Show PRESIDENT GARFIELD GARFELD how the farmers boy climbed to the presidency of the united states interesting biographical sketch president james abram garfield nas was born november 1831 i the township of orange yi I C county ohio about 15 mil from cleveland his afa tt 1111 cc rr abram garfield gai field came from nc york state but like his mother WA was of new england stock jam jame I was the youngest of four children the father didd in 1833 leaving leavin pl the family dependent upon a small farm and the tile exertions of the th mother there was nothing not liing about the elder garfield to distin distinguish lish i him from the other plodding fa farmers rm of the rather sterile Towns township bill of orange but ilia his wife who is sti I iving living at an advanced age was al wnm ataya fond of reading when elu elm collis could adget get leisure from her hard household lo duties and was a thor hughly capable woman of stron strong will stem principles a and nd ma thau avera average force of cliar acte of the tile ai children aldren no one beside james has made the slightest mark in the world the elder brother i a farmer ill in michigan and the two asters are farm farmers ers wives james liada had a tough time of it as abo a boy iio ile toiled hard on the farm cart early and late in in summer and worked at the carpenters bench in winter the lie best of it was that lie liked work there was not a lazy bai on his head bead lie ile had an ab absorbing ambition to get et an all education rn and the only na ay roa road opened to this end seemed that of manual labor ready money was hard to get ct in those daya the ohio hio caeli canal ran not riot far irom from where he lie lived ands and finding that the boatmen got their pay in cash and earned better bette wages than lie could make at farm ing or carpentry he lie lifred out as a driver on the towpath tow path and soonee agot ot up to the digisi dignity fi of f holding the helm helin of a boat alien en lie g ined to ship as a sailor on the lakes lak but an attack of fever and agu with liis plans iio ile w wa ill three mont months lis an and when I he ic r rc covered he decided togo to go to a school called geauges geauga academy in an 11 adi joining county his mother had bad aved a small amount of money I i which she gave him together with a few cooking utensils and d a stock of provisions lie ile hired a small 11 room and cooked his own food f to y make his expenses as light as pos isible ible he paid his own way al after c that never calling on his mot mother te for acmore any more assistance by wor w ork angat ing at the carpenters bench morn mor ings and eve evenings ninan and vacation iOD times and teaching country so school bool f during the win winter tche he managed to i attend attend the academy during the spring and fall terms and save a lit j tie e money toward GOING TO COLLEGE lie had excellent health a robust frame and a capital memory abild the attempt to combine mental and ph work which has broken down many farmer boys buys imbi ambi ambitious tiou to get an education did not hurt him when lie was 23 years of ige he concluded lie had got gt about all there was mus to be had in the ob crossroads cross roads academy H hc calculated that tha t lie had saved about li half alf enough money to get through i college provided he lie could begin aa 1113 lie hoped with the junior year yeara eie go got a life ins insurance urance and assigned it to a gent gentleman ft eman a as security for a loan to make up th amount he be lacked in the fall ofa 1854 he entered the tile jun junior bior ow class williams college massachusetts and graduated in 1856 with th thea metaphysical honors of liis his el class A daguerreotype of f him ta taken about this thia time represents it 11 rat irkward youth a shock ofa light hair et standing anding straight up from a bi big forehead and a frank ra thoughtful face of a very a e german type PC though there is not a drop of german blood in the gar ga droyd field el family ami before he lie went ft to ellege olle gc arfield garfield a had connected himself the disciples A H see scat having ft a numerous in membership in eastern and southern ohio 11 when ic h garfield returned to ohio jt it w wa i natural that he should gravitate t to the struggling little college of th the young t sect at hiram portage count county I near his boy hoods ho home me iio ile became professor of latin and greck greek an and d threw himself with ali the energy and arid industry which arc are the pleading leading traits traits of ochia his character int into the tile work of building up the institution it before he had been tw two years in liis his professorship lie 17 wa appointed d president of the college colleg pla plain in living ving and high khinki thinking were the order of things at hiram college in those days tile toach ers were poor the pupils were spoor and the institution was poor hut ut there was a grea great t deal of hard faithful study done lone and many ambitious plans formed the youn president taught lectured and arid preached and all tho the time studied as diligently as any acolyte co in th the temple emp c of knowledge HP A frequent ly spoke on sundays ada ya in the aliu church c aca es of the tol towns in t alio v vicinity t to create creat e an interest in the co college ge among the disciples any ono one can ca preach who has lifts a mind to no or ardi i nation being required F aror in these sunday discourses came tt th atory that garfield at one time w wa a minister lie ire never considered ed i himself such and never had an intention of f finding a career in the th pulpit iles AMBITION if ho ile had any outside of ortho the school lay in the direction of law and pol I itice during his professorship mr ir garfield married misa Lucret Lucreti iaRu aRR u dolph daughter ofa of a farmer in thi the neighborhood whose acquaint anci ane he lie had made while at the academy where she was also a pupil shi she was as a quiet thoughtful girl of sin gulard sweet and refined dispose tion fond of reading and study posse possessing saing a warm heart and a mind with the capacity of steady growth the marriage arriage ro was a lov affair on both sides and has been t thoroughly happy one much of gen garfielda Gar nelds fields subsequent success in life may be attributed to sh never failing sympathy and antelle companionship oris of his wife and anc the stimulus of a loving home circle the young couple boug bought lit a neat I little ittle cottage fronting on the colleg college Cal campus lipus and began their wedded life poor and in debt but with brav brave lie hearts arts in 1859 the college preal dent ent was elected to the state senate from the counties of portage and summit he ile did not resign ili presidency because he looked upon til few months in the legislature as in an episode not likely to change the th course of his life but tho tile war came to alter all his plans during the winter of 1861 he be was active in th the passage of measures for arming the state stat militia and his eloquence all and energy made him a conspicuous lender leader of the union party I IX X THE UNION ARMY early in the summer of 1861 h he was elected colonel of an infantry regiment regiment the forty second raised in 10 northern athern ohio many ninny of the sol biars in which had bad been students in ill chiram hiram ho ile took the field in eastern kenta kentucky was soon put in in command of a brigade and by making ono no of the hardest marches arches ever made by recruits surprised r q d and 17 routed the rebel afi arces I under unde humphrey marshall at Pi keton from eastern kentucky general garfield was isas transferred to louis ville and from froin that place hastened ito to joi join n the army of general buell which he readied reached with his brigade in time to participate in tho the second days fighting itin at pittsburg landing he ill toot took part in the siege ol 01 sicie ccorinth corinth and in the operations opera tiona a along on the memphis charleston railroad in january andary 1863 he waa was appointed chief of staff of tile army of the cumberland and bore a prominent share in all the ca campaigns in in middle tennessee in in the pring ring and summer of that year wis his last conspicuous military tico ice was wag at the battle of Chicka chickamauga mall a for his conduct at that battle he le was PROMOTED TO A MAJOR GENERA generalship I it id said that he wrote all the or dors given to the army that day and submitted them to general Rosecrans for approval save one the he one he lie did not write waa was th the fatal order to general wood which was BO so worded as not to correctly onvey convey the meaning of the com E ni anding general and which cause caused lie ic destruction ortho right wing ot ithe the army the congressional dis strict brict in which garfield lived w wa anelon one long made famous by joshua JR R gid giddinga lings the old antislavery anti slavery champion grew grow careless of the ars ar of politics toward the end of his hi selection Je election lection as a matter of course courso hi ver confidence was taken ad addan van tage of in 1858 by an ambi ambitious tiou lawyer named hutchins to carry a Cou convention venti n a against ast him th the friends of giddings n gs never forgave bhutchins jH Il and cast about for a anel alln of defeating and made u use odthe popularity of general garfield and nominated him while he awaa was in the field without ask ting ag hb his consent that IV asu in 1862 when ho lie heard of hi ili nomination garfield reflected that it would be fifteen months before the co congress ress auld meet to which ho h wo would ul Z b be eel elected eted and believing as is did every one else that the wai wa could not possibly last a year long pr ar conflux conc concluded lux ed to accept he ile often expressed d regrets that he did not kielp lie p I fight the war through and said ai i ithac that he never would have left the th army to g go to congress had he be fore ean een that the struggle would con dinue be beyond ond the year 1863 H continued his military service up tc to the time congress met on enter ing Con congress grem in december 1863 beneral garfield was placed on th committee on military I chenck and farnsworth who ile wen balso also fresh from the field he took in active part in tho the debates of tile th SiFI ouse and won iron a recognition deiv members succeed in in gaining ho he was not po popular fular among his is fe fel low me members during his first ter term athey thought 11 him I somewhat of a i pedant because he sometime sometimes allowed bowed his scholarship in alt hi peeches and they were jealous ghis his prominence some ten years ago finding hov ho unsatisfactory life w was asin in hotels and andi board boardinghouses boarding imp houses bouses he be bought a I lot ot of r ground aund on n the corner of thirteenth and I streets in was washington hington and built A plain substantial three si story house ins SOLID ATTAIN attainments WE N r AK 01 D asli axi social qualities enabled him t to overcome this prejudice during ili bisp second ter term m and he became on terms of clo close se friendship with th jhc thc beitmen best men in both houses hisa hit committee ver serviced viceA tiring his second term was on the ways and means Mc ansi which was quite to his taste for it gave him an all opportunity t to rose cute the studies in finance tint and p po lotical economy which he lie had aadal al pi ways felt a fondness for ho ile wa ww a hard wor worker ker and a great reade in those days going home with il hiag i i s arms full of books from tho the con gressional library and sitting u ups up S late of nights to read them it w was then that ho lie laid the foundation of ofal his convictions on the sub subject act of national finance which ho h aias since ince held bold to firmly amid all tb the of yoli political agitation S he ile was nominated rc in 1864 with out opposition but in mr fl whom he lie had supplanted g made an effort to defeat him hut china canvassed the tile district thor g hughly lily but the convention jonii nom i bated garfield by acclamation E in 1872 the liberals and demo brats united to beat him but b majority was larger than dian ever in 1874 the Green backers and demo dern brats combined and arid put up tip a popular soldier against him but the theng made no impression on oil the result in the fortieth Forti etli congress cengr ms garfiel was chairman on the tile committee ons military arv Af affairs lairs in the F forty orty first he lie was given the chairmanship on banking and currency which he lie liked much better because it wa a in the line of his financial studies ilia ilis next promotion was to thea tb chairmanship of the ampro na y eions committee which lie helt held ung til the democrats came into power powe S in the tile house in 1875 his chief work on the coin cittee w as a steady and judicious reduction of the ex benses nf of the government in all the political struggles in in bogess congress n he bore a leading part his clear car vigorous and moderate c style of argument making him one of th ji most effiec effective tive debaters in cither either house when james G blaine went to the senate in 1877 the mantel of t in n the house was wils by common con sent ent placed upon garfield in january andary 1880 general garfield Garfiel garfielda dj was elected to the senate to the seat cat vacated by alien allen G thurman anthe on the ath of march 1881 ile haj received the unanimous vote of the republican caucus an honor lionor never neve given to any man of any party in the tile sta state to of ohio A As a leader in the tile houte lie was ww more cautious and less dashing bashin than blaine and turn ol 01 mind made him too prone to look for two sides to a question for him to be an efficient partisan when the i issue esuo fairly touched his conj dictions vict lons ions however he be became thoroughly aroused and struck arc tr blows blaines tactic were to continually harrass barrasa th the enemy by surprises i and picket firing garfield waited for an opportunity to deliver a S pitched battle and liis his gen generalship Is s i sl was shown to best advantage when w ien the fi fight ht was a fair one an and waged on grounds r where each party i tho thought ugilt itself strongest then b chiy p olid shots of argument were ex ece effective on tile stump garfield was one of the very best orators in the republican publican Ite party i he had bad a good voice an air of evi dent sincerity great clearness an and vigor r of statement and a m way ay of ki knitting his arguments together r BO S as to make a speech deepen its i im p ion on the mind of the hearer until the climax was reached of his industry and studious habits a ecat deal might be said president garfield leaves div five children cli ildren living the two boys aro tire harry and arid james and find mary or mollie as everybody calls her is is a handsome handson le rosy checked cheeked girl irl of about thirteen tho the two F younger boys bots arn are named irwin and A abram bram the lie presidents mother i till living and lias has langbeen long been a member of f hid his family bho she is an all intelligent one energetic ol 01 old lady m with etli a cle clear ar head bond a anda ua strong will wal who keeps well posted on we news of the day and is very proud of he here sons career though L dic has bas been boeng more liberal of criticism than of praise pr I a C in person president garfield was six feet icib high broad shouldered and strongly gly built he ile had an unusually largo head licad that seemed to be three thice fourths forehead light jbrown brown hair and beard large bigl lighta t blue eyes a prominent nose and full checks he dressed plainly g was fond of broad brimmed slouchy biats and stout boots cared kotbin notting not bing for luxurious living was thoroughly ly temperate in all respects |