JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Nellie with parents and family
Ullyses and Julia Grant had 4 children, but it was common knowledge that his 3rd child and only daughter was his favorite- no small thing to a man who doted on all of them to the point of worship. I bumped into a story on Ellen " Nellie's " short stint as The Old Lady Who Lived In A Shoe ", in an old newspaper, which of course sent me off on another search- Nellie Grant.
June 16 1864
"General Grant's daughter—who is said to be a miniature picture of the General—is observed with much interest by the visitors to the St. Louis Fair. She is to be seen in the Children's
Department, dressed as a motherly spectacled matron, and personates Mother Goose's "old woman who lived in a shoe, and had so many children she didn't know what to do."
" Everyone who knew Grant recognized that Nellie was his favorite child. His wife admitted it in her memoirs, as did his sons in interviews from later years. An example of Grant's affection for Nellie appears in the August 17, 1873 issue of the Portsmouth Ledger, as the Grants passed through New Hampshire. A reporter was onboard a train as the President traveled to Augusta. He wrote, "President Grant arrived on the new Pullman car "Mystic" with the usual dignitaries and his children. Miss Nellie Grant... who is 17 years old, held her father's hand throughout the journey. When a baggage handler became too inquisitive towards the fair daughter, the General showed positive annoyance and held Miss Grant ever-closer to the Presidential bosom."
US Grant Homepage
"It was perhaps the greatest American social event of the nineteenth century. Finally, a White House wedding was bursting forth in full glory. The walls and staircases and chandeliers were covered in a mass of lilies, tuberoses and spirea. Florida orange blossoms had been crated up and sent north.
The bride, Nellie Grant, was the eighteen-year-old daughter of an American icon, a war hero and the sitting president. One historian described her as “probably the most attractive of all the young women who have ever lived in the White House.” The groom, Algernon Sartoris, was a twenty-three year old member of the English “minor gentry.” They had met on a cruise across the Atlantic, courting in the moonlight and stealing “away to the darkened decks for kisses,” while Nellie’s chaperones lay moaning in their cabins with sea sickness. To the public it was an irresistible, romantic story. One newspaper carried a twelve page pictorial insert of the wedding, its presses running non-stop, unable to keep up with the insatiable public demand.
On May 21, 1874, “as the resplendent marine band played Mendelssohn’s Wedding March,” President Ulysses S. Grant escorted his daughter into the East Room. Nellie was radiant, wearing a white satin gown “trimmed in rare Brussels point lace” and reportedly worth thousands of dollars. The president “looked steadfastly at the floor” and wept. His new son-in-law would be taking Nellie to a life in England."
White House Weddings
Ellen Grant (Nellie), 1855-1922
"The media adored Nellie Grant, Ulysses. S. Grant's only daughter. She was born on the Fourth of July 1855 at White Haven, her mother's family home near St. Louis, Missouri. Nellie spent her teenage years in the White House, where the newspapers made her out to be a kind of American princess. True, she did seem to live a princess' lifestyle. At age 16, she was sent to Europe, where she studied in London and even met Queen Victoria. On her return trip home, she met a dashing young Englishman, and immediately fell in love.
Nellie married Algernon Sartoris, the son of famed opera singer Fanny Kemble, on May 21, 1874, in the White House. But after the couple moved back to England, Nellie discovered her husband was less dashing than he seemed. Some said Sartoris had problems with alcohol. Others said that he cheated on Nellie, or just plain ignored her. Nellie had four children by Sartoris. The oldest, a son, died in 1876. Nellie was never happy in her marriage. Eventually, she and Sartoris divorced.
Nellie saw little of her parents during the time she lived in England. But when Ulysses S. Grant was dying, Nellie returned to the United States. After her father's death, Nellie and her three children settled in with her mother in Washington, D.C. In 1912, Nellie remarried to a man named Frank Hatch Jones. She died in 1922."
PBS
Nellie as " The Old Shoe Woman " !!!
Nellie as a young girl
Nellie, young woman
Ullyses and Julia Grant had 4 children, but it was common knowledge that his 3rd child and only daughter was his favorite- no small thing to a man who doted on all of them to the point of worship. I bumped into a story on Ellen " Nellie's " short stint as The Old Lady Who Lived In A Shoe ", in an old newspaper, which of course sent me off on another search- Nellie Grant.
June 16 1864
"General Grant's daughter—who is said to be a miniature picture of the General—is observed with much interest by the visitors to the St. Louis Fair. She is to be seen in the Children's
Department, dressed as a motherly spectacled matron, and personates Mother Goose's "old woman who lived in a shoe, and had so many children she didn't know what to do."
" Everyone who knew Grant recognized that Nellie was his favorite child. His wife admitted it in her memoirs, as did his sons in interviews from later years. An example of Grant's affection for Nellie appears in the August 17, 1873 issue of the Portsmouth Ledger, as the Grants passed through New Hampshire. A reporter was onboard a train as the President traveled to Augusta. He wrote, "President Grant arrived on the new Pullman car "Mystic" with the usual dignitaries and his children. Miss Nellie Grant... who is 17 years old, held her father's hand throughout the journey. When a baggage handler became too inquisitive towards the fair daughter, the General showed positive annoyance and held Miss Grant ever-closer to the Presidential bosom."
US Grant Homepage
"It was perhaps the greatest American social event of the nineteenth century. Finally, a White House wedding was bursting forth in full glory. The walls and staircases and chandeliers were covered in a mass of lilies, tuberoses and spirea. Florida orange blossoms had been crated up and sent north.
The bride, Nellie Grant, was the eighteen-year-old daughter of an American icon, a war hero and the sitting president. One historian described her as “probably the most attractive of all the young women who have ever lived in the White House.” The groom, Algernon Sartoris, was a twenty-three year old member of the English “minor gentry.” They had met on a cruise across the Atlantic, courting in the moonlight and stealing “away to the darkened decks for kisses,” while Nellie’s chaperones lay moaning in their cabins with sea sickness. To the public it was an irresistible, romantic story. One newspaper carried a twelve page pictorial insert of the wedding, its presses running non-stop, unable to keep up with the insatiable public demand.
On May 21, 1874, “as the resplendent marine band played Mendelssohn’s Wedding March,” President Ulysses S. Grant escorted his daughter into the East Room. Nellie was radiant, wearing a white satin gown “trimmed in rare Brussels point lace” and reportedly worth thousands of dollars. The president “looked steadfastly at the floor” and wept. His new son-in-law would be taking Nellie to a life in England."
White House Weddings
Ellen Grant (Nellie), 1855-1922
"The media adored Nellie Grant, Ulysses. S. Grant's only daughter. She was born on the Fourth of July 1855 at White Haven, her mother's family home near St. Louis, Missouri. Nellie spent her teenage years in the White House, where the newspapers made her out to be a kind of American princess. True, she did seem to live a princess' lifestyle. At age 16, she was sent to Europe, where she studied in London and even met Queen Victoria. On her return trip home, she met a dashing young Englishman, and immediately fell in love.
Nellie married Algernon Sartoris, the son of famed opera singer Fanny Kemble, on May 21, 1874, in the White House. But after the couple moved back to England, Nellie discovered her husband was less dashing than he seemed. Some said Sartoris had problems with alcohol. Others said that he cheated on Nellie, or just plain ignored her. Nellie had four children by Sartoris. The oldest, a son, died in 1876. Nellie was never happy in her marriage. Eventually, she and Sartoris divorced.
Nellie saw little of her parents during the time she lived in England. But when Ulysses S. Grant was dying, Nellie returned to the United States. After her father's death, Nellie and her three children settled in with her mother in Washington, D.C. In 1912, Nellie remarried to a man named Frank Hatch Jones. She died in 1922."
PBS
Nellie as " The Old Shoe Woman " !!!
Nellie as a young girl
Nellie, young woman
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