The Life And Accomplishments Of James Garfield

James Garfield made several achievements in his lifetime. Not only was he the 20th president of the United States, but he also succeeded at many other things as well. James Abram Garfield was born on the 19th of November, 1831, in Orange Township, Ohio. His parents were Eliza Ballou Garfield and Abram Garfield. Eliza and Abram also had 3 children before Garfield. They had two daughters, Mehitabel and Mary, and one son, Thomas. 18 months after James’ birth, Abram Garfield died from an illness that he’d got fighting a fire that worsened overtime. With the death of their father, James and his siblings grew up helping their widow mother on the farm. With no father and their only job was the farm, the Garfield’s were poor and spent their lives

He also grew to not like working on the farm and wanted something more. He loved to read books about history and fiction and his most favorite stories were ones about going off to see. So at the age of sixteen, he decided he was adventuring off to sea. After six weeks out in sea, he became sick with a sickness called ague. He then returned home to his mother where she aided him back to wellness. While he was home, his mother convinced him to get an education. So in March of 1828, Garfield enrolled to Geauga Academy. At Geauga Academy, Garfield studied Latin, algebra, and more. Garfield planned on going back to sea but he then realized his passion for learning was greater. He came back and studied grammar, arithmetic, and again, algebra. After that term ended, Garfield took up a teaching job. Time went on and that term ended too and he said goodbye to all of his students. After that, Garfield began to feel weighted down and became very unhappy in his life. A day finally came when Garfield went to Chagrin River and was baptized. With his new life, he took up many jobs in teaching and carpentry. Wanting something more, Garfield enrolled in The Western Reserve Eclectic

When he arrived though, he was very unhappy. The Institute had become leaderless and he found himself teaching at least six classes a day and most days more. He also took time to be a minister. With Garfield being so successful and the institution rarely having a leader, Garfield was promoted to chairman but was seen as president. In this time, Garfield married his love, Lucretia Rudolph. Although Garfield had just gotten married, he was still determined to keep the school in good hands. He became a well-known local figure and was always preaching and teaching. But soon Garfield became more interested in politics. He started to desire to take law and wanted more in his career. Garfield had a strong heart as a Republican and believed he had all of the qualities to be a State senator or representative. He then finalized he decision and started his road to having a place in