William Jones was an enslaved man owned by Ulysses S. Grant for a period of time

[David Lockmiller]

William Jones was an enslaved man owned by Ulysses S. Grant for a period of time in the late 1850s. On March 29, 1859, Grant went to the St. Louis Courthouse and wrote a manumission paper legally freeing Jones from slavery. Jones is the last enslaved person to have been owned by a U.S. President.

According to his manumission paper, Jones was born around 1824, five foot seven in height, and of mulatto complexion (a nineteenth century term for someone who is of mixed black and white ancestry). For a number of years he lived and worked on the White Haven plantation in St. Louis, Missouri, which was owned by Grant's father-in-law, Frederick F. Dent. Grant purchased Jones from his father-in-law while working as a farmer at White Haven (1854-1859). The exact date of this purchase is unknown. Jones may have assisted in the construction of Grant's log cabin on the property, "Hardscrabble," and most likely worked on eighty acres of White Haven land that was managed by Grant and cultivated for fruit and vegetable crops.

After continued setbacks and financial struggles at White Haven, Grant gave up farming and moved to downtown St. Louis in early 1859 to work in real estate. Had Grant chosen to do so, he could have sold Jones for a profit of $1,000 to $1,500 (more than $43,000 in 2020 dollars) to a prospective slaveholder in St. Louis. Instead, he chose to give Jones his freedom.

(Source: Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site -- William Jones)