Presdent James Abram Garfield Born in a log cabin, James Abram Garfield rose by his own efforts to become a college president, a major general in the Civil War, a leader in Congress, and finally president of the United States. Four months after his inauguration, he was shot by an assassin. After weeks of suffering he died. James Abram Garfield was born in Orange Township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Nov. 19, 1831. His father, Abram Garfield, had emigrated to Ohio from New York with his half brother, Amos Boynton, to work on the Ohio Canal. Abram married Eliza Ballou and Amos married her sister,