Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 October 1881 — PRESIDENT ARTHUR’S BIRTHPLACE. [ARTICLE]

PRESIDENT ARTHUR’S BIRTHPLACE.

A Vexed Question Settled—Personal Testimony From a Trustworthy Source—Some Interesting Bernmiscencefe Of the Arthur Family. Indianapolis Times. r '.\ There had been a good deal of talk about President Arthur’s birthplace, and an effort has been made to make It appear that he was not born in the United States. Tbe question ia no longer one of practical importance, but in order’to remove any doubt that might exist in the mind of aav person, we wrote to Dr. C. N. Case, of Brandon, Vt., requesting of him a statement of the facts in the case, withinin his personal knowledge. Dr. Case has sent us the following interesting letter which settles the question of the President’s birth place, and recalls some interesting reminiscences of his advent in the world: "In regard to your inquiries about the birthplace of'President Arthur, I won kl say that my own personal knowledge of the event is as complete as could be expected of one who was at that time a lad of about ten years of

age. My own parents were then living In a place called North Fairfield. Vt., which was more accurately the Northwestern School District of that town, which was strictly a farming town, lying directly east of and adjoining the better known town of St. Albans, Vt. About the year 1828 there was settled over the Baptist Church in that place, a youug minister of more than ordinary ability, who’-drew large audiences by his rare eloquence and earnest zeal; He at first preached in a dilapidated school house, which soon was not able to accommodate one-fourth of those desiring to htar him. A capacious barn was called into requisition. A church was built in due time; also, a small parsonage. The erection of this (18 by 24) structure as a more iiermsnent home for the family made them our nearest neighbors, only about onefourth of a mile distant, and on our way to school, so that my acquaintance with the family became quite intimate. There were then four children, all daughters. (1) Regina, afterward Mrs. Caw, who lias been a widow ‘or sixteen years; (2) Jane, who died at the age of sixteen; (3) Almeda, now Mrs. Marston, living. I think, at Cohoes, N. Y.; (4) Ann Eliza, still unmarried. One son and two daughters have been born since the birth of Chester A. One beautiful October evening in the autumn of 1830, as our family were about retiring to rest, we missed our mother, and her mysterious ab-sence caused some commotion among her . little brood. Our questions were answered gravely and evasively by our father, but the mystery was solved by her return in the morning with her face radiant with smiles,- when she informed us that a new boy had been sent to the minister’s family during the night. 1 called to see the new boy during the next day, being the first "man” who called on him I think. I was not present at his birth, not haviug received my medical diploma till many years afterward; but if the testimony of my mother, and grandmother, and the evidence I gained the next day, and by the universal acception of the fact, by the hundreds who saw tho child, and the thousands who knew the family—if all this testimony amounts to any thing, I positively know that dies ter A. Arthur, Now President of Hie United States, was born at Fairfield, Vt., early in October, 1830. The event of a tson bom in the cler gyman’s family iu a quiet,lmoral parish fifty years ago, was a thrilling incident, and the scenes connected with it are as fresh iu my mind as tiie eveqts of 3'ester lay. The joy of the sisters on having a new brother, the bit of gossip concerning the great anxiety of the Rev, father as to the sex of the expected one; his daucing with delight wiien it was announced "it is a l*>y”— all this I well remember. I remember the boy in his cradle, in his learning to creep, aud bis learning to walk. My last recollection ot him as a child was seeing him Btand in the dorway of the little parsonage, looking up at me with bis great wondering black eyes, ids simple attire rather the worse for wear, aud from a recent bath in a neighboring mud puddle, he was looking about as unlike a future President as possible. The family, after between three and four years' in Fairfield, moved to a town in New York, about 200 miles awayj and from that time my knowledge of the family became more meager. I often heard of them, and usually knew where they were. Since my residence here I have had an occasional call from Rev. Dr. Arthur,who kent me informed about his family; and when Chester began to be prominent politics I easily recognized the boy born at Fairfield, in 1830, of whom his father often spoke with paternal Eride —of his wonderful scholarship,his onorable .college career, and later, of his progepsa a? a lawyer in New York

City.

C. L. CASE.

Brandon, Vt., September 25.