| Birth: | Nov. 19, 1831
Orange (Cuyahoga County)
Ohio, USA | | Death: | Sep. 19, 1881
Long Branch
New Jersey, USA | 
20th United States President. His administration lasted but 200 days of which 80 were spent languishing in a fight for his life after being shot in the back by an assassin. He was born in rural Ohio's Cuyahoga County which was then a wilderness. Fatherless at two, James Garfield was forced to work at a young age driving a canal boat team. He attended public school in nearby Chesterton, Ohio where he first met Lucretia Rudolph, daughter of one of the founders of present day Hiram College then called Western Reserve Eclectic Institute. James Garfield enrolled and the courtship with Lucretia began. He transferred to Williams College in Massachusetts, graduated and became a professor at Hiram and within a year he was a married man as well as the President of the school. He was elected to the Ohio Senate and with the start of the civil war became a volunteer serving with the union army as an officer. His heroic leadership led to a promotion to brigadier general and then major general. In the postwar, he was elected to the U.S. congress serving for eighteen years. When elected to the Senate he declined to serve having been elected President. Garfield was struck by two bullets, one lodged in his back and the other grazed his arm. Medical treatment was inadequate. His condition worsened by doctors constantly probing for the bullet. They may have been successful in using a metal detector invented by Alexander Graham Bell, but the device failed because the President was placed on a bed with metal springs. For comfort sake, he was eventually moved from the White House to the seaside community of Elberon, New Jersey, where he helplessly passed away at the age of 49 from lead poisoning. His body was returned to Washington and his casket rested on the Lincoln Catafalque in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capital. He was given a procession down Pennsylvania Avenue before placing his casket on a funeral train for the trip to Cleveland. Here his coffin was placed on a platform in Public Square for viewing, the same spot Abraham Lincoln's casket was displayed years before. A funeral cortege took his remains to Lake View Cemetery with interment in a temporary vault. In 1890 his permanent massive brick tomb with its observation deck that affords a splendid view of Cleveland was ready and President Benjamin Harrison officiated at the dedication. President Garfield's coffin was set in full view in the downstairs crypt. Thirty six years later Lucretia was placed by his side. The tomb is unique in that the caskets are visible suggesting a permanent visitation or a laying in state. It is easy to tell one from the other as the President's casket is always draped with a brightly colored American flag. On a nearby pedestal are the urns which contain the cremated ashes of Garfield's daughter and son-in-law. The James A. Garfield National Historic Site at Mentor is the home where James Garfield lived and was known as Lawnfield. The first successful front porch presidential campaign began here. It is the location of a library containing his many books and papers. It was added by Mrs Garfield four years after his death. It set the precedence for creation of presidential libraries. The house is operated by the National Park Service and is a popular tourist attraction. The birthplace of Garfield in rural Cuyahoga County is now located in the town of Chagrin Falls. The site has a replica memorial cabin with an accompanying historic marker. (bio by: Donald Greyfield (inactive))
Family links:
Parents:
Abram Garfield (1799 - 1833)
Eliza Ballou Garfield (1801 - 1888)
Spouse:
Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (1832 - 1918)
Children:
Harry Augustus Garfield (1863 - 1942)*
James Rudolph Garfield (1865 - 1950)*
Mary Mollie Garfield Stanley-Brown (1867 - 1947)*
Abram Garfield (1872 - 1958)*
Edward Garfield (1874 - 1876)*
*Calculated relationship
Cause of death: Assassinated
Search Amazon for James Garfield | | | Burial:
Lake View Cemetery
Cleveland
Cuyahoga County
Ohio, USA
Plot: Section 15
GPS (lat/lon): 41.51, -81.5917 |
Maintained by: Patricia (Patti) Joy Ber...
Record added: Jan 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 381 |
|
|
|
|
(4.5 after 275 votes)
