Jesse Root Grant, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJesse Root Grant
father of Ulysses S. Grant
Date of Birth: 23-Jan-1794
Place of Birth: Greensburg, Pennsylvania, United States
Date of Death: 29-Jun-1873
Profession: businessperson
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Aquarius 
About Jesse Root Grant
- Jesse Root Grant (January 23, 1794 – June 29, 1873) was a farmer, tanner and successful leather merchant who owned tanneries and leather goods shops in several different states throughout his adult life.
- He is best known as the father of Ulysses S.
- Grant and the one who introduced Ulysses to military life at West Point.
- Jesse was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and was one of seven children.
- He was a self-made man who rose from poverty to become a somewhat wealthy merchant. At age five, Jesse's family moved to Ohio and settled in the Ohio River Valley.
- Unable to support all his children Jesse's father arranged for his apprenticeship at farms and tanneries during his youth.
- Jesse married Hannah Simpson Grant and they became the parents of three boys and three girls, with Ulysses being their oldest.
- Raised in a poor family that was forced to split up and having to work at an early age, Jesse persistently encouraged his sons in the ways of education, industry and hard work, his methods sometimes testing his father-son relationship with Ulysses.
- As a young man he worked for and came to know Owen Brown and soon acquired strong abolitionist sympathies.
- Jesse was known to be outspoken, had strong opinions about politics and often boasted about his son, often referring to him as "my Ulysses".
- Originally a Jacksonian, Jesse eventually broke with the Democrats as he developed anti-slavery leanings, and for a time wrote a number of controversial editorials in support of abolition and about other issues, including Ulysses at Shiloh.
- He became involved in local politics and was elected Mayor in Georgetown and later, Bethel, both in Ohio.
- During the American Civil War Jesse and his two partners became involved in cotton speculation and personally prevailed upon his son Ulysses, now a Commanding General, requesting permits to deal in cotton in Grant's district, causing serious complications.
- Soon after the war Jesse stood next to his son Ulysses while he was sworn in as President, thereafter becoming a frequent visitor to the White House, while living out his final years in Covington, Kentucky.
- Much has been learned about the earlier years of his son Ulysses from letters between the two and other material relating to Jesse's background and business.
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