The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-06-18
A MAN OF THE PEOPLE.
Biography OF James Abraham
Garfield. 8
His Early Struggles and Later Tri-
umphs.
The Man Whom People Delight to
Honor.

James Abraham Garfield was born Nov. 10,
1881, in the township of Orange. Cuyahoga
county, Ohio, about fifteen miles from Cleve-
land. His father Abraham Garfield, came
from New York, but, like his mother, was of
New England stock James was the youngest
OF four children. The father died in 1888,
leaving the family dependent upon small
farm and the exertions of the mother. There
was nothing about the elder Garfield to distin-
guish him from the other plodding farmers of
the rather-sterie township of Orange No
one could discern any qualities in him, which,
transmitted to the next generation, might help
to make statesmen, unless it was industry !;
but his wife, who is still living at an advanced
age, was always fond of reading when she
could get leisure for her hard household duties,
and was acknowledgements woman of strong
Will, stern principles, and more than average
force Of character. OF the children no one
besides James has made the slightest mark in
the world. The older brother is farmer in
Michigan, and the two sisters are, I be-
heve, farmers wives. James had a tough
time Of it as boy. He tOiled hard on the farm
early and Late in summer, and worked at the
carpenters bench inwinter. The best of it was
that he liked work. There was not lazy hair
on his head He had an absorbing ambition to
get an education, and the only road open to this
end seemed that of manual work. Ready money
was hard to get in those days. The Ohio canal
ran not far from where he lived, and finding
that the boatmen got their pay in cash, and
earned better wages than he could make at
farming or carpentry, he hired out as driver
on the towpath, and soon got up to the dignity
of holding the helm of boat. Then he de-
1,a1 Chi
attack of fever and ague interfered with his
plans. He was i'll three months, and when he
recovered he decided to go to school called
Geauga Academy in an adjoining county, His
mother had saved a small sum of money. which
she gave him, together with few cooking
utensils and stock of provisions He hired
small room and cooked his own food to make
his expenses as light as possible. He paid his
own way after that, never calling on his mother
for any more assistance. BY working at the
carpenter bench mornings and evenings and
vacation times, and teaching country schools
during the winter, he managed to attend the
academy during the spring and fall terms and
to save little money toward going to college.
He had excellent health, a robust frame. and a
capital memory, and the attempt to combine
mental and physical work. which has broken
down many farmer boys, ambitious to get an
education. did not hurt him. az 49,
GARFIELD AT COLLEGE.
When he was % years of age he concluded he
had got about all there was to be had in the OBJ
scure crossroads academy. He calculated that
he had saved about half enough money to get
through college, provided he could begin, as he
hoped, with the Junior year. He got 1ife-in-
surance policy and assigned it to gentleman
as security for loan to make up the amount
he lacked. In the fall of 1854 he entered the
Junior class of Williams College, Massachusetts.
and graduated in 1856 with the metaphvsical
honors of his class. [ have seen a daguerreo-
type of him taken about this time. It repre-
sents a rather awkward youth with shock of
light hair standing straight up from big fore
head, and frank, thoughtful face, of very
marked German type. There is not q drop Of
German blood in the Garfield family, but this
picture would be taken for some Fritz or Carl
just over from the Fatherland.
Before he went to college, Garfield had con-
nected himself with the Disciples, a sect having
q numerous membership in Eastern and South
ern Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, where
its founder, Alexander Campbell, had travelled
and preached. The principal peculiarities of
the denomination are their refusal to formulate
their beliefs into creed, the Independence of
each congregation, the hospitality and fraternal
feeling of the members, and the lack of reg
ular ministry. When Garfield returned to Ohio
it was natural that he should soon gravitate to
the struggling little college of the young sect
at Hiram, Portage county, near his boyhood's
home. He became Professor of Latin and
Greek, and threw himself with the energy and
industry which are leading traits Of his charac-
ter into the work of building up the institution.
Before he had been two years in his professor
ship he was appointed President of the College.
Hiram is q lonesome country village, three miles
from q railroad, built upon ahigh hill, overlook
ing twenty miles of cheese-maling country to
the southwark. 1t contains fifty or sixty houses
al n
which stands the homely red-brick college
structure. Plain living and high thinking was
the order of things at Hiram College in those !
days. The teachers were poor, the pupils
we're poor, and the institution was poor. but
there was great deal of hard, faithful study 4
done, and many ambitious plans formed The
young President taught, lectured and preached.
and all the time studied as diligently as any AGO.
lyte IN the temple Of knowledge. He freuuent-
ly spoke on Sunday in the churches of the
towns i'll the vicinity to create an interest in the
college. Among the Disciples any one can
preach who has mind to, no ordination being
required. From these Sunday discourses came
the story that Garfield at one time was minis
ter. He never considered himself as such. and
never had any intention of finding career in
the pulpit His ambition, if he had any outside
Of the school, lay in the direction of law and
politics.
During his professorship Garfield married
Miss Lucretia Rudolph, daughter OF a farmer
IN the neighborhood, whose acquaintance he
had made while at the academy, where she was
also pupil. She was quiet, thoughtful girl. i
Of singularly sweet and refined disposition. fond
of study and reading, possessing a warm heart
and mind with the capacity of steady
growth. The marriage was love affair on
both sides, and has been thoroughly happy
one. Much of Gen. Garfelds subsequent sue
cess In life may be attributed to the never-fail-
ing sympathy and intellectual companionship /
Of his wife and the stimulus of loving home
circle. The young couple bought neat little
cottage fronting on the college campus and be-
gan their welded life poor and in debt, but with
brave hearts. -. aee ~
In 1859 the college President was elected to
The State Senate from the counties of Portage
and Summit. He died not resign his Presi-l
1ency, because he looked upon few months
N the Legislature as an episode not likely to
change the course of his life But the war
came to alter his plans During the winter of /
1861 he was active in the passage of measures |
lor arming the State militia, and his eloquence
Ind energy made hm.a conspicuous eleaderv-of
he Republican party. Early in the summer Of |
1861 he was elected Colonel of an infantry regi- I
nent (the Forty-second) raised in Northern
Ohio, many of the soldiers in which had been Il