The Absent Ones

Harry Garfield oldest son of President and First Lady Garfield

NPS Photo

When in early June, James Garfield was nominated for president by the Republican Party, his two older boys, Harry (Hal) and James (Jim) were students at St. Paul's School for Boys, in Concord, New Hampshire. Throughout most of the campaign they were vicarious observers of all that occurred during it. On June 8, 1880, the day of the nomination, the boys sent their father a Western Union telegram. It read, "Have received the news. Very glad and send our hearty congratulations."

In separate letters a few days later, both boys commented on the reaction of the school's teachers and students to the astounding news of their papa's sudden assent. Hal wrote, "I straight away had a great many fake friends. Some are loud and make "great stumps" about their friend Garfield. Others call me Harry and walk arm in arm with me. I despise them all..."

"My Dear Papa," Jim wrote, "You do not know how glad I am that you were nominated. Dr. Coit congratulated me very cordially and said that he thought you were the best man that could have been nominated. He is a Democrat."

A few days later, Hal and Jim received a letter from "Papa." In it, Garfield reminded his sons to maintain their dignity. "Don’t say anything about my nomination that indicates any feelings of exultation or pride. It is a very serious business and it is particularly important that all my children behave prudently in regard to it. I don’t say this because I doubt you but only to express my approval of your course thus far."

Hal and Jim came back to Mentor for the summer. They had a fine time with their family and their friends, but by the middle of September they were back at school in New Hampshire.

In his first letter home, Jim wrote of the summer just passed. "I do not think I ever enjoyed a vacation as much as last summer… but it is very hard to come back to school and settle down to work again." Hal’s first letter was preoccupied with making the room comfortable. "I went into town today to see about a carpet for our room... I supposed a carpet would cost about ten or twelve dollars but to purchase a common ingrain carpet… I could get one for $20, the lowest price. We will need a carpet, and this is the cheapest I could get..." The boys got their carpet.

The letters of Harry and Jim Garfield demonstrate just how much the definition of being educated has changed over time, and yet remains the same. They studied ancient Latin and Greek, but they also took Algebra and Geometry, English, and U. S. history. Unlike today’s students, they gave weekly accounts of their previous week's marks. But like today’s students, the Garfield boys took part in school athletics - racing, rowing, and gymnastics.

Ill health plagued them both during that term. At sixteen, Hal suffered with rheumatism so badly that "I could not walk, except by taking my leg with my hand and pushing it forward. I went right to bed... but... I did not sleep all the rest of the night. The pain is still there, cavorting about, up and down the bone from my knee to my hip like a piston rod on a steam engine." Jim was afflicted with debilitating headaches throughout his young years, even at St. Paul's.

Hal's rheumatism elicited the concern of his father. "You may be sure that every member of the household is affectionately sympathizing with you in the illness which you are suffering. I know you will bear it manfully... Don't hesitate to incur any expense which may be necessary for your restoration and comfort…"

Lucretia Garfield was similarly concerned for Jim after his reported headaches. "My Dear Jim," she wrote. "Your letter dated the 11th is just received, also Hal's of the 10th. I am sorry for your head-ache on Sunday. Are you feeling quite well?"

The letters between Hal and his mother and father in the fall of 1880 touch on the future direction of Hal's spiritual life. He wanted his parents' advice as he contemplated joining the Episcopal Church. "What I think about it is this: no boy should join the church, until he really feels as if he could turn over a new leaf, that is the main thing. I like the service of the Episcopal Church. It impresses me very much.

Lucretia Garfield responded in a letter dated October 6. "I am very greatly pleased with your reflections …I think your Papa and I are so free from religious bigotry or intolerance as it is possible to be… We take Christ's life for an example and believe in him as our Savior; and that we believe constitutes a Christian life. If, however you or Jim or any of our children feel that it would help them to be happier or better to become members of some other church we shall never oppose you."

As September slipped into October, the content of the letters between parents and sons was ever more devoted to the election campaign. Just as today, off-year elections were harbingers of things to come, so too were state elections in September and October in Maine, Indiana, and Ohio believed to forecast, if not foreordain, the outcome of the national election in November.

On September 19, Lucretia wrote to "Dear Old Jim, “… we sat up to get the Maine news. It was very disappointing at first, but there is little doubt now that we have gained the state by at least a plurality..." That turned out not to be the case. The Democrats won the governorship in the Maine election, seemingly a setback for Republican fortunes.

The following month, Lucretia proudly reported that the victory in Ohio "is greater than we dared to expect, and from all appearances it will turn out to have been really good in Indiana. Two years ago, it went Democratic by several thousand… If we have overcome all that… it will be a great triumph."

In a letter celebrating his fifteenth birthday (October 17), Jim's father confirmed what his mother had written. "The past week has been a very busy one… The elections in Ohio and Indiana have been very favorable to the Republicans. In Ohio we have a 20,000 majority over the Democrats on the state ticket and have gained six congressmen. ...In Indiana, our gains on the state ticket have been very great… The result greatly improves our chances of carrying the November election."

In a final letter before the November 2 election, Garfield expressed his faith and pride in the sons who were so distant, yet so near, who were physically absent, but close in heart:
"Above all, Dear Boys, whatever should happen I beg you to keep on the even tenor of your ways, holding up, with even a little more than usual vigor and steadiness to your work. It would make me very proud to know that during the first week of November 1880, my boys marked a little higher in studies, decorum, punctuality, and industry than in any previous week of the term - and that they were in no wise thrown off their balance by the Presidential Election."

The Republicans did prevail in November, though James Garfield won by the narrowest of margins, less than 10,000 votes nationwide out of the more than nine million votes cast.