Eliza Arabella "Little Trot" and Edward "Neddie" Garfield

James’s and Lucretia Garfield’s first child, Eliza Arabella, was born on July 3, 1860, in Hiram, Ohio. She was usually called “Little Trot,” a variation of the name of a character [Mrs. Trotwood] in David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Garfield had just completed his first term as an Ohio state senator when she was born. According to more than one biographer, James Garfield was somewhat unnerved at the idea of parenthood; he had never cared much for little children and was slow in adjusting to the role of father. He was often away from home on political business, pleasure trips, or government service during his daughter’s first year. His first, long-term exposure to his little girl was when she was two years old, when James Garfield came home from the army on sick leave. By this time, Little Trot had a personality, and her father fell in love with her!

Trot was a bright, dark-eyed little girl, who looked very much like her mother. According to her cousin Adelaide Rudolph, she was “not…a model of good behavior.” On October 11, 1863, Trot got a baby brother and a visit from her father, who was about to leave the army to begin his first term as a US Congressman. While he was at home, James Garfield’s “precious little darling” got a sore throat - the first symptom of the diphtheria that claimed her life on December 1st. She was only 3-1/2 years old. Adelaide would be the only child of her generation that would remember “Trottie.”

Edward, often called “Neddie,” was born on December 26, 1874 in Washington, DC, shortly after nine in the evening. The following day the new arrival was introduced to his siblings. James Garfield reported that “Mollie burst into tears because he was not a girl. The rest seemed satisfied that it was a boy.” Neddie was blond and blue-eyed, resembling his father, and had the characteristic large Garfield head.

On Thursday, October 19, 1876, James Garfield reported in his diary that “Little Neddie is still quite ill,” although not so ill that Garfield felt it necessary to postpone a campaign trip. But by the time he returned to Washington four days later, the little boy was no better - the doctor had diagnosed whooping cough. On October 24th Garfield said “the spectacle of that beautiful boy, struggling so bravely for life, fills me with the very helplessness of sorrow.” Neddie died the next morning, having lived not quite two years. He was buried beside his sister, Eliza Arabella (“Little Trot”), in Fairview Cemetery in Hiram, OH.

James and Lucretia felt these losses greatly. It was somewhat common to lose young children to disease during that time period, however the Garfields were very close to their children. They said that it was like “the tearing of the atoms of their hearts” to lose these two precious ones.