ICYMI: The Mother Of Ulysses S. Grant Was From Horsham

The Horsham area and portions of Bucks County and Montgomery County nurtured the ancestors of some of the most influential figures in American history.

The mother of President and General Ulysses S. Grant grew up in Horsham Township near the Montgomery Township border, according to Horsham Preservation and Historical Association records.

His mother’s relatives had lived in Horsham and nearby Bucks County for several generations.

John Simpson, Grant’s great-grandfather, was an immigrant from Ireland in the 1750s. He met and married a girl from New Britain Township, Hannah Roberts, shortly after he arrived.

They bought 164 acres of land in Horsham, in an area that today would be called Limekiln Pike between Chestnut Lane and Lower State Road, according to records.

Historians speculate that years later, when Grant was maturing into adulthood, he visited the Horsham land his mother grew up on in 1843 and 1854.

Image courtesy of the Horsham Preservation and Historical Association.