Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Sophia Birchard Hayes, April 9, 1864

Camp White, April 9, i864.

Dear Mother: — It is wet and stormy weather, but we are all safely sheltered and care nothing for wind or rain.

I am very glad you can write so cheerfully as you did in your last letter. If you could see what I see every day you would think the people of the North were blessed indeed. I feel confident that we are more than half through with the work of crushing [the] Rebellion.

I send you this time the writing of my grandfather [about his ancestors]. It will interest you a great deal. I would be glad if you would preserve it or send it to Uncle Birchard for him to keep for me. I wish you would write me a similar account of your ancestors. Mrs. Wasson's excellent memory of dates and names may aid you.

Affectionately, your son,

Rutherford.

Mrs. Sophia Hayes.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 453

Ancestors & Descendants of Ulysses S & Julia (Dent) Grant

One of my most popular posts here at Civil War Notebook is Family Connections of U. S. Grant. I usually get one hit a day from a search engine for some one looking for information on Grant's ancestors and descendants, so I thought I'd follow that posting up with another post with all of the information that I currently know about the ancestors of Ulysses S. & Julia Bogs (Dent) Grant and their descendants. The links below open as .pdf files.

Ancestors of Ulysses S. Grant

Ancestors of Julia Boggs Dent

Descendants of Ulysses S. & Julia (Dent) Grant

Civil War Veterans On File

I have been researching my family tree for twenty years. Consequently have 17,355 persons in my genealogy database and still going strong. Among my many ancestors, I have 13 Mayflower Passengers and two American immigrants of royal descent. I can also claim Pocahontas as an ancestress, I can’t prove her to be, but at this point no one has been able to disprove my line either.

During my many years of genealogical research I have documented 46 Civil War Veterans (click HERE for the list). Many I have researched thoroughly, others I have not. There are a few notables, which are, of course, extremely distant relation to myself:

John C. Breckenridge – 4th cousin 5 times removed
Benjamin F. Butler – 3rd cousin 5 times removed
James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok – 5th cousin 4 times removed
Ulysses S. Grant – 6th Cousin 5 times removed

It is doubtless that a careful culling of my files will yield many more veterans, as well as further genealogical and historical research.

Family Connections of Ulysses S. Grant

Harry Smeltzer of Bull Runnings has a couple of fascinating posts (HERE & HERE) about the family connections of Hugh Judson Kilpatrick. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so here it goes...

2008 marks the twentieth year of my genealogical research. One of the funnest things about genealogy is seeing who you are related to, or in other instances finding the genealogical links between historical figures.

I am a multiple Mayflower descendant. I am able to enumerate 13 of the 102 passengers aboard the Mayflower as my ancestors. Among them is Richard Warren, who is also an ancestor of Ulysses. S. Grant:

1. Richard Warren & Elizabeth Walker
2. Nathaniel Warren & Sarah Walker
3. Mercy Warren & Jonathan Delano
4. Jonathan Delano Jr. & Amy Hatch
5. Susanna Delano & Noah Grant, Jr.
6. Noah Grant III & Rachel Kelly
7. Jesse Root Grant & Hannah Simpson
8. Ulysses S. Grant.


My line of descent from Richard Warren is as follows:

1. Richard Warren & Elizabeth Walker
2. Sarah Warren & John Cooke
3. Sarah Cooke & Arthur Hathaway
4. John Hathaway & Patience Hunnewell
5. Benjamin Hathaway & Elizabeth Richmond
6. Elizabeth Hathaway & Benjamin Daggett
7. Love Dagget & Elijah Luce
8. William S. Luce & Huldah Rogers
9. Alonzo Luce & Catherine Finley
10. Alonzo E. Luce & Mary Alice Byrd
11. Edna Luce & Percy Miller
12. Larry Miller & Janet DeLong
13. James D. Miller

Ullysses S. Grant married Julia Boggs Dent, a 4th cousin of James Lonstreet. (See chart HERE).

Ulysses S. & Julia (Dent) Grant had for children:

The oldest, Frederick Dent, graduated from West Point in 1871 & rose to the rank of Major General in the United States Army. He married Ida Marie Honoré whose sister Bertha was married to Chicago businessman, Potter Palmer. Frederick & Ida Grant had two children: Julia and Ulysses S. Grant III. In 1899 Julia married Prince Michael Cantacuzéne, a Major-General and Chief of Staff to His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia. They fled to the United States at the outbreak of the Bolshevik revolution. Ulysses Grant III also attained the rank of Major General in the United States Army & served as an aide to President Theodore Roosevelt where he met his wife, Edith Root, the daughter of Secretary of War, Elihu Root.

Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., “Buck” married Fannie Josephine Chaffee, daughter of the U. S. Senator from Colorado, Jerome Chaffee. They had five children. After his wife’s death he married America (Workman) Will.

Ellen “Nellie” Wrenshall Grant, was married in the East Room of the White House in 1874 to Algernon Charles Frederick Sartoris of England. He was the son of opera singer Adelaide Kemble. They had four children. Nellie married secondly to Frank Hatch Jones on July 4th 1912.

Jesse Root Grant, the youngest child of the President married Elizabeth Chapman, daughter of William Chapman, one of the founders of the California Academy of Sciences. They had two children: Chapman & Nellie Grant. Jesse began divorce proceedings in 1914 on the grounds of desertion by his wife, the four year battle was followed by the newspapers and Jesse finally obtained his divorce on August 21, 1918. Six days later at the age of 60, he married Lillian (Burns) Wilkins, a 41 year old widow. Chapman Grant, Jesse’s son by his first marriage, became a noted American herpetologist.

Follow Up Blog Post: Ancestors & Decendants of Ulysses S. & Julia (Dent) Grant