Julia Boggs Dent
Date and place of birth: January 26, 1826, St. Louis County, Missouri Date, place and age at death: December 14, 1902 - Washington, D.C. - unknown - 76 Place of burial: Grants Tomb, Riverside Drive, New York City, New York Parents: Col. Frederick & Ellen Bray Wrenshall Dent Married: Hiram Ulysses Grant - on August 22, 1848      Children:           Frederick Dent                ( May 30, 1850 - Apr. 11, 1912, m. Ida Marie Honore, became a General )           Ulysses Simpson                ( Jul. 22, 1852 - Sep. 25, 1929 )           Ellen Wrenshall                ( Jul. 4, 1855 - Aug. 30, 1922, m. Algernon Charles Satoris in the White House, divorced, m. name unknown )           Jesse Root                ( Feb. 6, 1858 - Jun. 8, 1934, m. two times, names unknown, ran for President ) Education:      No formal education
Facts: She ordered new rugs, furniture and gave the White House a thorough cleaning Smoking in the White House was forbidden by her, except for the President’s cigars   The china ordered by Mrs. Grant, with a yellow border and flowers in the center, still remain among the handsomest in White House history During Julia Grant’s eight-year tenure, the White House was restored to the center of Washington’s social life The Grants took a two and a half year world tour after leaving the White House She also wrote her own memoirs – the first First Lady to do so After Ulysses asked for Julia's hand in marriage, his parents told him they would not attend the ceremony because the Dent's were slave owners Upon taking the Oath of Office, Grant turned to his wife and said, "Now my dear, I hope you're happy" There was no doubt she wanted him to be president, and she First Lady One of her first duties was to issue a press statement that she did not intend to become a fashion trend-setter Julia was conscious of her appearance, however, and asked her husband to allow an operation to help her cross-eyed problem. The president refused saying, those were the eyes he married and they were good enough for him Because of unrest during the Civil War, Blacks were discouraged from visiting the White House, a policy she quickly changed Mrs. Grant also encouraged Blacks in her employ at the White House to invest in real estate, and often deducted money from their pay and opened savings accounts for them As First Lady she wrote for many popular magazines and publications on a variety of subjects, but always ended with a "Vote Republican" message She was the first First Lady to write her memoirs
Born Julia Boggs Dent on January 26, 1826 and was the daughter of Colonel Frederick Dent and Ellen Wrenshall Dent. Ulysses and Julia first met through her brother, Fred, who was Ulysses’ classmate at West Point. The two were married on August 22, 1848 at the bride’s home in St. Louis, Missouri. Ulysses and Julia had four children, three boys and one girl. Julia Grant died on December 14, 1902 and is laid to rest with her husband in Grant’s Tomb. Julia and Ulysses Grant shared a relationship rich in understanding and devotion. Even the acerbic Gore Vidal, in his review of Julia's Memoirs, admitted that the Grants possessed something rare. Historians are united in saying their union was a romance from beginning to end. The simple truth is that Ulysses and Julia fell in love and remained enamored and devoted to one another for their entire lives. Theirs was a genuine romance. They met in the Spring of 1844 at White Haven, the St. Louis plantation owned by Julia's slave-owning, cantankerous father, "Colonel" Dent. Never mind that Frederick Dent was no real Colonel and in fact, was illiterate and crabby. He indulged his favorite daughter and watched over her with a firm, yet loving hand. He felt he had a rare commodity on his hands and was not willing she surrender her heart to a n'er do well. Julia was, however, exceedingly plain and this is putting a disingenuous spin on the matter. She suffered from strabismus, which meant her right eye wandered and she was commonly referred to as "cross eyed." Tactfully, we will describe her as plain, though her contemporaries were more cruel. But she was lively, modern and possessed an irreverent wit. She was an eternal optimist, engagingly naive and accustomed to being spoiled. Her schooling and experience with the world were limited when Lieutenant Grant came into her life when she was 18. In 1844, the young Grant was definitely not plain. His future sister-in-law wrote: "At the time Lieutenant Grant's personal appearance was very attractive. He was very youthful looking, even for his age, which was just 21... I can assure you that when he rode up to White Haven in the Spring of 1844, he was as pretty as a doll. At any rate, he enchanted me." Grant had spent his last year at West Point with Julia's brother as a roommate and was stationed at nearby Jefferson Barracks. In an unpublished interview, she recalled how she first heard of him: "My brother Fred thought the world of Ulysses Grant and when he returned from West Point, in fact through his courses there he kept writing and telling us about him. They roomed together and when he returned he told me that Ulysses was the finest boy he had ever known. He said, 'I want you to know him, he is pure gold. I have never known him to use a profane or vulgar word in all the time he spent with me; he is a splendid fellow, and just as soon as comes out here to Jefferson Barracks, I want you to meet him.' And so she did. Though Grant could have had any number of attractive ladies, he was instantly drawn to Julia. He never noticed her plain exterior and cherished what was inside of her, a rare trait in anyone so young. He was smitten and laid siege to her. This was difficult for Grant because he was naturally shy in the presence of women. He had enjoyed romances with Mary King and Kate Lowe, two Ohio girls, prior to meeting Julia, but his new love affair eclipsed any previous dalliance. From the moment he met her, she had a profound influence upon him. He wrote, "since I have loved Julia, I have loved no one else." Their courtship was interrupted by the Mexican War and in a span of four years, they met only once. Grant's letters to her were yearning and unintentional bits of humor. A strand of desperation ran through the correspondence, as he repeatedly asked her if Colonel Dent would oppose their marriage. Julia's father, irritable as ever, was opposed to the union, but Grant's ardent devotion gradually wore down the old codger. Ulysses and Julia were married on August 22, 1848 in the Dent's townhouse in St. Louis. They spent a three month honeymoon visiting Ulysses' relations in Ohio, and Julia wrote with unintentional candor of this period: "I enjoyed sitting alone with Ulys. This was very, very pleasant. He asked me to sing to him, something low and sweet, and I did as he requested... it was a dream to me and always pleasant." Grant's background made him peculiarly susceptible to Julia's affection and he remained emotionally beholden to her. As a child, his mother was undemonstrative and aloof, but in Julia's arms, he found contentment. Physically and emotionally, their union flourished. Julia was the more self-reliant of the two and their separations didn't unhinge her, as they did Grant. There was an unceasing strain of loneliness in Grant's make-up and only Julia seemed able to ease his melancholy. Unfortunately, only a few of her letters to him survive, but the bulk of his correspondence to her remains intact. In the last twenty years of his life, they were separated only rarely, and never for more than two weeks. Julia wrote a perceptive book of reminiscences which were finally published in 1975. In one telling paragraph, she detailed her attraction for her husband: "He was always perfection, a cheerful, self-reliant, earnest gentleman. His beautiful eyes, windows to his great soul, his mouth, so tender, yet so firm. One must not deem me partial to say that General Grant was the very nicest and handsomest man I ever saw." Their married life was devoid of the usual ups and downs associated with long-term partnerships. Their children all said they never saw a cross word between them or an instance of hostility. Even in their 50's, the couple held hands and insisted on being seated next to one another. Grant enjoyed looking at pretty women, but was content to admire them from afar, and was too inept around ladies to approach them. Grant's illness and death devastated Julia and she was prostrate with grief: "He, my beloved, my all, passed away and I was alone, alone." She wore mourning for the rest of her life and became emotional when veterans offered anecdotes of her husband. Her final tribute to Grant displayed her pride in his legacy: "For nearly 37 years, I, his wife, rested and was warmed in the sunlight of his loyal love and great fame, and now, even though his beautiful life has gone out, it is as when some far-off planet disappears from the heavens; the light of his glorious fame still reaches out to me, falls upon me and warms me." Julia Dent Grant wrote a delightful book of reminiscences, The Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant, which were not published until 1975. Grant's letters to Julia survive and can be read in all of the volumes of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant (1967-). There are 26 Volumes to date.