Garfield, Mollie

Mary "Mollie" Garfield (1867-1947) was born in Washington, D.C. to James A. Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph Garfield. She was 14 when her father became President of the United States in January, 1881. On July 2, James Garfield was shot at Union Station in Washington, D.C. and Mollie and her mother were present when he died of his wounds on September 19. Mollie Garfield's education included Miss Mittleberger's School in Cleveland, Ohio and one semester at Miss Porter's Finishing School in Farmington, Connecticut. She lived with her mother at the Garfield family home, Lawnfield, in Mentor, Ohio until her marriage in 1888 to Joseph Stanley-Brown, who had been her father's private secretary. She died in Pasadena, California at the age of 80.

From the guide to the Mollie Garfield papers regarding President James Garfield, 1874-1883, (Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)