GoFundMe account set up for the Garfield family in 1881

Four days after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Mr. Cyrus Field, president of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, spearheaded the establishment of a “subscription fund” for the benefit of Mrs. Garfield and her children in the event of President Garfield’s death. Think of it as an 1881 GoFundMe.

The Garfield Fund came into being at a meeting of the New York City Chamber of Commerce on July 6, 1881. The fund was operated through the United States Trust Company of New York, a banking institution. Though the fund was to be open to any American who wished to contribute, the initial subscriptions were made by men of wealth – the banker and financier J. P. Morgan; railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington; and financier and railroad investor Jay Gould.

On the paper released to the press, those signing it stated their desire to “testify their appreciation of the character of James A. Garfield, President of the United States, and to provide for his family, [and to] … subscribe … toward a fund to be … paid to Mrs. Garfield, the wife of the President, during her life…”

The statement went on. “We are here to tender our profound sympathy to … [President Garfield], to his family, and to the Government in this trial. We rejoice with them today in the hope of his recovery … we congratulate the country … on the fact that our chief magistrate, by his own display of the highest quality of manhood, has done so much to sustain the hopes of the people as to his final recovery…”

The American people agreed with these sentiments. Citizens from all walks of life contributed to this fund to benefit Mrs. Garfield and her children in the event of the president’s death. As early as July 12, 1881, the list of subscribers included M.G. Lippert, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania; M. H. Ellis and wife, of Yonkers, New York, and Obadiah Wheelock, of Philadelphia, each of whom contributed $10. Annie S. Classon offered $2, while L. M. Frank donated $1 to the fund.

Within days of the creation of the Garfield Fund, $142,905.60 had been pledged to it. As the weeks passed many more contributions were made to the Garfield Fund. “A Widow’s Mite” added $1 to the fund. Samuel Fosdick, of Cincinnati, offered $5,000. The citizens of Nashville, Tennessee, had contributed $100 by late August. Chicagoans gave $11,500. Sympathetic Londoners and Parisians assisted the fund by $6,500 and $250 respectively. “A German clerk” gave $1.

The Garfield Fund grew steadily but slowly while the president lived. By August 28, it amounted to $157,458.70. As of September 22, three days after the president’s death, it grew by more than 50 percent. In one of the final accounts of the total, on October 26, 1881, the contributions amounted to $361,792.70.

This was a doubling of the August number. Clearly, the ending of hope and the finality of death brought from the American people an outpouring of generosity and concern that was reserved while James Garfield lived.

Where this belongs

• James A Garfield National Historic Site

Where this page came from

This page was imported from National Park Service. Produced by the U.S. National Park Service and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.