NPS Photo Moments after his death, mask was made of President Garfield’s faceAfter President James A. Garfield died on September 19, 1881, the famous sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, made a death mask of him. When the plaster dried, Saint-Gaudens removed the plaster impression and took it to his studio to create a mold, which was in turn used to create a final bronze mold. The family had the last mold destroyed so no other copies could be made. Death masks have been in existence since at least the time of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, whose solid gold burial mask is an object of extreme beauty. Historic figures such as William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton and Abraham Lincoln were immortalized with death masks. Before the widespread use of photography, death masks were used as a forensic tool to aid relatives in identifying a missing person. One such mask recorded the face of an unidentified 16-year-old woman found drowned in Paris in the 1880s. She was considered so beautiful that reproductions of the mask became very popular. In 1960, the face of ResusciAnni, the world’s first CPR training mannequin, was modeled after that drowned young woman. 
NPS.GOV Abram Garfield was born in November 1872The youngest of the Garfield children to survive to adulthood was Abram Garfield, born on November 21, 1872. According to James A. Garfield’s diary entry for that day, “By an hour after midnight Crete’s labor began fully. It continued at regular intervals until twenty minutes past five in the morning, when she was delivered of a fine large boy, younger than his father by 41 years and two days. I am grateful for the safety of both mother and child.” Like his brothers, Hal, Jim, and Irv, Abram Garfield graduated from Williams College. He studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he earned a second degree in 1896. He traveled to Europe during the next year, sketching the architecture of the Old World. Returning to Cleveland in 1897, he formed a partnership with Frank Meade with a focus on residential design. Abram Garfield founded the Cleveland School of Architecture in 1924, which is now part of Case Western Reserve University. He designed the original Mentor Library building and two Lake Erie College buildings, the Helen Rockwell Morley Music Hall and the Mabel Marsh Ritchie Gymnasium. Abram Garfield died at age 85 on October 16, 1958. James Garfield enjoyed books by Jane AustenDid James Garfield actually know Jane Austen? Well, no, he did not, for she died fourteen years before his birth. But he did come to know Miss Austen’s novels. Before delving further into the matter, here are some essential facts about her. She was born on December 16, 1775, in Hampshire, England. Her father, George, was an Anglican rector. Her mother, Sandra Leigh, was descended from a well to-do family. Though she began writing at age 11, it was not until 1811, when she was 35, that “Sense and Sensibility”, the first of her novels, was published anonymously. James Garfield’s curiosity was piqued about Miss Austen in early May 1874, when his Williams classmate, English-born Clement Hill, “told me last night that nine distinguished Englishmen being together agreed to write down on a piece of paper the name of the best novel they had ever read. Six of them wrote Mansfield Park …” Before the end of the month, he also read “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility.” Do Garfield’s reflections on Jane Austen’s novels resonate with you? “This reading has been restful and delightful. … The novel of today is highly spiced with sensation, and I suspect it results from the general tendency to fast living, increased nervousness, and the general spirit of rush which seems to pervade the life and thought of our time.” 
White House Excerpts from President Arthur’s 1881 Thanksgiving ProclamationIt has long been the pious custom of our people, with the closing of the year, to look back upon the blessings brought to them in the changing course of the seasons and to return solemn thanks to the all-giving source from whom they flow. And although at this period, when the falling leaf admonishes us that the time of our sacred duty is at hand, our nation still lies in the shadow of a great bereavement, and the mourning which has filled our hearts still finds its sorrowful expression toward the God before whom we but lately bowed in grief and supplication... — Wherefore, I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States, do recommend that all the people observe Thursday, the 24th day of November, as a day of national thanksgiving and prayer.
100-year-old voter goes to the pollsOn October 19, 1880, David Gray celebrated his 100th birthday, in company with 600 relatives and friends. Among the guests that day was fellow townsman James A. Garfield, the Republican nominee for President of the United States. On that day, Garfield congratulated Gray on the length of his years, and Gray asserted his intention to cast his ballot for Garfield in what he believed would be his last vote for president. Neither man forgot the moment. On Election Day, November 2, 1880, a carriage came to Gray’s home. It was Garfield’s carriage. In the company of three octogenarians, Mr. Gray was taken to the polling place in Mentor. Mr. Garfield was 48 on Election Day 1880; he did not live to 50. Mr. Gray saw one more presidential election. He died at age 104, on May 29, 1885. |
Last updated: November 3, 2021