Julia Grant

Infobox_Officeholder
name = Julia Grant

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|thumb|Julia Grant
imagesize = 216px
birth_date = Jan 14, 1826
birth_place =St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
death_date = Death date and age|1902|12|14|1826|01|26|
occupation = First Lady of the United States
order=18^thFirst Lady of the United States
term_start=March 4, 1869
term_end=March 4, 1877
predecessor = Eliza McCardle Johnson
successor = Lucy Webb Hayes
religion=Methodist
spouse = Ulysses S. Grant
children = Jesse Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., Nellie Grant, Frederick Grant
relations = Fred Dent

Julia Boggs Dent Grant (January 26, 1826 – December 14, 1902), was the wife of the 18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, and was First Lady of the United States from 1869 to 1877.

Background

Daughter of Frederick and Ellen Wrenshall Dent, and a descendant of Thomas Dent, Sr., Julia Boggs Dent was born and raised at the White Haven plantation near St. Louis, Missouri. In memoirs prepared late in life—unpublished until 1975—she pictured her girlhood as an idyll: "one long summer of sunshine, flowers, and smiles".

Education

She attended the Misses Mauros' boarding school in St. Louis for seven years among the daughters of other affluent parents. A social favorite in that circle, she met "Ulys" at her home, where her family welcomed him as a West Point classmate of her brother Frederick; soon she felt lonely without him, dreamed of him, and agreed to wear his West Point ring.

Engagement and early marriage to Grant

Julia and Lieutenant Grant became engaged in 1844, but the Mexican-American War deferred the wedding for four long years. Their marriage, often tried by adversity, met every test; they gave each other a life-long loyalty. Like other army wives, "dearest Julia" accompanied her husband to military posts, to pass uneventful days at distant garrisons. Then she returned to his parents' home in 1852 when he was ordered West.

Ending that separation, Grant resigned his commission two years later. Farming and business ventures at St. Louis failed, and in 1860 he took his family — four children now — back to his home in Galena, Illinois.

Civil War

He was working in his father's leather goods store when the Civil War called him to a soldier's duty with his state's volunteers. Throughout the war, Julia joined her husband near the scene of action whenever she could.

First Lady

After so many years of hardship and stress, she rejoiced in his fame as a victorious general, and she entered the White House in 1869 to begin, in her words, "the happiest period" of her life. With Cabinet wives as her allies, she entertained extensively and lavishly. Contemporaries noted her finery, jewels, and silks and laces. As First Lady it was suggested to her that she have an operation to correct her crossed eyes, but President Grant said that he liked her that way. [Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". ]

After the Presidency

Upon leaving the White House in 1877, the Grants made a trip around the world that became a journey of triumphs. Julia proudly recalled details of hospitality and magnificent gifts they received. A highlight of the trip was an overnight stay and dinner hosted for them by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle in England. They also enjoyed a swing through the Far East, being cordially received at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo by the Emperor and Empress of Japan.

In 1884 Grant suffered yet another business failure and they lost all they had. To provide for his wife, Grant wrote his famous personal memoirs, racing with time and death from cancer. The means thus afforded and her widow's pension enabled her to live in comfort, surrounded by children and grandchildren, until her own death in 1902 at age 76.

She had attended in 1897 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.

Notes

References

* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/jg18.html White House biography]
* [http://www.nps.gov/ulsg/index.htm White Haven - Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site]