James Abraham Garfield was born November 19th, 1831, in a quiet home near Moreland Hills, Ohio. He was the youngest of Five children and named after his older brother, who died an infant. In 1833, his family joined the "Church of Christ". James' father (Abram Garfield) died later that year. He was then raised in poverty by his mother, Eliza Garfield. At the age of 11, his mother remarried to Warren Belden. A divorce was awarded against her in 1850. James took his mother side once Belden died in 1880. He left home at the age of 16, in 1847, then found work on a canal boat. Here he was responsible for managing and/or taking care of the mules that pulled
