CHARLES W. GARFIELD. 



A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



While Michigan may not claim honor as the natal state of Charles W. Garfield, 

 she can proudly claim credit that it was upon her soil, under her skies, and within 

 the influence of her institutions he developed, and that as one of her citizens he has 

 accomplished good worlis which have more than repaid to her all his obligations. 



His birthplace was near Milwauljee, and the date of beginning of his earth 

 life was March 14, 1848. His father was S. Marshall Garfield, who followed 

 in Wisconsin the business of farmer and lumberman. In 1858 he removed to 

 Grand Rapids and purchased the Burton farm, one of the first tracts of land 

 cultivated in that vicinity. It was two or three miles south of the town, but 

 now the city has extended to the very doors of the charming old homestead, and 

 part of the farm has been changed to city lots. 



There was spent the boyhood of Charles W. Gai'field, and there he lives today, 

 and there he has lived nearly all the intervening time. After he reached his 10th 

 year his labor was required on the farm and his attendance at school was limited 

 to the winter seasons. He was not content, however, to accept these conditions 

 as the limits of his education, but studied with entry to college in view, although 

 prospects of achieving this were far from hopeful. They were rendered the more 

 uncertain by his lacli of bodily strength, a hindrance which, though it has not 

 prevented his doing a very great amount of useful labor, has made the doing a 

 constant menace to his life, and on several occasions he has almost passed time's 

 boundary, only to be again restored to the companionship of devoted friends. 



At the age of 20, Mr. Garfield entered the sophomore class of Michigan Agri- 

 cultural college, and two years later completed the course. He was attracted 

 by the opportunity this college offered for outdoor worls in connection with study, 

 and because that work was concerned with horticulture, for he had already 

 become an ardent lover of the orchard and garden. The annals of the college 

 will always bear evidence of his participation in the work of its earlier years, and 

 its campus and orchards will long contain portions of his planting and adornment. 



His first business venture was the publication of an educational paper, the 

 Common School Journal, which failed because he made it too good for its sub- 

 scription price; and his next effort, a nursery business in connection with S. S. 

 Rockwell, was ruined by the severe winter of 1872-73, which immediately followed 

 its establishment. Mr. Garfield then, in 1873, became foreman of the gardens of 

 the Agricultural college, so continuing until 1876, using his income to liquidate 



