Lucretia "Crete" Rudolph and James Garfield married on November 11, 1858 in Hiram, Ohio. Mrs. Garfield's father was one of the founders of the Eclectic Institute in Ohio. (It was later renamed Hiram College.) As a girl, she attended the Geauga Seminary. She met the future president there. Mrs. Garfield was a graduate of Hiram College.
As first lady, Lucretia Garfield decided to restore the White House. She researched its history. She planned to locate and restore some of the original furniture. But she contracted malaria. She was sent to Elberon, New Jersey to recuperate. In July, 1881, Garfield left the White House to visit his wife in New Jersey. He was shot in the train station in Washington, D.C. Following the shooting, Mrs.Garfield returned to Washington. After THE president died, she retired to Ohio.
A New York businessman raised money to provide for Mrs. Garfield and her children. Congress also gave her a pension. In retirement, she lived part of each year in her home in Cleveland. She spent winters in Pasadena, California. Mrs. Garfield also maintained Lawnfield, the family estate in Mento, Ohio. She died in Pasadena in 1918. Lucretia and James Garfield are buried at the Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.
James Garfield's Children :
James and Lucretia Garfield had five children to live to adulthood: Harry (lawyer; law professor; president, Williams College; administrator, U.S. Food Administration); James (lawyer; commissioner, U.S. Civil Service Commission; official, Department of Commerce and Labor; secretary of the Interior); Mary "Mollie" Garfield Brown; Irvin (lawyer); and Abram (architect).
