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1883-4 OCEAN VOYAGE DIARY KEPT BY GEN U S GRANT FAMILY
A young NIECE AND NEPHEW OF Ex-PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT apparently kept this interesting little part-handwritten, part-printed journal (5.25 x 7”) with daily written entries & hand-drawn maps during voyages back & forth across the Atlantic Ocean in 1883 & apparently in 1884.
The 1883 voyage from NY was made on the steamship FRISIA, built in Scotland for the Hamburg-American Line, and in service from 1872-1885. She carried 90 passengers in first class, 130 in second class, and 600 in steerage.
In 1863, Mary Frances Grant, sister of General Ulysses S. Grant married Michael John Cramer, a clergyman born in Switzerland. He was appointed chaplain in the Army by President Lincoln during the Civil War and was appointed US minister to Denmark by President Grant in 1870. In 1881, President Garfield transferred him to Switzerland. In July 1865, he returned to America. The Cramer’s had a son, Jesse Grant Cramer and a daughter, Clara Virginia Cramer.
THIS LITTLE TRAVEL DIARY WAS APPARENTLY KEPT BY JESSE GRANT CRAMER during a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean (New York to Liverpool) starting on 5 July 1883 (his name begins the first entry in the book). However his sister Clara Virginia Cramer appears to have picked up the journal on 11 July 1883 on the outward-bound voyage and continued it throughout the voyage home, which was apparently in 1884. Her name is written on the last page along with “American Legation, Berne, Switzerland.”
The 70-plus page book was printed in 1882 by Anson D. F. Randolph & Company, Broadway, NY for just such an ocean voyage. It is divided into two sections: Outward Bound & Homeward Bound. Along with space for daily entries and motivational printed text, there are several printed maps on which the traveler was invited to plot the progress of the voyage and spaces to record progressive latitude and longitude (these areas are filled in by the Cramers).
Lots of interesting hand-written entries such as:
“Congratulate myself that I have not been seasick at present.”
“Today we paid the Captain a visit on the bridge.”
“Remained on deck all day – today we sighted a school of porpoises.”
“My first impression of the passengers was not very favorable.”
“Dreadfully dull, did some of my crewel work.”
“When we passed the Isle of Wright I took a sketch of it so that I might remember how it looked.”
“Felt sorry to leave England for good.”
“The people can be annoying, a little more sociable toward evening.”
“Raining very hard and is very cold & rough on deck – the sick are not much better.”
“All night the ship tossed dreadfully and I could not go to sleep for a long time.”
“Today we sighted two sailing vessels. AUNT NELL GRANT and I went up in the bow of the vessel and sat on the railing while the vessel was rocking to and fro.”
In numerous other entries the diary records passing a steamer of the Bremen Line, the Captain giving the “alarm of shipwreck” so as to give the sailors good practice in case of storms, lack of Sunday services, gymnastic exercises, rough seas & confined to the deck house and playing games in the Saloon, organizing a concert of vocal & instrumental music & recitations, drenched by a wave breaking over the bow of the vessel, visiting the engine room & watching the crew shovel coal in the boiler room, attending church services, expecting to see land, sighting land and the Fire Island lighthouse, etc., and of course much is written about the daily WEATHER.
Clara Virginia Cramer was born in 1864, married in September 1885 to Alphonse Bernhard, and died in 1894. Jesse Grant Cramer was born in 1869. The reference in the travel diary noted above to AUNT NELL GRANT apparently refers to Ellen Wrenshall “Nellie” Grant. Nellie Grant was the only daughter & favorite child of President Ulysses S. & Julia Grant and was apparently also present on this voyage across the Atlantic in 1883. This was a difficult period for the Grant family. In May 1884, the General lost his family fortune with the collapse of the brokerage firm of Grant and Ward (Ward robbed the company). In September 1884, doctors diagnosed Grant’s throat illness as cancer. In the fall, he began work on his memoirs. In early 1885, Nellie Grant rushed home by ship across the ocean to see her seriously ill father. Gen. Grant died on 24 July 1865, just a few days after finishing his Memoirs.
The date of 1873 appears in the book for the outward-bound trip but no exact year is given in the book for the homeward bound trip. Using a perpetual calendar with entries such as Thursday 10 July implies the date of the return trip was almost definitely 1884.
The front cover of this old travel diary has almost entirely separated from the binding and the binding is also badly broken at the cover (see scan). Also, the cardboard backing of the front cover is bent & broken vertically (the cloth covering the cardboard is not broken however) and the front endpaper is detached (but present). The entire spine of this little book is generally quite worn (see scan). Other than the damage to spine & front cover, the travelogue is in good condition. All entries are written in pencil. Some are light, but about all are generally legible. There are 12 pages of entries for the outbound voyage and 15 pages of entries for the homebound voyage.
This little book contains quite a vivid travelogue from this important American family at a crucial period in their lives.
Price= $295.00
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