James Garfield Eesley
also known as Garfield (everyday); named for U.S. President James A. Garfield, assassinated September 1881 (the year of Garfield's birth)
b. 1881-09-16, Listowel, Perth, Ontario, Canada
d. 1950-11-29, District of Columbia, USA (buried Suitland, Prince George's County, Maryland)
He was the youngest of the ten children — born 16 September 1881 in Listowel, Perth County, Ontario, three days before U.S. President James A. Garfield died of his July assassination wound. The naming was direct: a Canadian-born child of a Canadian-resident American-descended family, given the name of the U.S. president whose death was on every North American front page that week. The middle name Garfield stuck as his everyday first name.
He is identified in William Eesley’s c. 1916 obituary as one of the six Eesley brothers who became millers — the obituary’s list ends ”…C. L., and Garfield.” By 1916 he was about 35; whichever mill he worked, he was operating it during the late progressive era and the First World War.
His later life took him east, not west or north — unlike his siblings (most of whom settled in Toronto or Michigan). He died on 29 November 1950 in Washington, D.C., age 69, and was buried at Suitland, Prince George’s County, Maryland — the suburban Washington area now adjacent to the Census Bureau and the Suitland Federal Center. He is the only one of the ten siblings whose later life is documented in the U.S. capital region. The circumstances of his move to Washington — and what he did there in the 1920s through 1940s — are queued research follow-ups against U.S. census, city directory, and Maryland vital records.
He appears in the 1899 Eesley family group portrait as the seated youngest at his father’s right knee — at the time about 17.
He is Chuck’s great-great-uncle on the paternal side.
Sources: Dale Eesley / FamilySearch — James Garfield Eesley (LB4K-Y8M); William Eesley obituary, c. 1916; the 1899 Eesley family group portrait caption transmitted by Chuck Eesley 2026.
