Robert E. Grant

Robert E. Grant (September 26, 1825 – July 17, 1888) was a Virginia farmer and dentist who represented Washington County for one term in the Virginia House of Delegates and later at the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861. During the American Civil War, he recruited a company of the 37th Virginia Infantry, but failed to win re-election as captain, and ultimately moved to Texas in 1872 and re-established his practice.

Early life and career The first child born to farmer James Grant (1800–1886?) and his wife Elizabeth (1805 – before 1890), Robert E. Grant had three younger brothers and four younger sisters. Although neither he nor his father owned slaves in 1850, by 1860 in addition to employing a 27-year-old free black farm laborer, Grant owned a 40-year-old enslaved black man, and 24- and 12-year-old enslaved black females.

Grant married Ann Long Snodgrass on December 15, 1850, and they had nearly a dozen children, although several failed to reach adulthood.

Career

In 1857, Washington County voters elected Grant to the Virginia House of Delegates. Although he failed to win re-election, Washington County voters elected him and fellow Unionist John Arthur Campbell as their delegates to the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, defeating pro-secessionists William Y.C. White and Ben Rush Floyd. Grant prospered financially in Texas, but died in Austin on July 17, 1888.