It was a long and tiresome journey of six weeks—a trip that could be accomplished now in twelve hours. The family were in the waggon, except when the waggon was stuck in the mud, and they were compelled to unload, and, with levers, lift it out. The roads were fearfully bad, without a bridge over a single river; so they had streams to ford, swamps to wade, and quagmires to avoid, enough to test the courage and patience of the most experienced woman and the bravest girl. On the way James shot game, so that there was no lack of food. At length they reached Zanesville, Muskingum County, one of the oldest settlements in Ohio at that time; and there they settled.

About five years later Abram Garfield took the “Ohio fever,” as it was called, or else the memory of the fair-haired maiden inspired him to nobler deeds, and he, too, started for the West—a young man of twenty years, hopeful, fearless, ambitious, and smart. He found work in Newburg, near Cleveland. Cleveland was then only a small collection of log-cabins, containing about one hundred people. Newburg was newer and more isolated. But, for some reason, the young adventurer selected the latter place for his home.

It is quite evident that he not only worked, but cast about to learn something of the maiden he could not forget. For he learned, after a time, that the Ballou family were at Zanesville, whither he wended his way on a visit, as soon as possible. The family gave him a hearty greeting, especially Eliza, who had grown into a winsome damsel of almost nineteen. That Abram was glad to see her would be a tame way of stating the fact. If Eliza had constituted all the “Far West” there was at that time, Abram would have been fascinated by the country, making no account at all of New York in the comparison. Without stretching out the tale into a “long yarn,” it will suffice to say, that Eliza just filled Abram’s eye, and in less than two years from that time became his wife. They were married February 3, 1821, and repaired at once to his chosen home, Newburg, where a log-cabin, eighteen by twenty feet, containing but one room, awaited them. It was a very humble abode, but true love put as much happiness into it as could have been there if it had been a palace. The cabin was destitute of sash or glass, though places for three windows, covered with greased paper, admitted light. Greased paper was a common substitute for glass, and was the “stained-glass” of that day. The furniture was manufactured by her noble husband, of whom she was as proud as he was of her; and it was the latest style of that region, therefore fashionable. It consisted of several three-legged stools, a puncheon-table, a bed in one corner, constructed of poles and slabs, a frying-pan, one iron pot, two wooden plates, with knives and forks to match, and a “Dutch oven,” which was simply a kettle with a rimmed cover, on which live coals were laid. Here James A. Garfield’s father began life in earnest, and here he lived nine years, during which time three of his children were born. He tilled the soil, and also at two different times took contracts on the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal, which was in process of construction.

The young adventurer was not satisfied, however. His growing family demanded larger provision for the future, so he purchased fifty acres of land, at two dollars an acre, in Orange, Cuyahoga County, seventeen miles from the first home of his wedded life. He selected this locality because Amos Boynton, whose wife was sister to Mrs. Garfield, had purchased a tract there; and the families could remove thither together. One log-cabin was erected first, in which both families lived, thick as “three in a bed,” until another cabin could be built. When these cabins were built, the nearest neighbour was seven miles away. It was January, 1830, when Abram Garfield removed to this new home in the wilderness. His cabin was larger and more substantial than the one he left. It was twenty by thirty feet, made of unhewn logs, notched and laid one upon another, in what boys call the “cob-house” style, to the height of twelve feet or more in front, and eight feet or more on the back side. The spaces between the logs were filled with clay or mud, making a warm abode for winter, and a cool one for summer.

The chimney was constructed of wood and mud, rising from the roof like a pyramid, smallest at the top. The roof was covered with slabs, held in place by long weight-poles. The floor was made of logs, each split into two parts and laid the flat side up, hewn smooth with an axe. There was a loft above, to which the family ascended by a sort of permanent ladder in one corner of the cabin. The children slept upon the floor of the loft, on straw beds. The only door of the dwelling was made of plank; and three small windows furnished all the light possible, though not so much as was needed. This, briefly, was the pioneer