Ulysses S. Grant’s Personal Memoirs Chapter 1

Ulysses S. Grant

The first chapter of President Grant's memoirs is devoted to his ancestry and youth prior to entry in West Point Academy. Grant takes great care in establishing the "quality" and American-ness of his family. Grant traces his father's branch of the family back to a ship arriving from Dorchester, England in 1630. Though the members of this family had varying degrees of financial success or poverty, it is the length of time they have been in the America's that Grant looks to to prove their quality. 
He also takes great care in establishing military service in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution for several members of this branch of his family. Thus, Grant's first priority in this section seems to be to demonstrate the quality and patriotism of his family.


This branch eventually moved to Ohio, there meeting up with Grant's mother's side. His mother's branch is rather an unknown to Grant, as they were not interested in genealogy and did not keep records.
Grant's father's parents died young in 1805, leaving him to the patronage of Judge Tod, whose son eventually would become governor of Ohio. The family was good to Grant's father, treating him as a member of their own, but he received little formal education. His lack of education, but desire for learning spurred Grant's father to make education a high priority for his children. President Grant was born in 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio, shortly thereafter moving to Georgetown, Ohio.
President Grant attended a subscription school until his acceptance to West Point. In his memoir, he derides the education he received for its incompleteness, but admires the good intentions of his instructor nonetheless. Living in frontier Ohio, Grant did his share of farm labor, but education was always a priority, even if the quality of it was lacking. At this point the memoir goes into chapter 2, which goes through Grant's experience at West Point through his graduation.
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Trev