Joseph Rudolph

Siblings Joseph and Lucretia Rudolph

NPS

Quick Facts

Significance:

Brother of First Lady Lucretia Garfield

Place of Birth:

Garrettsville, Portage County, Ohio

Date of Birth:

August 13, 1841

Place of Death:

Shaker Heights, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Date of Death:

January 26, 1934

Place of Burial:

Hiram, Portage County, Ohio

Cemetery Name:

Fairview Cemetery

Joseph Rudolph, youngest son of Arabella and Zeb Rudolph, was born August 13, 1841, on the family farm in Garrettsville, Ohio. Not much is known of Joseph's young life - only that he, like his siblings, probably went to district schools, then attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute in Hiram, Ohio.

Like many young men, including his brother John, Joseph enlisted to fight in the Civil War. On May 18,1861 he enlisted, and started his military career as a private in Company A of the 23rd OVI in early June. The 23rd was in battles such as Carnifax's Ferry in West Virginia while Joseph was a member. He transferred into Company A, 42nd OVI, his brother-in-law James Garfield's regiment, on March 1, 1862. Joseph was promoted to Full Sergeant on September 1,1862, and then Full Captain (Captain & Commissary) on May 28, 1864. He fought with the 42nd OVI at Vicksburg, Mississippi and saw duty in Texas and Louisiana, where he set up warehouses and supply depots for Union brigades.

After the war, Joseph was an employee in the railway mail service. On December 2, 1873 in Paris, Ohio, 32 year old Joseph married Elizabeth "Libbie" Phillips. The couple had two sons: Max in 1876 and Edward "Ned" in 1877. Libbie Rudolph died in February of 1878, at the age of 31, and was buried in the Rudolph family plot in Hiram, Ohio's Fairview Cemetery. Joseph wed for a second time to Lide Mason, whom he married in 1879. Like his father Zeb, Joseph and his family moved to the Mentor farm with his sister Lucretia and her family.

While President Garfield's family lived in the White House, "Uncle Joe" along with his father,were in charge of the farm. Joe's family would live on the third floor of the home. Lide Rudolph died in 1926. Uncle Joe was the last of the "older" generation to be living in the home. All of Lucretia and James' children had moved to their respective homes with their families. 

Joe died on January 29, 1934 at the age of 93, and was buried near his first wife Libbie in Hiram's Fairview Cemetery. It was after his death that the Garfield children decided that they needed to do something with the family home. The home and furnishings were donated to the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland and became a museum in 1936.