Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1885 — REMINISCENT. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

REMINISCENT.

Gen. Grant’s Early Life in »t. Louis—His Marriage to Miss Dent. The happiest davs and the darkest days in the long life of Gen. Grant were,spent in St. Louis. Lieut. Grant and Fred Dent had become friends in the military school at West Point, and ■when young Dent invited his chum to come with him on a visit to his St. Louis home, he did much toward shaping the destiny of Grant and possibly of the nation. The two young men. after Grant’s visit, went to participate in the Mexican war, and when young Dent fell with a bullet in his groin while leading his company to a charge. Grant picked him up and carried him in his arms to a place of safety. The affection between the young men increased, and the affection between the beautiful Miss Dent and her brother’s friend, with whom she corresponded, more than kept pace with it. After the war, the wedding. The elite of St. Louis were there, the officers from the barracks attended in full uniform, and it was the social event of the year 1848. The journals of that day were not given to making mention of social events, and the only newspaper reference to the wedding that has been discovered consists of the following notice that appeared in the Republican of Aug. 24, 1848, two days after it occurred: Married—On the 22d inst., by Rev. J. H. Linn, Lieut. Ulysses S. Grant. U. S. A., to Miss Julia, daughter of Col. Dent of St. Louis.

HOUSE IN WHICH GRANT WAS MARRIED. The house where Col. Dent lived, and in which the marriage was celebrated, now stands on the southwest corner of Fourth and Cerre streets, St. Louis. There is very little now in the grimy and dilapidated exterior of the house to suggest the elegance that characterized it in the davs when it was the city residence of the Dents. The lime dust and coal smoke of ferty years have coa ed its walls to an extent that discourages renovation, and vandal hands have knocked’the corners off the bricks and defaced the elaborate carvings which gave distinction to the front door. As though to emphasize its degiadation, the following legend, tacked up against the door frame, invites the attention of all who pass:

BOARDING AND ROOMS. . $4-$5 per Week. TABLE BOARD, $3.00. Single Meals, 25c. 5 TICKETS, SI.OO.

Mrs. Putcher, a very obliging lady, answers the old-style bell and admits the caller to a spacious hall, from which a very precise stairway leads to the floor above, with one abrupt and uncompromising turn at the middle of tue ascent. The stairway affords the first strong trace of the old-time richness. Its balusters are exceedingly plain and straight, and its sharpcornered newel post is innocent of carving, but all the parts are of mahogany and the top of the post is inlaid with pearl. The double parlors in which the wedding occurred open off the hall to the left. They are c< mmodious rooms of about 16x18 feet in dimensions, and separated bv very heavy sliding doors. The door facings and window facings are very broad, but without carving or molding, and are painted white just as they were in their dav sos glory. The knobs of the doors are of solid brass, and perfectly smooth, as was the fashion when the house was built. The fireplace is surmounted by a wooden mantel, and is faced by an ornamented sheet-iron front, which has escapejd any Serious defacement or injury all these years. The most notable feature, however, is the chandelier, which is the same that lighted the memorable bridal festival. It is a very unique affair in brotuSj

with three burners and thi’ee supporting rods, between which latter is a handsome knightly figure. The wonder is that such a souvenir as this has remained safely through all the mutations to which the house has been subjected. The front room is now a sleeping-room; the back parlor is a dining-room. There is nothing in the general plan of the house to call for special mention, as it lean ordinary dwelling place, with three large rooms on each of the three floors, and a hall-room additional on the second floor. It would appear that the days of this relic are already numbered, as it lies directly in the line of the proposed route of the elevated road which is to connect the Iron Mountain Road with the Union Depot. The bridal couple did not make this house their home, but after a wedding trip they returned to St. Louis, and lived for some time with Mrs. Grant's parents out at the farm, on the Gravbis road. Young Grant resigned his army commission in 1854, and located with his family out on the Dent farm, Mr. Dent having made his daughter a present of eighty acres and feur slaves. Thev lived there very nicely, but Grant did not find the life congenial. The chief farming he did was to haul cordwood to town and sell it. on which occasion the very familiar costume which clad his gaunt form was a jeans pants, grav woolen shirt, one or two “galluses, a pair of raw-hide boots, a slouch hat. and an untrimmed beard. A blacksnake whip made him complete. Tiring completely of farm life, fie moved into town, and at first occupied for a time a house at the southeast corner of Seventh and Lynch streets, and then moved to a little h use which is now numbered 1008 Barton street. His employment was the real estate business, but he did not prosper, and in 1857 moved to Galena, 111., where he went into business with his father as a tanner. Soon afterward the war broke cut, and Grant was not long in discovering that there was at least one way in which he could earn a living, and earn it nobly.