Ida Marie Honoré
Encyclopedia
Biography
Born Ida Marie Honoré in Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré
Henry Honore
Henry Hamilton Honoré was an American businessman.Honoré moved to Chicago, Illinois, from Louisville, Kentucky in 1855 and made his fortune in real estate. Henry Honoré fathered six children with his wife, Eliza J...
. Ida attended St. Xavier School and Dearborn Seminary in Chicago, and graduated from the Convent of the Visitation in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., in 1874. She achieved a reputation as a skilled musician on harp and piano. It was during her time in Washington, D.C. that she met and began to be courted by Frederick Dent Grant
Frederick Dent Grant
Frederick Dent Grant was a soldier and United States minister to Austria-Hungary. Grant was the first son of General of the Army and President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Grant. He was named after his uncle, Frederick Tracy Dent...
, oldest son of US President Ulysses Simpson Grant.
Ida married Grant in her parent's home on October 20, 1874, with the President and First Lady in attendance. She was twenty years of age. In the biography written about her sister Bertha Palmer
Bertha Palmer
Bertha Palmer was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.- Biography :Born Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré...
entitled "Silhouette in Diamonds," the wedding feast was provided by Bertha's husband Potter Palmer
Potter Palmer
Potter Palmer was an American businessman who was responsible for much of the development of State Street in Chicago.-Retailing career:...
and included stewed terrapin, escalloped oysters, sweetbread patties, turkey, snipe, chicken or lobster salad, boned quail in jelly, ices, charlotte russe, fresh fruits and frappéed champagne, port, and sherry. Following a brief honeymoon, Ida left to live with her mother and father-in-law at the White House while her husband Fred continued in military service with General Custer in the Black Hills expedition of 1875.
Children
Julia Dent Grant 1876-1975, born and died in Washington, D.C.Ulysses III
Ulysses S. Grant III
Ulysses Simpson Grant III was the son of Frederick Dent Grant, and the grandson of General of the Army and President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant. He was an American soldier and planner...
1881-1968, born in Chicago, died in Clinton, NY
The birth of each of the children carried an unusual element. Julia's birth saved her father's life; Fred Grant received leave to travel to Washington, D.C. in honor of her arrival. Had he remained with Custer's unit, he would have been in the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army...
(June 25-26, 1876) in which Custer's entire 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
was killed. The birth of Ulysses III resulted in his mother's invalidism for an extended period of time and caused lifelong health issues.
Husband's career and family travels
Frederick Dent Grant resigned from the army in 1881, and assisted his father in preparing the latter's memoirs. During this time, he was in business in New York City.In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...
appointed him Minister to Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, during which time the entire family moved with him to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. After Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
became president, Grant was allowed to continue in his post. Grant resigned in 1893.
Grant became a New York City Police Commissioner
New York City Police Commissioner
The New York City Police Commissioner is the head of the New York City Police Department, appointed by the Mayor of New York City. Governor Theodore Roosevelt, in one of his final acts before becoming Vice President of the United States in March 1901, signed legislation replacing the Police Board...
in 1894, an office he held until 1898.
When the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
started in 1898, Grant was colonel of the 14th New York Volunteers and was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. He served in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. In 1899, Grant was sent to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
for service in the Philippine-American War
Philippine-American War
The Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection , was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following...
, where he remained until 1902. In 1901, he was made a brigadier general in the Regular Army
Regular Army
The Regular Army of the United States was and is the successor to the Continental Army as the country's permanent, professional military establishment. Even in modern times the professional core of the United States Army continues to be called the Regular Army...
. Mrs. Grant (Ida) traveled with him during these assignments, as her children were by then adults.
When he returned to the United States, he held various commands and was promoted to major general in 1906. At the time of his death, he was the commander for the Eastern Division which included the Department of the East and the Department of the Gulf. He died of cancer, at Fort Jay
Fort Jay
Fort Jay is a harbor fortification and the name of the former Army post located on Governors Island in New York Harbor. Fort Jay is the oldest defensive structure on the island, built to defend Upper New York Bay, but has served other purposes...
on Governors Island
Governors Island
Governors Island is a island in Upper New York Bay, approximately one-half mile from the southern tip of Manhattan Island and separated from Brooklyn by Buttermilk Channel. It is legally part of the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
in New York City on April 12, 1912, and was buried in West Point Cemetery
West Point Cemetery
West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for American Revolutionary War soldiers and early West Point inhabitants long before 1817 when it was officially...
.
Late Life and Death
Ida Marie Grant moved to The Acacias, Sarasota, Florida, joining her sister Bertha PalmerBertha Palmer
Bertha Palmer was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.- Biography :Born Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré...
who was in the process of developing Sarasota into a destination residence community. After her sister's death, Ida became the beneficiary of her estate and inherited both land and cash, which enabled her to live an independent and comfortable life. She briefly moved to upstate New York to live with her son Ulysses III
Ulysses S. Grant III
Ulysses Simpson Grant III was the son of Frederick Dent Grant, and the grandson of General of the Army and President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant. He was an American soldier and planner...
, who was teaching at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Later, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she died on 5 September 1930. She was buried with her husband in West Point Cemetery
West Point Cemetery
West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for American Revolutionary War soldiers and early West Point inhabitants long before 1817 when it was officially...
, New York.