Grant Administrations - Family Life

Family Life

Ulysses S. Grant met his wife, Julia Boggs Dent, when he and his friend Frederick Dent were assigned to a barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, near Dent's home. Julia Dent grew up in a world of moderate comfort with a few family slaves to help around the house. She received a normal education for girls at the time and developed some abilities in art and music. She was noted for her strong personality. Grant visited the Dents and became enamored with Julia and she with him. In 1844 the couple became engaged. They saw each other only once between 1844 and 1848, while Grant served in the Mexican War (1846–48). On August 22, 1848, they were married at Julia's home.

Typical of service families, from their marriage until Ulysses Grant's death on July 23, 1885, the couple occasionally spent months apart. From all indications, theirs was a relation of mutual dependence with Julia Grant being very much the "boss" (their family...

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