CHESTER A. ARTHUR 

Arthur was born October 5, 1829, in the parsonage in North Fairfield, Vermont, according to entries in the Arthur family Bible. Political opponents alleged that he was born across the Vermont border in Canada, therefore he was not qualified to be a US president but he denied the charges and no proof of his Canadian birth has ever surfaced. His father was Reverend William Arthur (1796-1875) and his mother was Malvina Stone Arthur (1802-1869). 

Chester was the fifth of eight children to live maturity. He had six sisters and a brother-Mrs. Regina Caw, Jane Arthur, Mrs. Almeda Masten, Ann Eliza Arthur, Mrs. Malvina Haynesworth, Major William Arthur Jr. and Mrs. Mary McElroy. 

Chester Arthur married Ellen “Nell” Lewis Herndon when he was 30 and she was 22 years of age, on October 25, 1859, at Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City. They had two children, a son and a daughter-Chester Alan Arthur, Jr. (1864-1937) and Ellen “Nell” Herndon Arthur (1871-1915). 

He learned the fundamentals of his education from his father and attended the academy in Union Village (now Greenwich), New York, at 15 he enrolled at the Lyceum in Schenectady. In 1845 he entered Union College in Schenectady from which he graduated in 1848. He went to study Law at Ballston Spa, New York and after a brief teaching career, he in 1853 resumed his Law studies in the office of E. D. Culver in New York City. He was admitted to the bar in 1854. 

He served in the New York State Militia during the civil war from February 1858 to December 1862, rising from brigade judge Advocate to quartermaster General. He became a junior partner in New York City firm of Culver, Parker, and Arthur and held some public positions-Consel to the New York City Tax Commission (1869-1870), Collector of the Port of New York (1871-1878) and latter he became vice president under James Garfield (1881). Arthur succeeded Garfield in the presidency after his assassination in 1881. 

Chester Alan Arthur died November 18, 1886, 5:00 A.M. at his home, 123 Lexington Avenue, New York City. He suffered from a fatal kidney ailment which caused an enlargement of his heart. On November 16, he suffered a stroke that paralyzed his left side. He never fully regained consciousness and died.

 

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