Ulysses Grant Groff
Encyclopedia
Ulysses Grant Groff was a large landowner and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

 noted for substantial donations to the City of Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...

 and to Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

.

He was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...

 to plantation owner John Groff and Susan Beaver (née Susan de Bouvoir) and married Julia Page Quick, the daughter of the Anglican Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Philadelphia in Germantown, Pennsylvania
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...

 on 14 March 1888.

In 1890 during a period of strong industrial growth, he relocated to Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...

 in order to develop what was at the time a large-scale farming enterprise. Despite the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, his enterprise fared exceptionally well compared to others, and he soon became a major landowner in Amherst. Upon reaching retirement age, he downscaled his holdings and donated large portions to the City of Amherst and to Amherst College.

Ulysses Grant Groff died in an automobile accident in Massachusetts two weeks before his 85th birthday.

He was the father of real estate developer and businessman Charles Wister Groff
Charles Wister Groff
Charles Wister Groff was a renowned southern California real estate developer and philanthropist....

.
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