Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (April 19, 1832 - March 14, 1918), wife of President Garfield, was First Lady of the United States in 1881. They met in 1849 when they were classmates at Geauga Seminary in Ohio. She was somewhat plain in appearance, but Garfield
Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (April 19, 1832 - March 14, 1918), wife of President Garfield, was First Lady of the United States in 1881. They met in 1849 when they were classmates at Geauga Seminary in Ohio. She was somewhat plain in appearance, but Garfield was attracted to her keen intellect and appetite for knowledge. They married in 1858. His service in the Union Army from 1861 to 1863 kept them apart. But after his first winter in Washington as a freshman Representative, the family was reunited. In Washington, they shared intellectual interests with congenial friends. They read together, made social calls, and dined with each other, they were as nearly inseparable as his career permitted. Garfield's election to the presidency brought a cheerful family to the White House in 1881. Though she was not particularly interested in a First Lady's social duties, she was deeply conscientious and her genuine hospitality made her dinners and twice weekly receptions enjoyable. She contracted malaria and was convalescing, when her husband was shot by Charles Guiteau. During the three months that the President fought for his life, her grief and devotion won the respect and sympathy of the country. After his death and funeral, the bereaved family went home to their farm in northern Ohio. She lived comfortably on a $350,000 trust fund raised for her and the Garfield children by financier Cyrus W. Field. She died in 1918 at the age of 85.
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