CHESTER A. ARTHUR
Arthur was born October 5, 1829, in the parsonage in North
Fairfield, Vermont, according to entries in the Arthur family Bible. Political
opponents alleged that he was born across the Vermont border in Canada,
therefore he was not qualified to be a US president but he denied the charges
and no proof of his Canadian birth has ever surfaced. His father was Reverend
William Arthur (1796-1875) and his mother was Malvina Stone Arthur (1802-1869).
Chester was the fifth of eight children to live maturity.
He had six sisters and a brother-Mrs. Regina Caw, Jane Arthur, Mrs. Almeda
Masten, Ann Eliza Arthur, Mrs. Malvina Haynesworth, Major William Arthur Jr. and
Mrs. Mary McElroy.
Chester Arthur married Ellen “Nell” Lewis Herndon when
he was 30 and she was 22 years of age, on October 25, 1859, at Calvary Episcopal
Church in New York City. They had two children, a son and a daughter-Chester
Alan Arthur, Jr. (1864-1937) and Ellen “Nell” Herndon Arthur (1871-1915).
He learned the fundamentals of his education from his
father and attended the academy in Union Village (now Greenwich), New York, at
15 he enrolled at the Lyceum in Schenectady. In 1845 he entered Union College in
Schenectady from which he graduated in 1848. He went to study Law at Ballston
Spa, New York and after a brief teaching career, he in 1853 resumed his Law
studies in the office of E. D. Culver in New York City. He was admitted to the
bar in 1854.
He served in the New York State Militia during the civil
war from February 1858 to December 1862, rising from brigade judge Advocate to
quartermaster General. He became a junior partner in New York City firm of
Culver, Parker, and Arthur and held some public positions-Consel to the New York
City Tax Commission (1869-1870), Collector of the Port of New York (1871-1878)
and latter he became vice president under James Garfield (1881). Arthur
succeeded Garfield in the presidency after his assassination in 1881.
Chester Alan Arthur died November 18, 1886, 5:00 A.M. at his home, 123 Lexington Avenue, New York City. He suffered from a fatal kidney ailment which caused an enlargement of his heart. On November 16, he suffered a stroke that paralyzed his left side. He never fully regained consciousness and died.
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