Perhaps the most famous graduate of any Free Will Baptist institution is the 20th President of the United States. James A. Garfield graduated from the two-year Geauga Seminary (Geauga History) in Chester, Ohio, after attending 1849-1850.
Geauga Seminary was started as a Free Will Baptist academy in 1842. Located 10 miles from the Garfield home, the seminary welcomed the 17-year-old James. He arrived on campus with $17 and the determination to get an education. The seminary had eight faculty members, a student body of 252, and a library of 150 volumes.
Garfield was converted in 1850 while attending the seminary, under the guidance of a Disciples minister, who also baptized him. Garfield was indebted to Geauga not only for an excellent two-year education, but also for his wife, Lucretia Randolph, who also attended the school.
Apparently, Mr. Garfield was quite poor while attending Geauga and did “anything and everything to earn money for his schooling.” He rented a room near the school, cooked his own meals, and chopped wood to help financially. His personal journal, dated March 31, 1849, records, “I have $1.48 left…my bed broke down last week, and I bought 75 feel of flax cord, and I guess it will hold me now.”
Mr. Garfield was known as an avid debater during his student days. The future President defended as his first thesis, “That Christians have no right to participate in human government.”
About the Writer: Jack Williams is a member of the Free Will Baptist Historical Commission
