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1867. Johnson left the White House in 1869 after serving almost four years as President completing
Lincoln’s second term. Johnson died on July 31, 1875 in Carter's Station, Tennessee.

James A. Garfield, Twentieth U.S. President, 1881: James A. Garfield was born in Cuyahoga
County, Ohio, on November 19, 1831. Fatherless at two, he later drove canal boat teams, somehow
earning enough money for an education. He was graduated from Williams College in
Massachusetts in 1856, and he returned to the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later Hiram
College) in Ohio as a classics professor. Within a year he was made its president. Garfield was
initiated on November 19, 1861 in Magnolia Lodge No. 20 in Columbus, Ohio. Owing to Civil
War duties, Brother Garfield did not receive the Third Degree until November 22, 1864 in
Columbus Lodge No. 30 in Columbus, Ohio. On October 10, 1866, he affiliated with Garrettsville
Lodge No. 246 in Garrettsville, Ohio. Brother Garfield became a Charter Member of Pentalpha
Lodge No. 23 of Washington, D.C. on May 4, 1869. Garfield was elected President in 1880 by a
margin of only 10,000 popular votes and was inaugurated on March 4, 1881. His Presidency was
cut short when an embittered attorney who had sought a consular post shot him on July 2, 1881,
in a Washington railroad station. Mortally wounded, Garfield died on September 19, 1881 from
the gunshot wound.

William McKinley, Twenty-Fifth U.S. President, 1897-1901: Born in Niles, Ohio, on January
29, 1843, McKinley briefly attended Allegheny College, and was teaching in a country school
when the Civil War broke out. Enlisting as a private in the Union Army, he was mustered out at
the end of the war as a brevet major of volunteers. He studied law, opened an office in Canton,
Ohio, and married Ida Saxton, daughter of a local banker. McKinley was initiated, passed, and
raised in Hiram Lodge No. 21 located in Winchester, Virginia during 1865. He affiliated with
Canton Lodge No. 60 in Canton, Ohio on 1867 and later demitted to become a Charter Member of
Eagle Lodge No. 431, also in Canton. McKinley was elected Governor of Ohio in 1891 and served
two terms from 1892 to 1896. He was inaugurated as President in 1897 and was elected to a second
term in 1900. Garfield’s second term as President came to a tragic end in September 1901. While
attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York he was shot by a deranged man.
Garfield would die eight days later on September 14, 1901, becoming the second Masonic
President to be assassinated.

Theodore Roosevelt, Twenty-Sixth U.S. President, 1901-1909: With the assassination of
President McKinley in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest President in
the Nation's history. He brought new excitement and power to the Presidency as he vigorously led
Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy. He was
born in New York City on October 27, 1858 into a wealthy family. Though he suffered from ill
health as a youth, he was an avid outdoorsman and conservationist. During the Spanish-American
War, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment, which he led on a charge at
the battle of San Juan. He was elected Governor of New York in 1898, serving with distinction.
Assuming the Presidency in September 1901, Roosevelt received the three degrees in Matinecock
Lodge No. 806 in Oyster Bay, New York during the year. He was very supportive of Freemasonry
during the remainder of his life. Following the completion of McKinley’s term, Roosevelt was
elected to a second term in his own right and served as President through 1909. Roosevelt died on
January 6, 1919 in Oyster Bay.

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