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Rh Their marriage took place at the house of the bride's parents, November 11, 1858, Mr. Garfield then being President of Hiram College. Their resources were not very great, so they boarded for several years, each year finding them much advanced in worldly goods and reputation.

Young Mr. and Mrs. Garfield resided in Cleveland until 1860, when he was elected to the State Senate and went to Columbus. In 1861, he left the State Senate to become colonel of the 42nd Ohio Regiment. He went into the army a poor man and it was with the money he saved as an officer of the Union Army that his wife bought a house and lot in Hiram, which cost eight hundred dollars. This sum suggests the style of house which was their home until 1870, when, as a member of Congress from the state of Ohio, he came to Washington. Here his salary of $5,000 a year, with the simplicity of living in those days, enabled him to save enough money to give his family a comfortable home in the Capital of the Nation. Through the helpfulness and economy of his unusually intellectual and economical wife they were able to purchase a farm at Mentor, Ohio, which they named Lawnfield, and where was erected the historic house that was so much advertised during the campaign of 1880. This house was designed by Mrs. Garfield and is a fine specimen of architecture. During the war, Mrs. Garfield lived in her home in Hiram and directed the education of her boys, having only the companionship of Mother Garfield. After the battle of Corinth, Brigadier-General Garfield was at home for six months, suffering from malarial fever. On his return to the front he was assigned chief of staff to General Rosecrans and at the battle of Chickamauga won his major-general's star. Before his return home his baby girl died, which caused him very great distress. In 1863, the people of his district elected him to Congress, where he served for eight terms, and was elected to