Julia Dent Grant Cantacuzene, Countess Spiransky papers

Julia Dent Grant Cantacuzene, Countess Speransky, also known As Princess Julia, was the eldest child of General Frederick Dent Grant abd Ida Marie Honore Grant and the Grandaughter of President fo the United States Ulysses S. Grant. She was born June 6, 1876 in the White House, named for her Grandmother, First Lady Julia Dent Grant.

In 1889, Julia accompanied her parents and younger brother, US Grant III, to Vienna, Austria, where her father was the American Minister to Austria-Hungary. Julia made her formal debut into European society at the court of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. The Grants remained in Vienna until 1893 when Frederick resigned his position, moving the family to New York.

Julia returned to Europe with her aunt, Bertha Palmer, who was promoting the World's COlumbia Exposition in Chicao. The pair traveled throughout the continet where Julia met Prince Mikhail Cantacuzene, a Russian nobleman attached to the Russian embassy in Rome. The two quickly began planning their wedding which was held in Newport, Rhode Island on September 24, 1899. Her official name became Julia Dent Cantacuzene Spiransky-Grant, though she was often referred to as Princess Julia Cantacuzene.

The couple resided in St. Petersburg, Russia and remained their during Word War I at which time Mikhail served as a Major-General in the service of Tsar Nichlas II. He was wounded in battle in 1914. The family left Russia during the Russian revolution in 1917, escaping from St. Petersburg (now Petrograd) with Julia's jewels sewn into her clothing, fleeing to Finland and then to the United States. They moved to Washington, DC where they worked against the Communist Russian movement before settling in Sarasota, Florida with her mother and aunt. The couple divorced in 1934 and Julia moved back to Washington, DC. Julia died October 4, 1975.

Julia had three chidlren: Prince Mikhail Mikhailovitch Cantacuzene, Count Speransky; Princess Barbara Mikhailovna Cantacuzene, Countess Spiransky; and Princess Zinaida Mikhailovna Cantacuzene, Countess Speransky.

Julia was a prolific writer, authoring pieces for the New York Times, the Saturday Evening Post, and the WOman's Home Companion. She also wrote several books including: Russian People: Revolutionary Recollections (1919); Revolutionary Days: Recollections of Romanoffs and Bolsheviki, 1914-1917 (1920); and My Life Here and There (1922)

Ulysses S. Grant-Smith was an American diplomat who served as the Minister to both Albania and Uruguay in the 1920s. He was born in Washignton County, Pennsylvania November 18, 1870, a distant cousin to Ulysses S. Grant's wife Julia Dent Grant through the Wrenshall family. He graduated from Washington and Jeferson College in 1893, received a master of science there in 1898, and did graduate work at Harvard, He was awarded a doctor of laws from Washington and Jefferson in 1925. He had been director of Trinity Hall Military School near Washington, Pennsylvania for seven years before entering the diplomatic service.

He began his career as a foreign service officer and diplomat in 1903, served in Copenhagen in 1917 where he later became Charge d'Affairs until he was appointed the US Commissioner to Hungary to sign the US-Hungarian Peace Treaty in 1921.

In 1922, President Warren G. Harding appointed Grant-Smith US Minister to Albania, a post he held until 1925. That same year he was appointed the US Minister to Uruguay. He remained in that post until 1929. He then served as the State Department Representative to the World's Fair in Chicago in 1933 and 1934.

Ulysses S. Grant-Smith died of s atroke in Washington, Pennsylvania on AUgust 27, 1959.