Her family, young and healthy, seemed a welcome change from the troubled Johnson administration. Her two older sons, Frederick and Ulysses, Jr., spent most of the first years of their father’s tenure away at college. But teenaged Nellie and the mischievous Jesse, only twelve when the Grants moved into the White House, added a youthful and unpredictable air to the White House.
Jesse, whom Julia described as being “never at a loss for an answer,” kept the reporters busy with stories of family gossip. The two grandfathers did not get along, and often visited the White House at the same time. They would sometimes refuse to speak to each other, communicating only through Julia. In front of the elder Grant, Frederick Dent once instructed his daughter Julia to “take better care of that old gentleman. He is feeble and deaf as a post and yet you permit him to wander all over Washington alone.” The elder Grant responded to young Jesse, “Did you hear him? I hope I shall not live to become as old and infirm as your Grandfather Dent.” The reporters loved these stories, as did their readers. These harmless family squabbles made the family seem more accessible, and the nation identified with them. In addition, inexpensive newspapers made for a larger reading public, which in turn increased demand for such material. More and more women were reading newspapers, so many editors included more material aimed at the female market.
Because of this new market, more women reporters began to cover the capital, and they naturally focused on their female readers. One such reporter was Emily Edson Briggs, the wife of a clerk in the House of Representatives. She took advantage of her situation in Washington and wrote a column for the Philadelphia Press using the pen name “Olivia.” She relayed gossip about political families, including what was being worn and said in political society.
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