Henry Bannister Grant was born on March 12, 1837, in New York to Loring and Betsey Grant. His father was an editor and Methodist Episcopal clergyman who owned $4,000 of real estate and $700 of personal property by 1860. The family moved to Ontwa, Michigan, in the 1840s, and Grant attended school there. He moved to Louisville, Kentucky, around 1853 and worked as a banker there.

 

Grant sided with the Union during the Civil War. On November 27, 1861, he received a commission as a captain in Company F of the 27^th Kentucky Infantry. According to one account, he “served with distinction till the close of the war,” and he served as acting inspector general in Kentucky during the winter of 1864-65.

 

Grant returned to Louisville after the war, and he married Maria Richardson around 1864. They had at least three children: Rebecca, born around 1864; Ella, born around 1867; and William, born around 1879. He resumed his work as a bank teller, and by 1870, he owned $9,000 of real estate and $5,000 of personal property. He also employed at least one Black domestic servant. He became a prominent member of the Free Masons, serving as Grand Secretary from 1887 until his death. He also served as editor of the Masonic Home Journal. He applied for a federal pension in November 1905 and eventually secured one. He remained in Louisville for the rest of his life, and he died there of pneumonia on August 26, 1912.

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