Personal Memoirs of General U.S. Grant, vol 1 | Page 7

a boy ten or eleven years old, lie went to
Windsor, proved the title beyond dispute, and perfected the claim of the
owners for a consideration--three thousand dollars, I think. I remember
the circumstance well, and remember, too, hearing him say on his
return that he found some widows living on the property, who had little
or nothing beyond their homes. From these he refused to receive any
recompense.
My mother's father, John Simpson, moved from Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania, to Clermont County, Ohio, about the year 1819, taking
with him his four children, three daughters and one son. My mother,
Hannah Simpson, was the third of these children, and was then over
twenty years of age. Her oldest sister was at that time married, and had
several children. She still lives in Clermont County at this writing,
October 5th, 1884, and is over ninety ears of age. Until her memory
failed her, a few years ago, she thought the country ruined beyond
recovery when the Democratic party lost control in 1860. Her family,
which was large, inherited her views, with the exception of one son
who settled in Kentucky before the war. He was the only one of the
children who entered the volunteer service to suppress the rebellion.
Her brother, next of age and now past eighty-eight, is also still living in
Clermont County, within a few miles of the old homestead, and is as
active in mind as ever. He was a supporter of the Government during
the war, and remains a firm believer, that national success by the
Democratic party means irretrievable ruin.
In June, 1821, my father, Jesse R. Grant, married Hannah Simpson. I
was born on the 27th of April, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont
County, Ohio. In the fall of 1823 we moved to Georgetown, the county
seat of Brown, the adjoining county east. This place remained my home,
until at the age of seventeen, in 1839, I went to West Point.
The schools, at the time of which I write, were very indifferent. There

were no free schools, and none in which the scholars were classified.
They were all supported by subscription, and a single teacher--who was
often a man or a woman incapable of teaching much, even if they
imparted all they knew--would have thirty or forty scholars, male and
female, from the infant learning the A B C's up to the young lady of
eighteen and the boy of twenty, studying the highest branches
taught--the three R's, "Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic." I never saw an
algebra, or other mathematical work higher than the arithmetic, in
Georgetown, until after I was appointed to West Point. I then bought a
work on algebra in Cincinnati; but having no teacher it was Greek to
me.
My life in Georgetown was uneventful. From the age of five or six until
seventeen, I attended the subscription schools of the village, except
during the winters of 1836-7 and 1838-9. The former period was spent
in Maysville, Kentucky, attending the school of Richardson and Rand;
the latter in Ripley, Ohio, at a private school. I was not studious in
habit, and probably did not make progress enough to compensate for
the outlay for board and tuition. At all events both winters were spent
in going over the same old arithmetic which I knew every word of
before, and repeating: "A noun is the name of a thing," which I had also
heard my Georgetown teachers repeat, until I had come to believe
it--but I cast no reflections upon my old teacher, Richardson. He turned
out bright scholars from his school, many of whom have filled
conspicuous places in the service of their States. Two of my
contemporaries there--who, I believe, never attended any other
institution of learning--have held seats in Congress, and one, if not both,
other high offices; these are Wadsworth and Brewster.
My father was, from my earliest recollection, in comfortable
circumstances, considering the times, his place of residence, and the
community in which he lived. Mindful of his own lack of facilities for
acquiring an education, his greatest desire in maturer years was for the
education of his children. Consequently, as stated before, I never
missed a quarter from school from the time I was old enough to attend
till the time of leaving home. This did not exempt me from labor. In my
early days, every one labored more or less, in the region where my

youth was spent, and more in proportion to their private means. It was
only the very poor who were exempt. While my father carried on the
manufacture of leather and worked at the trade himself, he owned and
tilled considerable land. I detested the trade, preferring almost any
other labor; but I was fond of agriculture, and of all employment in