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Memorial Card · primary-source record

James A. Garfield

November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881

Died 19 September 1881 · Elberon, New Jersey

Editorially verified

At-a-glance facts

Record type

Memorial Card

Date of death

September 19, 1881

Date of birth

November 19, 1831

Age at death

49 years, 10 months

Place of death

Elberon, New Jersey, United States

The memorial card

From the funeral card

In Memory of James A. Garfield

Died at Elberon, N.J., Monday, September 19 1881 at 10:35 P.M.

Aged 49 years and 10 months.

Inaugurated President of the United States, march 4th, 1881

Shot at Penn. R.R. Station in Washington July 2, 1881, 9:20 A.M.

The photograph shows a black mourning ribbon reading "We Mourn for our President, James A. Garfield, Shot by an Assassin, JULY 2d, 1881, DIED SEPTEMBER 19th, 1881" with his portrait. This is shorter text than the transcription above, which may describe a different card or an accompanying broadside.

Historical context

James A. Garfield was the last U.S. president born in a log cabin. He served only 6 months and 15 days before his death, one of the shortest presidencies in U.S. history.

Timeline: inaugurated President on March 4, 1881; shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. on July 2, 1881 at 9:20 a.m.; died in Elberon, New Jersey on September 19, 1881 at 10:35 p.m.

Historians agree the gunshot wound itself was not fatal — Garfield died of massive infection and blood poisoning after his doctors probed for the bullet with unwashed hands and unsterilized instruments. During his final weeks, Alexander Graham Bell built an early metal detector in an attempt to locate the bullet, but it failed because Garfield was lying on a rare metal-spring mattress that interfered with the reading.

People named in this record

  • James A. GarfieldSubject
  • Charles J. GuiteauMentioned

Record submitted by

Original contributor unknown — Was it you? Let us know

Source & citation

Source type
Photograph & transcription
Provenance
From the Ancestors at Rest archive — founded 2004 by Brian and substantially built out across two decades by Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy.
Transcribed by
Ancestors at Rest archive — original contributor not recorded.
Last verified
2026-07-01
Permalink
/records/funeral-cards/garfield-james-a-1881/
Image vs transcription
Both — photograph of the mourning ribbon and a transcription on this page

Citation: "Memorial card of President James A. Garfield, died Elberon, New Jersey, 19 September 1881," contributed to the Ancestors at Rest archive (https://ancestorsatrest.com/records/funeral-cards/garfield-james-a-1881/ : accessed [your access date]).

The original contributor of this record is not preserved in the archive. If you transcribed this plate, please get in touch so credit can be restored.

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