Henrietta Jones

As a nurse, Henrietta Jones may have used a baby cradle similar to the one pictured here.

Library of Congress

Quick Facts

Significance:

Enslaved woman owned by family of First Lady Julia Dent Grant

Place of Birth:

Unknown

Date of Birth:

Unknown

Place of Death:

Unknown

Date of Death:

Unknown

Place of Burial:

Unknown

Cemetery Name:

Unknown

Henrietta Jones was an enslaved woman who was owned by members of First Lady Julia Dent Grant's family prior to the Civil War.

She was a nurse at White Haven in St. Louis, Missouri, and was owned by Julia's father, Frederick F. Dent. When Julia's brother George announced that he was moving to California, Henrietta was forced to travel west with him (an obituary for George W. Dent states that he moved to California in 1852). Henrietta's move to California is particularly interesting given that California had been admitted to the Union as a free state in 1850. It has been speculated that she was either kept in slavery despite state law or given her freedom and paid wages by George Dent. How Henrietta felt about this is move is a mystery. 

In 1879, Ulysses and Julia Grant visited California towards the end of their two-and-a-half-year World Tour. While traveling through Sacramento and San Francisco, Julia reunited with Henrietta and told the following story in her Personal Memoirs: 

"Towards the latter part of a reception tendered to the General, a colored woman entered and was announced as Mrs. Jones. She came up and, holding out her hand, said: 'Miss Julie, I do not believe you know me. I am Henrietta, or Henny, as you used to call me at home.' I took both of her hands now. She was one of our old slaves my father had sent with my brother G.W. Dent long years ago to nurse his children. I was very glad to see Henny and told her to come to my room the next day, but I never saw her afterwards" (p. 311). 

Little else is known about Henrietta's life beyond this one paragraph. There is a possibility Henrietta may have been related to William Jones, an enslaved man owned by Ulysses S. Grant while he lived in St. Louis, but evidence to fully confirm this speculation is lacking.