Jesse Root Grant

Jesse Root Grant (1794 - 1873) was a merchant in leather who owned a tannery business along the Ohio River, and the father of Ulysses S. Grant. Jesse was born January 23, 1794, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. When he was five years old his family moved to Ohio, settling in the Ohio River Valley. He was one among seven children in the family. Jesse married Hanna Simpson, their marriage bringing three boys and three girls, Ulysses being their oldest. Raised in a poor family, Jesse persistently encouraged Ulysses in the ways of education and industry, sometimes in ways that would later test their father-son relationship During the American Civil War Jesse became involved in cotton speculation and prevailed upon his father, General Grant, requesting permits to deal in cotton in Grant's district, causing serious complications. After the war Jesse was standing by next to his son while Ulysses was being sworn in as President. While his father was President Jesse became a frequent visitor at the White House. Jesse died in Kentucky during President Grant's second term.

Jesse's paternal ancestor arrived at Massachusetts Bay colony in 1630 and was one of many Pilgrims of the Purita movement who fled England to escape religious persecution. Later generations of the Grant family migrated westward into Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. Jesse's grandfather fought in the French and Indian War, and his father, Noah Grant, served in the American Revolution at Bunker Hill.

Noah Grant was married to his first wife, Anna Richardson, with whom they shared two children. Anna died in 1787. Noah later married his second wife, Rachael Kelly in 1792, who became Jesse's mother with his birth in 1794. When Jesse was age 5, Noah, at age 51, moved his family in 1799, to East Liverpool, and again in 1804, to Deerfield, both in Ohio. Here Noah worked in a shoe shop, meting out a modest earning. Jesse was born January 23, 1794. in Greensburg, Westmorland County, Pennsylvania. In 1805, at age 9, Jesse's mother died, in Deerfield.

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