 James Garfield was born the youngest of five children on November 19 , 1831 , in a log cabin in Orange Township , now Moreland Hills , Ohio . Orange Township was located in the Western Reserve , and like many who settled there , Garfield 's ancestors were from New England . James ' father Abram had been born in Worcester , New York , and came to Ohio to woo his childhood sweetheart , Mehitabel Ballou , only to find her married . He instead wed her sister Eliza , who had been born in New Hampshire . James was named for an older brother , dead in infancy . 
