"GARFIELD, JAMES ABRAM (19 Nov. 1831-19 Sept. 1881), 20th president of the U.S., was born in Orange Twp., Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to Abram and Eliza Ballou Garfield. Fatherless at age 4, Garfield worked as a farmer, carpenter, and canal boatman. He studied at Geauga Seminary in Chester, Ohio, Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College) from 1851-54, and graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1856. He returned to Hiram to teach classics and served as its president (1857-61), while also being a lay minister in the DISCIPLES OF CHRIST church. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar and elected to the Ohio senate. Garfield was commissioned as lieutenant colonel in the 42d Ohio Regiment in 1861. After defeating superior forces at Middle Creek, Ky., in 1862, he was promoted to brigadier general, and after winning distinction at Chickamauga, becoming a major general. Garfield resigned his commission in Dec. 1863 after being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served for 17 years.” - Encyclopedia of Cleveland History