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| Affiliation | Republican |
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| Name | Lucretia Rudolph Garfield |
| Address |
, Ohio , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
April 19, 1832
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| Died | March 14, 1918
(85 years)
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | Thomas Walker
Feb 02, 2004 05:29pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Born: April 19, 1932 - Garrettsville, Ohio
Died: March 14, 1918
Father: Zebulon Rudolph (d. 1895)
Mother: Arabella Mason Rudolph (d. 1879)
Ancestry: English
Siblings: 2 brothers, John and Edward; 1 sister, Ellen (or Nellie)
Physical Description: Small, with delicate features, wide cheekbones, brown eyes, black hair and finely molded features. Lucretia Garfield was both a handsome young woman and a striking older one. Always a thin woman, she maintained a good figure all her life.
Religion: Disciples of Christ
Education: Educated at home due to delicate health as a child, Lucretia’s parents, especially her father, were strong believers in a good education. Zebulon Rudolph was one the founders of the Western Reserve Electic College (today Hiram College) and saw to it that all of his children were well educated. When she was sixteen, Lucretia went to school in Chesterland, Ohio at the Geauga Seminary, where she met the young James A. Garfield. She studied Latin, Greek, English composition, history and mathematics. In 1850, she enrolled at the Western Reserve Electic College, where she ended a romance with Albert Hall and began a romance with James Garfield. By 1853, he was attending Williams College in Massachusetts and began a long correspondence with Lucretia. She graduated in 1854 and began a career in teaching. She taught in Cleveland, Ravenna, Chagrin Falls and even in Bryan, Ohio, where she also studied painting.
Husband: James Abram Garfield (1831-1881)
Courtship and Marriage: The correspondence between James and “Crete”, as she was called, blossomed but, at the same time, presented a large part of the problems that would face the young couple. A shy, reserved woman, Crete found it easier to pen her thoughts than to verbally express them. James Garfield, being of an ebullient, outgoing nature, was a man who needed to reach out and touch: to be the center of attention. His was warmed by her loving letters, but repelled by her shyness when in her presence. Once away, the correspondence would resume and the relationship would continue, only to cool upon seeing one another again. James hot and cold reactions took a toll on Lucretia. However, by 1858, he very reluctantly proposed marriage, and she accepted. In August she would write him telling him how it broke her heart that their marriage would begin on the cold, stern word: duty. In fact, half in earnest, half in jest, she even sent him an invitation to his own wedding. They were married in the parlor of her father’s Hiram home on November 11, 1858.
Age at marriage: 26 years, 206 days
Personality: A shy, repressed woman, Crete Garfield found it hard to mix easily with people. This shyness is what created many problems in the Garfield marriage in its early years. An intensely intelligent woman with a strong sense of right and wrong, Crete had a hard time early in her marriage because she had to share her husband with a full household: her mother-in-law, a woman teacher friend of James named Almeilda Booth, her sister Nellie and a Miss Wilson. Garfield needed constant attention and physical touching, which Crete found difficult at first. Only after nursing James for an extended period of time in 1862 did her reserve finally melt. Under her cool, reserved nature was a very passionate, loving, responsive woman.
Children:
1. Eliza Arabella Garfield “Trot” (1860-1863)
2. Harry Augustus Garfield “Hal” (1863 – 1942)
3. James Rudolph Garfield (1865 – 1950)
4. Mary “Mollie” Garfield Stanley Brown (1867 – 1947)
5. Irwin McDowell Garfield (1870 – 1951)
6. Abram Garfield (1872 – 1958)
7. Edward “Neddie” Garfield (1874 – 1876)
Years Before the White House (1858 – 1881): In the first six years of marriage, Lucretia Garfield calculated that they had been together only six weeks. He made sure that he stayed away as often as possible. Often cold and indifferent, Garfield told Lucretia once that their marriage was the biggest mistake he’d ever made. She took his comment as a challenge to overcome, and overcome it she did. As Colonel of the 42nd Ohio, Garfield saw a lot of action in the western theatre of the Civil War. In 1863, President Lincoln asked him to take his seat in the House of Representatives. He left for Washington three days after the death of their daughter, ‘Trot”. Crete was left in Hiram with a son, alone and very unhappy. In 1864, she learned that her husband had fallen in love with Mrs. Lucia Gilbert Calhoun. After confessing his guilt, Crete made it clear that James must either give up the relationship or get a divorce. He chose his marriage. Their marriage remained strained for another five years. But Crete was determined to save it, and, by 1870, theirs was a love story. Her ability to not only save the marriage, but to also turn it into a loving relationship, was her greatest legacy to her children. The Garfields built a house on 13th and I Streets in Washington. Crete set aside one room as hers and hers alone. In this room, she pursued her reading, painting and writing. She often commented on how hard it was to be a man in this world, but how much worse it was to be a woman, trapped between the freedom of the world of men and the clutches of half literate barbarians (children). She grew to become her husband’s closest advisor and helpmate. He grew very dependent on her input.
First Lady (March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881): Lucretia Garfield did not want James to become President. But when to left for the convention in June 1880, she confessed that she wanted him to be the clear choice of his party, not a compromise choice. When he was nominated, he wrote telling her that he would accept the nomination only with her approval. She was a busy wife with a new farm (Lawnfield in Mentor, Ohio), fulfilling the role as a gracious candidate’s wife and supervising her two oldest sons’ move to New Hampshire to attend St. Paul’s School. After the election, she traveled to New York under the assumed name of “Mrs. Greenfield” and served as a liaison between Garfield and Roscoe Conkling to discuss Cabinet suggestions. She did so reluctantly since she did not approve of Mr. Conkling due to his affair with a woman named Kate Chase. She passed the suggestions on to Garfield. Mrs. Hayes prepared the White House for Lucretia’s arrival on March 4, 1881. Lucretia’s time in the White House was brief, but not without accomplishments. Interested in the history of the house, she went to the Library of Congress to research. She started an inventory of the White House’s contents. Grace Coolidge and Lou Hoover later used this list. Lucretia was stricken with malaria in May, 1881. She nearly died and was sent to Elberon in New Jersey to recover. After an assassin shot James on July 2nd, Lucretia returned to the White House. She nursed him and made decisions, showing a remarkable calm and courage that won her widespread admiration. The President was moved to Elberon in an attempt to make him more comfortable and to help his recovery. The move was fruitless. James A. Garfield died September 19, 1881 with his wife, Lucretia, and daughter, Mollie, at his side. Lucretia took over the funeral and burial arrangements. Garfield was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland.
Last Years: Lucretia Garfield remained at Lawnfield in Mentor, Ohio, where she added nine rooms (including a library to house the President’s huge collection of books). In 1893, she added a carriage house, and in 1895, a windmill. She had many grandchildren. She kept up an interest in politics. She was once a Republican, then became a Progressive, and, at the time of her death, was a Democrat. She rolled bandages for the Spanish War and for World War I. She was an honored guest in the first Rose Bowl parade. She found the Ohio winters too cold and built a house in Pasadena, California where she would die on March 14, 1918.
Age at Death: 85 years, 329 days
Burial: Beside her husband in the Garfield Tomb, Lakeview Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio
Legacy: A shy, quiet woman with an unusually keen and sharp intellect, Lucretia Garfield proved to be a strong, valiant wife, whose determination and will saved her marriage in its rocky beginning. She made herself become more outgoing, more receptive to her husband’s needs, while at the same time making him see and appreciate her as she really was. An intellectual woman, she showed a keen interest in the history of the White House and might have done remarkable things had her time not been cut short. One the surface, she appeared to be a dutiful and accepting wife, but underneath proved to be strong willed. She made her troubled marriage work and even turned it into a romance.
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