US first lady (1881), born in Hiram, Ohio, USA. A former student of James Garfield at Hiram College, they were married in 1858. She was a great believer in education and was more interested in the Library of Congress than in Washington society.
Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (April 19, 1832 - March 14, 1918), wife of James A. Garfield, was First Lady of the United States in 1881.
Born to Zeb Rudolph, a leading citizen of Hiram, Ohio, and devout member of the Disciples of Christ, she first met "Jim" Garfield when both attended a nearby school, and they renewed their friendship in 1851 as students at the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, founded by the Disciples.
In Washington, DC they shared intellectual interests with congenial friends;
Garfield's election to the presidency brought a cheerful family to the White House in 1881. Though Mrs. Garfield was not particularly interested in a First Lady's social duties, she was deeply conscientious and her genuine hospitality made her dinners and twice-weekly receptions enjoyable.
In May she fell gravely ill, apparently from malaria and nervous exhaustion. The President was actually planning to take a train north to New Jersey that same day in order to meet his wife, before continuing on to a function at his former college in Massachusetts. The First Lady hurriedly returned to Washington by special train -- "frail, fatigued, desperate," reported an eyewitness at the White House, "but firm and quiet and full of purpose to save." After an anxious delay, she reached the White House and immediately went to her husband's bedside. Her casket was placed above ground beside the coffin of her husband in the lower level crypt of the presidential tomb at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Preceded by: Lucy Webb Hayes |
First Lady of the United States 1881 |
Succeeded by: Mary McElroy |
| First Ladies of the United States | |
|---|---|
| M. Washington • A. Adams • M. Jefferson Randolph • D. Madison • E. Monroe • L. Adams • E. Donelson • S. Jackson • A. Van Buren • A. Harrison • J. Harrison • L. Tyler • P. Tyler • J. Tyler • S. Polk • M. Taylor • A. Fillmore • J. Pierce • H. Lane • M. Lincoln • E. Johnson • J. Grant • L. Hayes • L. Garfield • M. McElroy • R. Cleveland • F. Cleveland • C. Harrison • F. Cleveland • I. McKinley • Edith Roosevelt • H. Taft • Ellen Wilson • Edith Wilson • F. Harding • G. Coolidge • L. Hoover • Eleanor Roosevelt • B. Truman • M. Eisenhower • J. Kennedy • Lady Bird Johnson • P. Nixon • B. Ford • R. Carter • N. Reagan • B. Bush • H. Clinton • L. Bush |
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