Our Presidents
                 James Abram Garfield
                        Twentieth
                           1881

"President James Abram Garfield", our twentieth President was born near Orange, Ohio the son of a poor homesteader and canal worker who died when President James Abram Garfield was an infant. Through his own and his mother's hard work, President James Abram Garfield managed to get a good education, starting at a religious school, the "Eclectic Institute" ( later "Hiram College") and transferring to"Williams College".

When President James Abram Garfield was twenty-six,he was asked back to the Eclectic Institute, where he taught Latin, Greek, History, Philosophy, Mathematics, and English. President James Abram Garfield was then appointed President of the Eclectic Institute. While President James Abram Garfield was teaching, he studied law and was admitted to the bar.

President James Abram Garfield was a skillful orator and became a popular lay preacher. In 1857, President James Abram Garfield married "Lucretia Rudolph". President James AbramGarfield and Lucretia Rudolph Garfield had seven children.

President James Abram Garfield became interested in politics and in 1859 he was elected to the "Ohio State Senate". When the "Civil War" broke out, President James Abram Garfield recruited a Regiment and became its Colonel. In 1862, when President James Abram Garfield had become "Brigadier General James Abram Garfield", he was elected to Congress, but he stayed in the Army until 1863, then resigned to take his seat.

President James Abram Garfield spent seventeen years in the Congress, becoming known for his ability to rise and speak on almost any subject. President James Abram Garfield was a loyal Republican who went South to supervise the "1876 Elections", and who was a member of the "Electoral Commission" that gave the election to"President Rutherford Birchard Hayes".

In 1880, President James Abram Garfield was elected to the Senate, but never took his seat. At the "1880 Republican Convention" President James Abram Garfield was a delegate backing "John Sherman" for the nomination. The other two candidates were "Ulysses S. Grant" and "James Blaine".

The 1880 Republican Convention had taken thrity-four ballots and was deadlocked between the three candidates. On the thirty-fifty ballot, there was a break when President James Abram Garfield's name was proposed. President James Abram Garfield won on the thirty-sixth ballot and "Chester A. Arthur" was chosen as his running mate.

President James Abram Garfield was elected by a small margin. Most of President James Abram Garfield's time between the election and the inauguration was taken up by hordes of people wanting appointments to government positions.

Among them was an unemployed man named "Charles J. Guiteau" who wanted to be made a Foreign Consul. President James Abram Garfield refused his request several times, and Charles J. Guiteau, who was probably insane, decided to kill President James Abram Garfield.

Charles J. Guiteau trailed President James Abram Garfield for some time and finally got his chance in a railroad station in Washington, D.C. where he put a bullet in President James Abram Garfield's side.

For eleven weeks President James Abram Garfield lay ill, with a medical team probing to try to remove the bullet from his side, but they were unsuccessful. President James Abram Garfield died on "September 19, 1881" of an infection probably caused by the medical team's treatment rather than from the bullet itself.

Written by:
Karen Palumbo
Photography "NOT" by:
Robert Palumbo
3/9/2010 (c)