 At Geauga Academy , which he attended from 1848 to 1850 , Garfield learned academic subjects he had not previously had time for . He shone as a student , and was especially interested in languages and elocution . He began to appreciate the power a speaker had over an audience , writing that the speaker 's platform " creates some excitement . I love agitation and investigation and glory in defending unpopular truth against popular error . " Geauga was co @-@ educational , and Garfield was attracted to one of his fellow students , Lucretia Rudolph , whom he later married . To support himself at Geauga , he worked as a carpenter 's assistant and as a teacher . The need to go from town to town to find a place as a teacher disgusted Garfield , and he thereafter developed a dislike of what he called " place @-@ seeking " , which became , he said , " the law of my life " . In later years , he would astound his friends by letting positions pass that could have been his with a little politicking . Garfield had attended church more to please his mother than to worship God , but in his late teens underwent a religious awakening , and attended many camp meetings , at one of which he was born again . The next day , March 4 , 1850 , he was baptized into the Disciples by being submerged in the icy waters of the Chagrin River . 
