"President Chester Alan Arthur" our twenty-first President was born in Fairfield, Vermont, the son of an Irish Baptist Preacher. As a child, President Chester Alan Arthur moved with his family from one poor Parish to another.

It was not until President Chester Alan Arthur was fourteen years of age that the family settled in Schenectady, New York, and President Chester Alan Arthur was able to finish his education.

After graduating college, President Chester Alan Arthur supported himself by teaching while he studied law. Desiring to make friends, President Chester Alan Arthur joined the militia and worked for the Republican Party.

In 1853, President Chester Alan Arthur, as a lawyer, was successful in freeing two slaves on the grounds that they had been transported through a free state, and he obtained "equal rights for Negroes" in public transportation.

In 1859, President Chester Alan Arthur married "Ellen Lewis Herndon". President Chester Alan Arthur and Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur were blessed with three children. During the "Civil War" President Chester Alan Arthur helped to organize the "New York State Militia" and was appointed "New York State Quartermaster General".

It was his job in this position to clothe, feed, equip, house, and transport the thousands of troops that passed through New York City, New York during the "Civil War". During this time, President Chester Alan Arthur had risen high in the Republican political machine and had attached himself to the "New York political boss Roscoe Conkling".

As a reward for President Chester Alan Arthur's services, he was given the position of "Collector of the Port of New York" in which all duties and fines passed through his office. The Republican machine was so much in control at this time that it was a question whether this money went to the Federal Government or to the Republican Party.

When "President Rutherford Birchard Hayes" was cleaning out the gang of politicians that had attached themselves to "President Ulysses S. Grant", President Rutherford Birchard Hayes ousted President Chester Alan Arthur with the rest.

After President Chester Alan Arthur was elected Vice President in 1880, he openly opposed  President James Abram Garfield's" policy of giving government positions for merit instead of for work for the party, so the country was appalled when President Chester Alan Arthur became President on President James Abram Garfield's death.

But in "President Chester Alan Arthur's inaugural address" he promised to carry out President James Abram Garfield's policy, and to everyone's surprise, he did exactly that. President Chester Alan Arthur separated himself from boss Roscoe Conkling, determined to bring honesty to the government, and put through a Civil Service Bill that established by law the principal of appointments only for merit.

President Chester Alan Arthur cleaned up the Post Office Department, which was riddled with graft. President Chester Alan Arthur started the rebuilding of the Navy, which had long been neglected. President Chester Alan Arthur tried to run for a second term in 1884, and he had made himself extremely popular with the people by his firm attitude on reform, but he had made enemies of the Republican Party machine, and so was defeated at the convention, which then nominated "James G. Blaine".

President Chester Alan Arthur died two years after his retirement in New York City, New York.

Written by:
Karen Palumbo
Photography "NOT" by:
Robert Palumbo
3/11/2010 (c)