The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-09-30


The following sketch of tho lat<
President is taken from an article ap
pearing in the Chicago Tribune of the
Goth:
James Abraham Garfield was born No.
gember 10, 1881. in the Township Of Orange
Cuyahoga County, Chic. about fifteen miles
from Cleveland. His father. Abraham Gar
Geld. 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 de-
pendent upon q small farm and the exer-
lions of the mother. There was nothing
about flie elder Garfield to distinguish him
from the 9th r farmers Of the rather sterile
Township of Orange. No one could discern
any qualities in him, which, transmitted to
the mex. generation, might help to make q
statesman, 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 from her hard house,
hold duties, and was q thoroughly capabl e
woman. of strong will, stern principles, and
more than average force of character. The
older brother is farmer in Michigan, and
the two sisters are farmers wives. James
had hard time Of 1t as boy. He tOiled
hard OH the farm early and late in summer,
and worked at the carpenters bench In
winter. The best OF it was that he liked
work. He had an absorbing ambition to
get an education, and the only road open to
this end seemed that of manual labor.
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 tOw-path and
soon got up to the dignity of holding
the helm of boat. Then he de-
termined to ship as sailor on the
lakes, but an attack OF fever
and ague interfered with his plans. He was
iii 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 a small room and cooked his own
food to make his expenses as light rs posi-
BILE. He paid his own way after that, never
calling on his mother for any more assist
apce. BY working at the carpenters bench
mornings and evenings and vacation times.
and teaching country schools during the
winter, he managed to attend the Acade-
my during the spring and fall terms and
lege. He had excellent health. a robust
frame, and capital memory, and the at
tempt to combine mental and physical
work, which has broken down many farmer
boys ambitious to get an education, did not
hurt him.
When ne was twenty-six years of age he
concluded he had got about all there was to
be had in the obscure cross roads academy.
He calculated he had saved about half enough
money to get through college, provided he
could begin, as he hoped, with the Junior
year. He got lffe-insurance policy, and
T. -, ,,~s<xv fo,rn
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 metaphysical
hOnors OF his class. A daguerreOtype OF
him, taken about this time, represents
light hair standing straight up from big
forehead, and frank, thoughtful face, OF
very marked German type.
Before he went to college Garfield had
connected himself with the Disciples. n sect
having numerous membership in Eastern
and Southern Ohio, West Virginia and Ken
lucky, where its founder, Alexander Camp
bell. had travelled and preached. The prin-
cipal peculiarities of the denomination are
their refusal to formulate their beliefs into
creed. the independence of each congrega-
ton, the hospitality and fraternal feeling of
the members, and the lack of regular min
istry. When Garfield returned to Ohio it
the struggling little college of the young
sect at Hiram, Portage County. near his boy
hoods home. He became Professor of Latin
and Greek, and threw himself with the en-
ergy and industry which are leading traits OF
his character into the work of building up
the institution. Before he had been two
years in his professorship he was appointed
President of the college. Hiram is a lone
some country village, three miles from a
railroad, built upon high hill. overlook.
ing twenty miles OF cheese making country
to the southwark. 1t contains fifty or sixty
houses clustered around the green, In the
center of which stands the homely redbrick
college structure. Plain living and high
thinking was the order of things at Hiram
College in those DAYS. The teachers were
poor, but there was great deal of hard,
faithful study done, and many ambitious
plans formed. The young President taught.
lectured and preached, and all the lime
studied as diligently as any acolytc in the
temple Of knowledge. He frequently spoke
on Sundays in the churches of the towns in
the vicinity 10 create an interest in the col
lege. Among the Disciples any one can
being required. From these Sunday discts-
sions came the story that Garfield at one
time was minister. He never considered
himself as such, and never had any inten-
ton of finding career i'm the pulpit. His
ambition, il he had any outside of the school,
During his professorship Garfield married
Miss Lucretia Rudolph, daughter Of farmer
In the neighborhood, whose acquaintance he
had made while at the academy, where she
was also pupil. She was quiet. thought
full girl, of singularly sweet and refined
disposition, fond of study and reading. pos
sessing a warm heart and a mind with the
capacity of steady growth. The marriage
was a love affair on both sides. and has been
thoroughly happy one. Much of General
Gariield's subsequent success in life may be
attributed to the never-failing sympathy
and intellectual companionship Of his wife
and the stimulus of loving home circle.
The young couple bought neat little cot.
tage fronting on the college campus and be-
gan their welded life poor and in debt, but
with brave he lrts.
In 1859 the College President was elected
to the State Senate from the Counties of
Forage and Summit. He did not resign his
Presidency, because he looked upon few
months in 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 1851 he was active in the passage
OF measures for armins the State militia,
and his eloquence and energy made him
conspicuous leader of the Union party.
Early in the summer of 1861 he was elected
Colonel OF an infantry regiment (the Forty