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Throughout the course of American presidential campaigns many have boasted a candidate who
climbed from rags to riches. Although many of these claims of poverty were contrived for
political gain, in the case of James A. Garfield poverty was a reality. Some in the political
realm felt a sense of pride out of starting from nothing, but Garfield would comment , "
the fact that they came up from poverty and singlehandedness is a matter of pride...
I lament sorely that I was born to poverty ... and in this chaos of childhood seventeen years
passed before I caught up any inspiration which was worthy of my manhood ...
precious 17 years in which a boy with a father and some wealth might have become fixed
in manly ways ... Let no man praise me because I was poor and without a helper. It was
very bad for my life."1
James Abram Garfield was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio on November 19, 1831 to
Abram and Eliza Garfield. Abram and Eliza were married in February of 1820.
Their first home was a rude log hut with no windows, lit solely through the chinks
in the walls. By 1821 their first child Mehitabel was born, followed by her brother
Thomas in 1822 and Mary in 1824.
Shortly after the birth of James the Garfield family came to know the Lord Jesus Christ
through a movement started by Alexander Campbell. Campbell and his Disciples of Christ
sought to bring all Christian denominations together in unity professing
that the bible was their only doctrine. As the movement professed "Where the
bible speaks we speak and where the bible is silent we are silent." In Ohio this movement
gained a lot of strength and the Garfield family came to know Jesus and were baptized
in early 1883.
The families' new found faith would have to sustain the family through a very
difficult time, as Abram Garfield became ill and died only a few months later.
Eliza, in order to keep her family together, set to work in the fields to provide
for her large family. Thomas who was twelve and the other children were forced
to grow up early and help their mother with the farm. The Garfield family
through all of their struggles would barely remain above the poverty level.
In 1842 Eliza Garfield remarried but the marriage quickly disintegrated an by
1850 her husband was awarded a divorce. The divorce left a scar on James, who
was repeatedly harassed by the other boys of the town who had fathers and wealth.
By the age of 16 James Garfield decided he would strike out on his own and take
to the sea. He gathered up his savings and headed for Cleveland. When Garfield
approached the captain of the only ship in town to inquire about a job,
the captain turned vehemently on Garfield and humiliated him in front of all of
onlookers with a
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