James W. Grant was born around 1839 in New York to James and Matilda Grant. His father was a farmer who owned $1,400 of real estate in 1850. Grant grew up and attended school in Butler, New York, and by 1860, he was working as a farm laborer. He enlisted in the Union army on October 8, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company H of the 75^th New York Infantry on November 26. The regiment spent most of the war stationed in Alabama and Mississippi.

 

The army transferred the men to Virginia in 1864, and they took part in the Third Battle of Winchester, the Battle of Fisher’s Hill, and the Battle of Cedar Creek. He was promoted to corporal on June 24, 1864, and then to sergeant on January 4, 1865. He mustered out in New York City on August 21, 1865. After leaving the army, he returned to his parents’ household in Wolcott, New York.

 

He eventually moved to Michigan, and he married Samantha Murdock there on November 9, 1885. Their daughter Sylvia was born around 1889. He began suffering from rheumatism by the 1880s, and he applied for a federal pension in December 1889. By 1890, he was living in Corunna, Michigan. His wife died around 1897. By 1900, he had returned to Wolcott, New York, and he was living in his brother’s Clark’s household and working as a lumberman. He died in Williamson, New York, on August 4, 1914.

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