Jesse Grant and Hannah Simpson were married on June 24, 1821. The newlyweds moved to Point Pleasant, Ohio where they rented a one room cottage for $2.00 per month. Jesse worked across the road at a tannery. Hannah gave birth to a boy on April 27, 1822, while Jesse was away talking business with neighbor John Clark. The couple named their first born Hiram Ulysses.
The future president tersely described his early life in Clermont County in his Memoirs in two sentences: “I was born on the 27th of April,1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio. In the fall of 1823, we moved to Georgetown.”
A new room was added after the Grants left for Georgetown. For nearly sixty years, the house stood in genteel obscurity, slowly succumbing to the challenges of time. Following the president’s death, the old cottage was propelled into the limelight. A man described only as a “blacksmith from Clermont County” purchased the cottage in 1887. He put it on a barge and floated it down the Ohio River to Cincinnati for the Ohio Valley Centennial Celebration. He sold tickets to walk through the shrine.
Columbus attorney and businessman Henry T. Crittenden read an article about the cabin in the Cincinnati Enquirer. He called his associate William Burdell into his office. Crittenden was agitated about the way the relic was being treated. He told Burdell, “I wish you to go to Cincinnati with me to purchase the cabin. It must be rescued from profane hands.” The two left for the Queen City the next day. According to Burdell:
We found the cabin on a sort of raft by which it had been floated from Point Pleasant. It was not in good shape. I found that the owner had a sort of amateur barker entertaining the people with a lecture on General Grant. His dress was that of a rural dandy and the whole affair was rather ridiculous.
Burdell opened up negotiations with the owner. The blacksmith demanded five thousand dollars. Crittenden demurred. He thought it unseemly to dicker over such a worthy item. He left in tears for his hotel. Burdell continued the negotiations, eventually settling on seventeen hundred dollars plus moving expenses.
The new owners left for Columbus the next morning with the cabin. Upon arriving in the state capital, the two met with Governor Joseph Foraker, a Civil War veteran. The governor was so moved that he gave an impromptu speech about his former commander.
The cottage was taken to Goodale Park for the 1888 National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War Veterans organization. The cottage then traveled around the country before arriving at the Ohio State Fairgrounds in 1896. A “glass house” was erected around the cottage to protect it from the elements.
In 1922, Ohio Governor Harry Davis asked Clermonter Hugh Nichols, the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, to organize the festivities to celebrate General Grant’s one hundredth birthday. Nichols agreed, but with one condition: the cottage would have to be returned to Clermont County. The governor agreed.
The celebration was a rousing success. Tens of thousands of civilians, Civil War Veterans, and dignitaries including General John Pershing came by boat and car to the small community to celebrate the general’s birth. The festivities were capped off by an address by President Warren G. Harding.
The cabin, however, remained in Columbus.
In 1936 Ohio State Representative John J. Hayden introduced a bill in the General Assembly to return the cottage to Point Pleasant. In October 1936, with the assistance of the Works Progress Administration, the shrine finally came home.
In the spring of 1937 the cottage, like just about everything else along the Ohio River, was flooded. A small metal tag showing the high water mark of the river can be found under the eaves of the home near the front door.
The cottage is managed by Historic New Richmond and is open to the public. The hours of operation may be obtained by calling the site at 513-553-4911.
Gary Knepp is Clermont County’s honorary historian and is the author of eight books about Clermont’s history. Knepp’s website is www.garyknepp.com