the East Room, including the installation of gas globe chandeliers, which became renowned during the American Gilded Age among the elite.<ref name=":5" /> Herter Brothers, the New York furniture company, was the supplier of the furnishings in the East Room.<ref name=":5" />

Grant sought to bring prestige to the position of First Lady and improve the stature of the wives of other government officials, including the cabinet, the Congress, and the Supreme Court.<ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was close friends with Julia Fish, wife of secretary of state Hamilton Fish.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She did not publicly support women's suffrage, but notably refused to sign an anti-suffrage petition.<ref name=":6" />

Grant was the first First Lady recorded on film.<ref name=":2" />

Later lifeEdit

File:The photographic history of the Civil War - in ten volumes (1911) (14576222538).jpg

1885 picture of Ulysses Grant and Julia Dent with their children and grandchildren

Grant was the first First Lady to write a memoir. However, she was unable to find a publisher. She had been dead almost 75 years before The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant) was finally published in 1975. She died in Washington, D.C. on December 14, 1902, at the age of 76.

File:Grant's Tomb 01.JPG

Grant's Tomb, a mausoleum containing the bodies of Ulysses and Julia Grant

In 1897, she attended the dedication of Grant's monumental tomb overlooking the Hudson River in New York City. She was laid to rest in a sarcophagus beside her husband. She had ended her own chronicle of their years together with a firm declaration: "the light of his glorious fame still reaches out to me, falls upon me, and warms me."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

While in Washington, D.C., Grant followed Dolley Madison's lead and acted as a "Queen Mother" figure.<ref name=":9">Template:Cite book</ref> She became friends with First Ladies Frances Cleveland, Caroline Harrison, and Edith Roosevelt.<ref name=":9" />

ReferencesEdit

File:Julia DGrantStatue.jpg

A statue of Julia Grant, erected in 2006 on the grounds of the U.S. Grant Home State Historic Site in Galena, Illinois, is one of only a handful of statues that honor a first lady.

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Julia Grant at C-SPAN's First Ladies: Influence & Image
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