Life in the 1800s

Life in the 1800s. Work, work, work. Hiram Ulysses Grant, as he was originally named, lived in this brick house from the time he was a year old until he left to attend West Point at age 17. Grant's father, Jesse, built the family home and a tannery across the street. , Work in a tannery was bloody and smelly-livestock were slaughtered, their hides soaked in lye and then cured with acid. When Grant was not at school, he was expected to contribute by working at the tannery in the bark mill grinding bark or in the beam shop cleaning hides of flesh, hair, and dirt. , Grant disliked the tannery and preferred to work with horses. At age 7 he could drive a team of horses and began to haul wood used in the house and tannery. At 11 he plowed the fields, brought in the crops, and took over "all the work done with horses,” as he recalled in his memoirs. By age 14 Grant owned and operated a livery service, in which he, as the sole driver, delivered passengers all over Ohio. , In 1840, after Grant went to the military academy at West Point, Jesse and Hannah Grant and their remaining children moved to Bethel, Ohio. Ulysses Grant never again lived in the Georgetown house. , As a young boy Grant worked in the bark mill at his family's tannery across the street from their home. Ohio Historical Society collections , Workers scraping hides to remove flesh, hair, and dirt- not a job for the squeamish. Young Grant was expected to do this messy, hard work.