James
A. Garfield
—
US President 1881
"For
[a] decade religion and academic life occupied Garfield. He attended a seminary,
taught in district schools, and from 1851 to 1854 studied and taught at the Western
Reserve Eclectic Institute, now Hiram College. . . . Deeply religious, he zealously
embraced and preached the doctrines of the Disciples of Christ. From the Eclectic,
a Disciple school, he entered Williams College. He graduated with honors in 1856.
Garfield
returned to Hiram, became principal of the Eclectic in 1858, and instilled new
life into the school. He preached, officiated at marriages and funerals, and lectured.
During these years Garfield turned against slavery and became interested in politics.
In 1859 he was elected as a Republican to the Ohio Senate, where he denounced
slavery and secession, advocating force, if needed, to preserve the Union. He
studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1858 he married Lucretia Rudolph,
a former classmate.[21]
In one of his letters he told how he had just finished preaching a revival where he had personally preached the Gospel 19 times, with 34 individuals coming to Christ and 31 of them being baptized.[9]