Lucretia Rudolph Garfield

This watercolor on ivory portrait of First Lady Lucretia Garfield was done by Mary Brenda Francklyn near the end of Mrs. Garfield's life. Before she married, she taught in both Cleveland and Bayou, Ohio. She was recovering from malaria in New Jersey when President Garfield was shot three months into his first term in 1881. Though she was not yet well, she rushed back to Washington, D.C., to be with him. After his death, she led a private life and eventually resettled in South Pasadena, California.