tric father, or his silent, pious, and shrinking mother. Rather, he was
temperamentally different from each and attuned to neither.

Jesse Root Grant, the father, is variously described by his contempo-
raries as a shrewd Yankee and a fool. Actually, he seems to have pos-
sessed clear title to both designations. As a child he had been deserted
by his ne'er-do-well father and taken into the home of Judge Todd in
upper Ohio. Here he learned the trade of a tanner. After working for
the father of the famed John Brown, he set up for himself at Ravenna.
In a few years, he married and moved to Point Pleasant, in Clermont
County, where Ulysses was born.

Although his opportunities for an education were limited, Jesse be-
came a voracious reader. According to his son, his "thirst for education
was intense," and he studied all that he read. Certain it is that he
possessed an inquisitive mind and made excellent use of the information
which he gleaned in disputatious argument with his neighbors. Strongly
opinionated and vigorously contentious, he quarreled frequently with
his associates, and found himself involved in numerous lawsuits. He was
inordinately proud of his erudition and displayed his literary talents by
writing letters to the newspapers. One stanza of a poem which he
wrote will suffice to illustrate his literary abilities:

"Dame Fate with me, though need not flirt,
For I'm not poet enough to hurt!
The World, 'tis said, owes all a living,
What can't be bought, then, must be given;
And though I have not much to spare,
I can at least supply a pair
Or leather for a pair--of shoes,
That you may sally forth for news.
And when another pair you want,
Just drop a note to
J. R. GRANT."

Hannah Simpson, whom Jesse had married in June, 1821, was the
antithesis of her husband in every respect. Silent and retiring where he
was verbose and aggressive, reticent where he was boastful, amiable
where he was contentious, she won and retained the regard of neighbors
who would not tolerate Jesse. Contemporaries remembered her even
temper, her unselfish kindness, and her modesty; and biographers of
her son have been prone to ascribe the reticence of Ulysses to his

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