 1829 - 1886 (57 years) Has 61 ancestors and 3 descendants in this family tree.
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| Name |
Chester Alan Arthur |
| Prefix |
President |
| Birth |
5 Oct 1829 |
Fairfield, Franklin, Vermont, United States  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
18 Nov 1886 |
New York City, New York, New York, United States |
| Burial |
22 Nov 1886 |
Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, Albany, New York, United States |
| Initiatory (LDS) |
1 Jun 1887 |
SGEOR |
| FamilySearch ID |
L7GH-DJR |
| Headstones |
 Submit Headstone Photo |
| Headstones |
Submit Headstone Photo |
| Person ID |
I169873 |
mytree |
| Last Modified |
25 Feb 2024 |
| Father |
Reverand William Arthur, b. 27 Oct 1797, County Antrim, Ulster, Ireland d. 27 Oct 1875, Newtonville, Albany, New York, United States (Age 78 years) |
| Mother |
Malvina Stone, b. 24 Apr 1802, Berkshire, Franklin, Vermont, United States d. 16 Jan 1869, Newtonville, Albany, New York, United States (Age 66 years) |
| Marriage |
12 Apr 1821 |
Dunham, Montérégie, Québec, Canada |
| Family ID |
F42578 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Ellen Lewis Herndon, b. 30 Aug 1837, Culpeper, Culpeper, Virginia, United States d. 12 Jan 1880, New York City, New York, New York, United States (Age 42 years) |
| Marriage |
25 Oct 1859 |
Calvary Church, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States |
| Children |
| | 1. William Lewis Herndon Arthur, b. 10 Dec 1860, New York City, New York, New York, United States d. 8 Jul 1863, Englewood, Bergen, New Jersey, United States (Age 2 years) |
| | 2. Chester Alan Arthur, Jr, b. 25 Jul 1864, New York City, New York, New York, United States d. 18 Jul 1937, Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado, United States (Age 72 years) |
| | 3. Ellen Herndon Arthur, b. 21 Nov 1871, New York City, New York, New York, United States d. 6 Sep 1915, Yorktown, Westchester, New York, United States (Age 43 years) |
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| Family ID |
F42580 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
6 Mar 2025 |
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| Event Map |
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 | Birth - 5 Oct 1829 - Fairfield, Franklin, Vermont, United States |
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 | Marriage - 25 Oct 1859 - Calvary Church, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States |
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 | Death - 18 Nov 1886 - New York City, New York, New York, United States |
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 | Burial - 22 Nov 1886 - Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, Albany, New York, United States |
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 | Initiatory (LDS) - 1 Jun 1887 - SGEOR |
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| Notes |
- The 21st president of the United States.
The son of a Baptist preacher who had emigrated from northern Ireland, C h ester A. Arthur was America’s 21st President (1881-85), succeeding Pres id ent James Garfield upon his assassination.
Dignified, tall, and handsome, with clean-shaven chin and side-whisker s , Chester A. Arthur “looked like a President.”
The son of a Baptist preacher who had emigrated from northern Ireland, A r thur was born in Fairfield, Vermont, in 1829. He was graduated from Uni o n College in 1848, taught school, was admitted to the bar, and practic e d law in New York City. Early in the Civil War he served as Quartermast e r General of the State of New York.
President Grant in 1871 appointed him Collector of the Port of New Yor k . Arthur effectively marshalled the thousand Customs House employees un de r his supervision on behalf of Roscoe Conkling’s Stalwart Republican m ach ine.
Honorable in his personal life and his public career, Arthur neverthele s s was a firm believer in the spoils system when it was coming under veh em ent attack from reformers. He insisted upon honest administration of t h e Customs House, but staffed it with more employees than it needed, ret ai ning them for their merit as party workers rather than as Government o ffi cials.
In 1878 President Hayes, attempting to reform the Customs House, ouste d A rthur. Conkling and his followers tried to win redress by fighting fo r th e renomination of Grant at the 1880 Republican Convention. Failing , the y reluctantly accepted the nomination of Arthur for the Vice Presid ency.
During his brief tenure as Vice President, Arthur stood firmly beside Co n kling in his patronage struggle against President Garfield. But when Ar th ur succeeded to the Presidency, he was eager to prove himself above ma chi ne politics.
Avoiding old political friends, he became a man of fashion in his garb a n d associates, and often was seen with the elite of Washington, New Yor k , and Newport. To the indignation of the Stalwart Republicans, the onet im e Collector of the Port of New York became, as President, a champion o f c ivil service reform. Public pressure, heightened by the assassinatio n o f Garfield, forced an unwieldy Congress to heed the President.
In 1883 Congress passed the Pendleton Act, which established a bipartis a n Civil Service Commission, forbade levying political assessments again s t officeholders, and provided for a “classified system” that made certa i n Government positions obtainable only through competitive written exam in ations. The system protected employees against removal for political r eas ons.
Acting independently of party dogma, Arthur also tried to lower tariff r a tes so the Government would not be embarrassed by annual surpluses of r ev enue. Congress raised about as many rates as it trimmed, but Arthur si gne d the Tariff Act of 1883. Aggrieved Westerners and Southerners looke d t o the Democratic Party for redress, and the tariff began to emerge a s a m ajor political issue between the two parties.
The Arthur Administration enacted the first general Federal immigratio n l aw. Arthur approved a measure in 1882 excluding paupers, criminals, a nd l unatics. Congress suspended Chinese immigration for ten years, late r maki ng the restriction permanent.
Arthur demonstrated as President that he was above factions within the R e publican Party, if indeed not above the party itself. Perhaps in part h i s reason was the well-kept secret he had known since a year after he su cc eeded to the Presidency, that he was suffering from a fatal kidney dis eas e. He kept himself in the running for the Presidential nomination i n 188 4 in order not to appear that he feared defeat, but was not renomin ated , and died in 1886. Publisher Alexander K. McClure recalled, “No ma n eve r entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and n o on e ever retired … more generally respected.”
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