Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome
Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry.
Speaker 1: Last time, in our episode about Julius Sands Letters to
Speaker 1: Chester A. Arthur, we mentioned that when Arthur was selected
Speaker 1: as the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee in eighteen eighty
Speaker 1: some questions came up about whether or not he had
Speaker 1: been born in the United States, and consequently whether he
Speaker 1: was eligible to be the vice president at all. And
Speaker 1: some of the details of this are a little convoluted,
Speaker 1: and it's not necessarily everyday knowledge today. I think the
Speaker 1: random people in my life that I asked if they
Speaker 1: had ever heard about this head not. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, it has had a surprising amount of staying power.
Speaker 1: And after doing a little bit of research into this
Speaker 1: while doing that Julius sand episode, I couldn't decide what
Speaker 1: to make of the whole thing. So I tell said
Speaker 1: my friend Amy, who's a history teacher, and I asked her,
Speaker 1: do you have an opinion on whether Chester A. Arthur
Speaker 1: was born in the United States? She did not have
Speaker 1: an opinion, and then We talked about it for the
Speaker 1: next two hours, and over the course of that conversation
Speaker 1: we were both like, this needs to be a whole
Speaker 1: episode and not just a two sentence side reference in
Speaker 1: the Julia sand thing. So here it is. The questions
Speaker 1: about Chester A. Arthur's birth really traced back to his dad.
Speaker 1: Arthur's father, William Arthur, was born December fifth, seventeen ninety
Speaker 1: six in County Antrim, Ireland. His family had enough money
Speaker 1: for him to get an education, including pursuing a degree
Speaker 1: at Belfast College, but William wanted to practice law, and
Speaker 1: they didn't really have the money or connections that he
Speaker 1: needed to do that. So William immigrated to Canada around
Speaker 1: eighteen nineteen, hoping to find more opportunities there. He settled
Speaker 1: in Quebec, not far from the United States border, and
Speaker 1: supported himself by teaching while he was still studying law.
Speaker 1: In eighteen twenty one, he married an American woman named
Speaker 1: Malvina Stone from Vermont. Her family had moved to Canada,
Speaker 1: and then they had a daughter named Regina, born in Dunham, Canada,
Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty two. Two years later, in eighteen twenty four,
Speaker 1: the couple moved to Burlington, Vermont, and Arthur continued to
Speaker 1: teach and study law, and their daughter, Jane was then
Speaker 1: born in Burlington, Vermont that same year. William Arthur never
Speaker 1: put those years of legal study into practice. This was
Speaker 1: during the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening.
Speaker 1: Arthur had been raised Anglican, and after attending a Revival meeting,
Speaker 1: he converted to Free Baptist as that was happening. He
Speaker 1: and his wife had another daughter, Almeida, born in Jericho, Vermont,
Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty six. By eighteen twenty eight, they were
Speaker 1: living in Waterville, Vermont, where their daughter Anne Eliza was born.
Speaker 1: Then later that year, Arthur was ordained in Waterville. From
Speaker 1: that point on, people mostly knew him as Elder Arthur.
Speaker 1: He also nearly stopped registering the births of his children
Speaker 1: with civil authorities at this time. In May of eighty eight,
Speaker 1: the family moved to Fairfield, Vermont, where a congregation had
Speaker 1: hired William as their preacher. In Fairfield, Elder Arthur continued
Speaker 1: to teach to help make ends meet, often with his
Speaker 1: students lodging with the family. The congregation was growing and
Speaker 1: building things like a new parsonage and a new church
Speaker 1: but the Arthur's often struggled financially. Winters were especially hard
Speaker 1: because William was disabled due to some kind of abscess
Speaker 1: or injury to one of his legs back when he
Speaker 1: was still living in Ireland. It was harder for him
Speaker 1: to do physical work or get around in the harsh,
Speaker 1: snowy weather of winter Vermont. On October five nine, William
Speaker 1: and Malvina welcomed a son, and they named him Chester,
Speaker 1: after Malvina's cousin, Dr Chester Abel, who had attended her
Speaker 1: during the birth. The baby's middle name, Alan was after
Speaker 1: his paternal grandfather, so his full name was representing both
Speaker 1: sides of the family. In a Hober of eighteen thirty,
Speaker 1: Elder Arthur took a second job across the Canadian border
Speaker 1: in East Stanbridge, Quebec to try to support his still
Speaker 1: growing family. They would ultimately go on to have eight children.
Speaker 1: He took his eldest daughter, Regina with him. He commuted
Speaker 1: back to Fairfield to preach his Sunday sermons there. Within
Speaker 1: a year, though the family was moving yet again. In
Speaker 1: addition to being a teacher and a preacher, William Arthur
Speaker 1: was an ardent abolitionist. Vermont had started the process of
Speaker 1: abolishing slavery back in seventeen seventy seven, and black men
Speaker 1: in Vermont had been given the right to vote. But
Speaker 1: in the eighteen thirties, the idea of abolishing slavery throughout
Speaker 1: the United States was incredibly controversial. Pro slavery and anti
Speaker 1: abolition riots and other violence were pretty common, including in
Speaker 1: places where slavery had already been abolished. William was really
Speaker 1: outspoken in his views against slavery, and before long he
Speaker 1: was no longer welcome in Fairfield. The family moved repeat
Speaker 1: eatedly over the next few years, mostly around Vermont and
Speaker 1: New York. They would stay in a place until they
Speaker 1: were run out of town by anti abolitionists or until
Speaker 1: church leadership decided William's activities were too much of a liability.
Speaker 1: Throughout all of this, Chester, Arthur and his siblings were
Speaker 1: being taught at home. That changed when the family moved
Speaker 1: to Schenectady, New York, in the summer of eighteen forty four.
Speaker 1: For the first time, Chester was enrolled in a formal school.
Speaker 1: He went to Schenectady's Lyceum and Academy, and then he
Speaker 1: started at Union College in eighteen forty five. He took
Speaker 1: up the study of law that his father had previously abandoned. Also,
Speaker 1: like his father, Chester Arthur worked as a teacher to
Speaker 1: support his study of law. This included summer teaching jobs and,
Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty one, a post as principal of the
Speaker 1: school where two of his sisters worked There, he was
Speaker 1: also assigned to teach a group of particularly ill behaved boys.
Speaker 1: He also developed romantic friendships with two other young men,
Speaker 1: Campbell Allen and James Maston. James would later marry Chester's sister,
Speaker 1: al Maida. As they got older, Chester and some of
Speaker 1: his siblings became pretty disenchanted with their father's self righteous
Speaker 1: behavior and his almost zealous pursuit of both religion and abolition.
Speaker 1: So Chester, having the option to do so, left home.
Speaker 1: He moved to New York City in eighteen fifty three.
Speaker 1: Soon he was moving in Republican political circles, and the
Speaker 1: rest of that story is in our earlier episode on
Speaker 1: his letters from Julia sand In June of eighteen eighty,
Speaker 1: Chester A. Arthur became the Republican Party's nominee for Vice
Speaker 1: President of the United States. Soon the Arthur family's nomadic
Speaker 1: life during the eighteen twenties and thirties, Elder Arthur's not
Speaker 1: reporting his younger children's births and Chester Arthur's extreme secrecy
Speaker 1: with the press all combined to cause a problem. Rumors
Speaker 1: started to spread among both Democrats and the moderate Republican
Speaker 1: faction known as half breeds. In some versions, Arthur had
Speaker 1: been born in his father's birthplace of Ireland, and in
Speaker 1: other versions he had been born in Canada. The Ireland
Speaker 1: rumor was quickly dismissed as impossible, but that Canada rumor
Speaker 1: hung on. According to Article to Section one of the
Speaker 1: U s Constitution, quote, no person except a natural born
Speaker 1: citizen or a citizen of the United States at the
Speaker 1: time of the adoption of this Constitution shall be eligible
Speaker 1: to the office of President. And according to the Twelfth Amendment,
Speaker 1: which took effect in eighteen o four, quote, no person
Speaker 1: constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible
Speaker 1: to that a Vice President of the United States. The
Speaker 1: Constitution doesn't define exactly what natural born citizen means, but
Speaker 1: it's generally defined as someone who was a citizen from
Speaker 1: the time they were born without having to go through
Speaker 1: a naturalization process. When Chester Arthur was born, it was
Speaker 1: generally agreed that free white people born in the United
Speaker 1: States were citizens from birth, although it wasn't formally part
Speaker 1: of the law until later. The law also recognized that
Speaker 1: a person might be born outside of the United States
Speaker 1: to citizen parents and still be considered a citizen from birth,
Speaker 1: but at that time the law considered this citizenship to
Speaker 1: pass through the father and not through the mother. Arthur's
Speaker 1: father didn't become a U. S. Citizen until eighteen forty three,
Speaker 1: way after he was born, so if Arthur had been
Speaker 1: born in Canada, he would not be considered a U.
Speaker 1: S citizen even though his mother was a citizen. And
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to how all of this unfolded after
Speaker 1: we first take a little sponsor break. The eighteen eighty
Speaker 1: Republican National Convention ran from June second to eighth of
Speaker 1: that year, and then on June nine, the day after
Speaker 1: it was over, the New York Times ran a profile
Speaker 1: of the party's new vice presidential nominee which stated, quote
Speaker 1: General Chester A. Arthur was born in Franklin County, Vermont,
Speaker 1: October fifth, eighteen thirty. On jun eleventh, the St. Johnsbury
Speaker 1: Caledonian of St. John's Bury, Vermont, wrote quote. The papers
Speaker 1: say Chester A. Arthur was born in Lansingburg, New York,
Speaker 1: fifty years ago, but his father used to live in Vermont,
Speaker 1: and some say the candidate was born in Fairfield. On
Speaker 1: June twelfth, the Carbon Advocate of Lee Heightened, Pennsylvania published
Speaker 1: an article that said he had been born in Vermont.
Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty one, The Abbeyville Press and Banner of Abbeyville,
Speaker 1: South Carolina published an article on the twenty three that
Speaker 1: said Arthur had been born in Albany in eighteen thirty one.
Speaker 1: He was born seven times in various places. A little later,
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty, General James S. Brisbane published a biography
Speaker 1: for the campaign called From the Towpath to the White
Speaker 1: House The Early life and public Career of James A. Garfield,
Speaker 1: Major General USA. The record of a wonderful career which,
Speaker 1: like that of Abraham Lincoln, by native energy and untiring industry,
Speaker 1: led this man from obscurity to the foremost position in
Speaker 1: the councils of the Nation, including a sketch of the
Speaker 1: life of Honorable Chester A. Arthur Moment of silence for
Speaker 1: these fabulous titles. The text follows the same pattern as
Speaker 1: the title, spending more than five hundred pages on Garfield's
Speaker 1: biography and twenty three on Arthur's, with five of those
Speaker 1: being the text of Arthur's speech accepting the nomination. Brisbane
Speaker 1: gives Arthur's date and place of birth as October five,
Speaker 1: eight thirty in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont. So it's clear
Speaker 1: from just these examples, which are just some of the
Speaker 1: reporting around all of this, there was some confusion about
Speaker 1: exactly when and where Arthur was born. I found zero
Speaker 1: references from eighteen eighty that said that he was born
Speaker 1: in Fairfield, Vermont, on October five, eighteen twenty nine, which
Speaker 1: is what's considered correct today. By the late fall and
Speaker 1: early winter of eighteen eighty, this lack of clarity about
Speaker 1: where and when Arthur had been born had grown to
Speaker 1: include suspicion that wherever it was, it was not in
Speaker 1: the United States. An article published on December twenty, eighteen eighty,
Speaker 1: in the Sacramento Daily Record Union read quote, A lawyer
Speaker 1: of Brooklyn has been investigating in Vermont to see if
Speaker 1: Chester A. Arthur was not really born on Canadian soil,
Speaker 1: and left apparently pleased with his discoveries. Old residents say
Speaker 1: there is no question of Arthur being a citizen. The
Speaker 1: Brooklyn lawyer being referenced was Arthur P. Henman, who in
Speaker 1: some accounts had been hired by the Democrats and in
Speaker 1: others was an anti stalwart Republican. He really could have
Speaker 1: been both those things at the same time. At first,
Speaker 1: Henman believed that Arthur had been born in Ireland, but
Speaker 1: he gradually started focusing on the idea that he might
Speaker 1: really be Canadian. He traveled to the Vermont Quebec of
Speaker 1: border area to interview people about what they remembered of
Speaker 1: the Arthur family and their baby boy from fifty years
Speaker 1: before or later on. In eighteen eighty four, when Arthur
Speaker 1: was pursuing a nomination for re election, Henman published these
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty findings in a book titled How a British
Speaker 1: Subject Became President of the United States. Without really citing
Speaker 1: any sources, Hinman alleged that after being nominated for Vice President,
Speaker 1: Arthur couldn't say where he had been born. Henman also
Speaker 1: alleged that Arthur had gone to Montreal after the Republican
Speaker 1: National Convention to see if there was any evidence of
Speaker 1: his birth in records. There there is no evidence for
Speaker 1: either of these assertions, although the day after the convention ended,
Speaker 1: The New York Times did publish a column called Campaign
Speaker 1: Notes which paraphrased Roscoe Conkling as saying he might spend
Speaker 1: some time that summer fishing with Arthur in Canada. Henman's
Speaker 1: contention was, this was not a fishing trip. It was
Speaker 1: a go see if you're found out, and if so,
Speaker 1: cover it up trip. Henman's key witness was a quote
Speaker 1: Mrs Stevens, who had been a playmate and companion of
Speaker 1: Mrs Arthur went at school. According to Henman, Mrs Stephens
Speaker 1: said that Chester Arthur's mother, Malvina, had given birth to
Speaker 1: her oldest boy on March sixteenth or eighteenth, eighteen twenty eight,
Speaker 1: at her parents house in Dunham Flats in Quebec. Mrs
Speaker 1: Stevens remembered that it was one day off from St
Speaker 1: Patrick's Day, but she couldn't really remember in which direction
Speaker 1: it was one day off of St Patrick's day. This baby,
Speaker 1: according to her, was named William Chester Alan Arthur. Henman
Speaker 1: went on to say that in November of eighteen thirty,
Speaker 1: Melvina Arthur had delivered another son, Chester Abel Arthur. While
Speaker 1: living in Fairfield, Vermont. Chester Abel had then died in
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty one while the family was visiting Burlington, Vermont.
Speaker 1: From there, Henman details more moves and more births for
Speaker 1: the Arthur family before arriving at the eighteen thirty four
Speaker 1: birth of William Arthur Jr. And Heinsburg, Vermont. At that time,
Speaker 1: Henman claimed the family decided to drop the William from
Speaker 1: their oldest guns name William Chester Alan Arthur, making him
Speaker 1: just Chester Alan Arthur. Henman connected all these dots to
Speaker 1: conclude that the man the world knew as Chester Alan
Speaker 1: Arthur born in Vermont was really his eldest brother born
Speaker 1: in Quebec. So dramatic and weird. Not only that, Hinman
Speaker 1: contended that William Chester Alan Arthur had decided to adopt
Speaker 1: the birthdate and birthplace of his deceased baby brother, Chester
Speaker 1: Able when he decided to run for president. There are
Speaker 1: some problems with Henman's account. It is cobbled together from
Speaker 1: a hodgepodge of interviews, many of them with people in
Speaker 1: their elder years who were recalling events and baby names
Speaker 1: from about fifty years before. A lot of these accounts
Speaker 1: really contradict each other and while Heiman cherry picked the
Speaker 1: ones that supported his allegations when describing what he thought happened.
Speaker 1: He then included all of them in his book, whether
Speaker 1: they backed him up or not, So you can go
Speaker 1: read all of like the totally disparate accounts of what
Speaker 1: people I thought this baby's name was and when he
Speaker 1: was born in his explanation, so sort of the summary
Speaker 1: portion of this book. It is often not clear whose
Speaker 1: account Henman is referring to, and in some spots he
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to have a source for what he's saying
Speaker 1: at all. Maybe wouldn't pass muster in your journalism one
Speaker 1: oh one course. Now on top of that, his whole
Speaker 1: argument rests on the idea that Malvina Arthur gave birth
Speaker 1: to a boy named William Chester Alan Arthur on either
Speaker 1: March sixteenth or eighteenth of eighteen twenty eight. But we
Speaker 1: know that she gave birth to a daughter, and Eliza Arthur,
Speaker 1: on January one, of eighty eight. The only way this
Speaker 1: could have happened would be for these two children to
Speaker 1: have been fraternal twins born eleven weeks apart, or from
Speaker 1: Alvina Arthur to have had two wombs and been pregnant
Speaker 1: in both at the same time. Both of those scenarios
Speaker 1: are incredibly rare, and the first would have been virtually
Speaker 1: impossible given the state of medicine in eighteen twenty eight.
Speaker 1: Is more likely to happen on Gray's anatomy than in
Speaker 1: the real world. Even so, though by February of a
Speaker 1: teen eighty one, after the election but before the inauguration,
Speaker 1: papers were reporting on Hinman's speculations, sometimes mentioning him by
Speaker 1: name and other times not. For example, the Centered Democrat
Speaker 1: of bellefont Pennsylvania published an article on February third one
Speaker 1: that read, quote, it has been charged with great deliberation
Speaker 1: for several weeks that Chester A. Arthur, the Vice President elect,
Speaker 1: is not a native of the United States. These allegations
Speaker 1: have taken form, and affidavit's have been procured by those
Speaker 1: investigating the matter, which go on to prove conclusively that
Speaker 1: Mr Arthur was born in Canada. Also on the third
Speaker 1: the Western Sentinel of Winston Salem, North Carolina published this
Speaker 1: statement quote. The latest sensation now is that Chester A.
Speaker 1: Arthur is not eligible to the position of vice president
Speaker 1: to which he has been elected. In a probability that W. H.
Speaker 1: English will yet be vice president. Six days later, in
Speaker 1: the clear Field Republican of clear Field of Pennsylvania, quote,
Speaker 1: where was he born? Is now agitating the public mind?
Speaker 1: The Vice President elect Chester A. Arthur claims that he
Speaker 1: was born in the state of Vermont, but a little
Speaker 1: investigation seems to show that he was born in Canada
Speaker 1: and therefore as not eligible. It is queer that a
Speaker 1: sensible man cannot tell where he was born. And on
Speaker 1: February twenty three, in the Indiana States Sentinel, quote, it
Speaker 1: seems to be impossible to find out just where Chester A. Arthur,
Speaker 1: vice President elect, was born. Arthur does not know he
Speaker 1: was not born where, nor when he asserts he was born.
Speaker 1: He has no proofs of his nativity. But the Senate
Speaker 1: Committee on Privileges and Elections have come to the conclusion
Speaker 1: that he was born in three towns and all within
Speaker 1: the United States that will do so. I did not
Speaker 1: actually find evidence that the Senate Committee on Privileges and
Speaker 1: Elections had come to that conclu usian at all, and
Speaker 1: the National Republican called the report that the committee was
Speaker 1: looking into it an idiotic lie. Also, to be clear,
Speaker 1: these newspapers all had their own political slants, and some
Speaker 1: of them had initially been started to support a specific
Speaker 1: candidate or a specific party. So none of this should
Speaker 1: be interpreted as an impartial account of anything I did
Speaker 1: for a while ago on this rabbit hole of like
Speaker 1: trying to trace the political leanings of the editors of
Speaker 1: all of these papers, and then I was like, this
Speaker 1: is like fifteen different papers were referring to. That's gonna
Speaker 1: take me a master's thesis and this is a thirty
Speaker 1: minute podcast as an assigned Am I the only one
Speaker 1: that doesn't think it would be that weird to not
Speaker 1: know where you're born? Oh No, I think that's totally
Speaker 1: like one you don't remember, right, And to his family
Speaker 1: was so nomadic they might not even remember with any
Speaker 1: sort of clarity or consistency. Yeah, I I totally know
Speaker 1: where my where I was born because my parents told
Speaker 1: me specifically, and we lived like near enough to the
Speaker 1: hospital I was born in that we would go past
Speaker 1: it and my mom would be like, that's where you
Speaker 1: were born. But well, and it was a recorded birth
Speaker 1: as well, right, Yeah, I have a birth certificate. But yeah,
Speaker 1: these were all babies who are mostly being born at
Speaker 1: home or at a relative's house, like in families that
Speaker 1: were moving around a whole lot, and when babies weren't
Speaker 1: viewed with quite the same Uh, there was not the
Speaker 1: level of preciousness like yeah, celebration. Yeah, so many babies
Speaker 1: died when they were really young that like sometimes people
Speaker 1: didn't even name their babies until later, Like it was
Speaker 1: not nearly as documented as is now, so that the
Speaker 1: fact that there was uncertainty is not really strange. No,
Speaker 1: I don't think so either. Uh. James Garfield was inaugurated
Speaker 1: as president on March foe, and at that point the
Speaker 1: chatter about where Arthur was born seems to have quieted down,
Speaker 1: at least as far as what was being printed in newspapers.
Speaker 1: But after Garfield was shot by ARLs Jay Gato, the
Speaker 1: question took on a renewed urgency, and we're going to
Speaker 1: talk more about that after we have another little sponsor break.
Speaker 1: President Garfield survived for weeks after being shot in March
Speaker 1: of eighteen eighty one, and as his death seemed more
Speaker 1: and more likely, people once again started raising questions about
Speaker 1: his vice president and whether he was eligible to the presidency.
Speaker 1: On September eight one, the National Republican of Washington d c.
Speaker 1: Published this exchange as a letter to the editor. Quote
Speaker 1: to the editor of The Republican, will you please inform
Speaker 1: me where General Chester A. Arthur was born? C? J.
Speaker 1: Lemon The answer quote General Arthur was born in Fairfield,
Speaker 1: Franklin County, Vermont, on October thirty. There are some persons
Speaker 1: who do aver that he was born in Canada, but
Speaker 1: they do not know what they're talking about. Surprisingly, the
Speaker 1: Republicans definitive statement did not settle this issue. They do
Speaker 1: not know what they were talking about. I love that
Speaker 1: Garfield died on September nine. On September twenty, the New
Speaker 1: York Herald printed a report written before his death which
Speaker 1: definitively stated that Arthur was born in Fairfield, Vermont. It
Speaker 1: based this conclusion on an interview with an anonymous source,
Speaker 1: who was described as an intimate friend. This friend said
Speaker 1: the whole story of a foreign birth came about because
Speaker 1: Arthur's old neighbors quote assumed too much when hearing that
Speaker 1: Chester Arthur had been named for Dr Chester Abel. The
Speaker 1: Herald's reporter interviewed A. P. Hinman and recapped his version
Speaker 1: of events as well. The Herald also interviewed New York
Speaker 1: lawyer and former US District Attorney George Bliss, who was
Speaker 1: a colleague of Arthur's, who said, in part quote, I
Speaker 1: can only say that the whole thing is the most
Speaker 1: arrant nonsense. I might as well have been asked whether
Speaker 1: of sorrow as a citizen. The question of the American
Speaker 1: citizenship of Mr Arthur is so absurd that it would
Speaker 1: be a waste to say anything about it. The Herald's
Speaker 1: report was picked up and republished in other newspapers, including
Speaker 1: the Memphis Daily Appeal. On September twenty one, The New
Speaker 1: York Sun published the findings of its own investigation into
Speaker 1: where Arthur had been born. The Sun's report ran under
Speaker 1: the headline General Arthur's birthplace. It is near the Canada
Speaker 1: line on the Vermont side, it began, quote, The Sun
Speaker 1: has received lately many letters of inquiry as to the
Speaker 1: birthplace of Chester Alan Arthur, as well as other letters
Speaker 1: professing doubt of General Arthur's citizenship, some of them alleging
Speaker 1: that he was born in the neighborhood of Dunham, Canada,
Speaker 1: and therefore not eligible to the Vice presidency to settle
Speaker 1: that question. Definitely, a reporter for The Sun visited Fairfield
Speaker 1: Franklin County, Vermont, which has generally been regarded as Mr
Speaker 1: Arthur's birthplace. The place in Canada where it has been
Speaker 1: alleged that he was born was also it did if
Speaker 1: you're thinking right now, hey, Tracy and Holly, is that
Speaker 1: the same New York Sun that published the Great Moon
Speaker 1: Hoax and the Yes Virginia Letter. Yes, it is sure thing. Uh.
Speaker 1: It also seems to have at least in the like
Speaker 1: the Hodgepodge of articles from there from this particular year,
Speaker 1: because it's political leanings shifted over time. Uh. It really
Speaker 1: seems to be more critical of Republicans than Democrats in
Speaker 1: eight one. So, like Arthur Henman, this Son reporter had
Speaker 1: gone to the general area where Arthur had been born
Speaker 1: and had tried to find formal documentation about when and
Speaker 1: where that happened. But this reporter did not find anything conclusive.
Speaker 1: The church where Elder Arthur had been preaching at the
Speaker 1: time in Fairfield was no longer standing, and the Greater
Speaker 1: Free Baptist Organization had really dwindled. It no longer had
Speaker 1: any records. So the only record that he found of
Speaker 1: the Arthur's in Dunham, Canada, which is where p but
Speaker 1: we're alleging Chester Arthur had been born was a record
Speaker 1: of the birth of William Arthur's eldest daughter. From there,
Speaker 1: the reporter interviewed locals who were between the ages of
Speaker 1: sixty and eighty seven. The article contained such testimonies as well,
Speaker 1: I reckon I recollect Elder Arthur. He came here to preach.
Speaker 1: When they were building the new meetinghouse. There was a
Speaker 1: kind of a fish shaped vein with eight painted on it.
Speaker 1: It was painted so bad that the feller has painted
Speaker 1: it was ashamed of it. I like how this local
Speaker 1: person from Vermont is written as though he talked like
Speaker 1: a cowhand. Yeah Texas, Yeah, um so those That quote
Speaker 1: was purportedly the words of Leonard D. Greer, who also
Speaker 1: remembered the Arthur's and specifically remembered that Dr chester Able
Speaker 1: had delivered their son. Greer was really certain that they
Speaker 1: had named this baby chester Able after the doctor. Other
Speaker 1: people that were interviewed around Fairfield had the same recollection,
Speaker 1: and that included dr Abel's brother, Calvin. The doctor himself,
Speaker 1: by this point had passed on. Calvin answered a question
Speaker 1: about this baby's name with quote, well, I guess having
Speaker 1: been named after my brother, it's Chester Abele Arthur. The
Speaker 1: overall consensus of the people interviewed in Fairfield was that
Speaker 1: the Arthur's had a son while living there, that they
Speaker 1: named him Chester Abel, after the doctor who delivered him,
Speaker 1: and that he was the same person as the Chester
Speaker 1: Arthur who had been elected vice president. Although several people
Speaker 1: who thought about it were surprised his middle name was
Speaker 1: given as Alan rather than Able, other people had given
Speaker 1: that no thought whatsoever. The son's reporter, though, also talked
Speaker 1: to some people who maintained that this was not the
Speaker 1: same person. Their argument was that Chester Abele Arthur had
Speaker 1: died in Burlington, Vermont, while still a baby, and that
Speaker 1: elder Arthur had given his body to doctors quote to
Speaker 1: dissected for scientific purposes. Then, while elder Arthur was working
Speaker 1: in East Standbridge, according to this account, his wife and
Speaker 1: the rest of the children were living with her parents
Speaker 1: in Meg's Corners, Canada. And then while there these people
Speaker 1: alleged she had another baby, and this other baby is
Speaker 1: the one who became president, taking his brother's identity to
Speaker 1: do it. So it's really similar to the story that
Speaker 1: Henman had reported about Arthur taking a deceased baby brother's name,
Speaker 1: but in this case it was an older brother and
Speaker 1: not a younger brother. The residence of East Stanbridge, Quebec,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, remembered things differently. Seventy year old
Speaker 1: Lyndall Corey reported that Elder Arthur had come to town
Speaker 1: with his daughter Regina in the autumn of eighteen thirty
Speaker 1: and taught there for eighteen months. Neither Corey nor anyone
Speaker 1: else interviewed in East Stanbridge recalled the rest of the
Speaker 1: family being present. Corey had heard this rumor about donating
Speaker 1: a baby's body two doctors, but didn't have any recollection
Speaker 1: of a bee being born to the Arthur's in East Stanbridge,
Speaker 1: or of any of the Arthur's living there besides Elder
Speaker 1: Arthur and his daughter Regina. So as had happened with
Speaker 1: Henman's report, the Sun got a whole lot of contradictory
Speaker 1: accounts from locals, and again these were people being asked
Speaker 1: about a baby name from fifty years before. The son, however,
Speaker 1: drew the opposite conclusion in its report to what Henman did,
Speaker 1: citing an anonymous gentleman quote intimately connected with the president's
Speaker 1: life and family. This anonymous source said that Arthur was
Speaker 1: named after both Dr Chester Able and his own paternal grandfather.
Speaker 1: The son reported that this unnamed source had personally seen
Speaker 1: the Arthur family Bible and that the entry for Chester's
Speaker 1: birth read Chester Alan Arthur born in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont,
Speaker 1: October five, eighteen thirty. Speculation continued in the months that followed,
Speaker 1: and as we noted earlier, Henman published his book when
Speaker 1: Arthur was seeking re election in eighteen eighty four, but
Speaker 1: when Arthur didn't earn the Republican nomination for president, the
Speaker 1: question faded away, and then he died in eighteen six.
Speaker 1: Arthur never directly addressed this controversy, but according to an
Speaker 1: article published in The New York Times on February twelfth,
Speaker 1: eighty one, he did give a speech at a celebratory
Speaker 1: dinner at Delmonico's in New York City. About two hundred
Speaker 1: people were there, including politicians and high profile supporters. In
Speaker 1: his speech, Arthur said quote, I don't think we had
Speaker 1: better go into the minute secrets of the campaign so
Speaker 1: far as I know them, because I see reporters present
Speaker 1: who were taking it all down. And while there is
Speaker 1: no harm in talking about some things after the election,
Speaker 1: is over you cannot tell what they may make of
Speaker 1: it because the inauguration has not yet taken place. And
Speaker 1: while I don't mean to say anything about my birthplace,
Speaker 1: whether it was in Canada or elsewhere, still, if I
Speaker 1: should get to going about the secrets of the campaign,
Speaker 1: there is no saying what I might say to make
Speaker 1: trouble between now and the fourth of March. So, after
Speaker 1: all of that, when and where was Chester A. Arthur born?
Speaker 1: We actually have more information on that than you might
Speaker 1: think from the quality of all of those nineteenth century reports. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's more to go on than oral testimony from people
Speaker 1: living fifty years later. Not that oral testimony is without value,
Speaker 1: but seriously, who really remembers the middle name of the
Speaker 1: baby that was born in your neighborhood to a family
Speaker 1: that lived there for a couple of years fifty years before.
Speaker 1: I imagine there are people here and there that might
Speaker 1: but overall, I would not put a whole lot of
Speaker 1: stock in those accounts. Now now, So, three different members
Speaker 1: of the Arthur family compiled genealogies, all of them started
Speaker 1: decades before Chester became a vice presidential nominee. William Arthur Sr.
Speaker 1: Started compiling one about the time he converted to Free Baptist.
Speaker 1: Chester Arthur compiled one in eighteen fifty nine, and Chester's sister,
Speaker 1: Malvina Arthur Haynesworth wrote one in her diary. All three
Speaker 1: of them give Chester's state of birth as October five,
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty nine. We also have two different Arthur family bibles,
Speaker 1: one belonged to William Arthur, Sr. And the other TOI.
Speaker 1: Chester Arthur. Both of those list his birthplace and date
Speaker 1: as October five, eighty nine in Fairfield, Vermont. If you're
Speaker 1: not familiar with the tradition of keeping a family Bible,
Speaker 1: these are bibles that are passed down through families that
Speaker 1: have designated pages for keeping family records. Family members write
Speaker 1: down important dates like births, baptisms, and marriages on these pages,
Speaker 1: and that might seem like an informal document, but family
Speaker 1: Bibles are or have been used to substantiate people's births
Speaker 1: for things like school enrollment, driver's licenses, and even passports. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't really just show up at the passport office
Speaker 1: with your family Bible and get a passport, but it's
Speaker 1: like part of the substantiating documentation and a lot of contexts.
Speaker 1: And then we also have census records. The Arthur family
Speaker 1: was enumerated in the eighteen fifties census us on August
Speaker 1: eight of eighteen fifty Chester Arthur is listed as a
Speaker 1: student born in Vermont, age twenty. Since they were counted
Speaker 1: in August and he was born in October, that would
Speaker 1: put his birth year at eighteen twenty nine. Arthur was
Speaker 1: counted in the eighteen sixties census on July, and he's
Speaker 1: listed as thirty years old and born in Vermont. In
Speaker 1: the eighteen seventy census, he was counted in December, after
Speaker 1: his birthday, and in that year's record says age is
Speaker 1: listed as forty one, which follows the same mathematical pattern,
Speaker 1: but his birthplace is listed as a pair of ditto
Speaker 1: marks like same as the line above, But the line
Speaker 1: above is the last entry from another household that person
Speaker 1: was born in New York. That discrepancy is a mystery
Speaker 1: in our theme of bad uses for time machines. I
Speaker 1: would go back in time and ask that census taker, Hey,
Speaker 1: what's up with this? And is this an error? Like
Speaker 1: what happened? And they would say, oh, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I was tired probably, And then there's the eighteen eighties
Speaker 1: senses taken in June, which lists Arthur's place of birth
Speaker 1: as Vermont and his age is forty nine. Following the
Speaker 1: pattern of all this other documentation, it really should be fifty.
Speaker 1: So it seems as though between eighteen seventy and eighteen eighty,
Speaker 1: when Arthur was between the ages of forty one and fifty,
Speaker 1: he maybe started fudging his age by a year. Thomas
Speaker 1: c Reeves chalked it up to quote simple vanity, calling
Speaker 1: Arthur quote one of the most vainglorious men of the
Speaker 1: Gilded Age. And the fact that he was lying about
Speaker 1: his age apparently intentionally, like that year is even on
Speaker 1: his tombstone. Uh, made people sort of go, well, what
Speaker 1: else was he lying about? He was lying about when
Speaker 1: he was born? Was he lying about where? Maybe his weight?
Speaker 1: Like we said at the top of the show, The
Speaker 1: story that Arthur was really Canadian has kind of stuck around.
Speaker 1: Canada's History magazine published an article on this subject in
Speaker 1: two thousand and At time, the magazine was called The Beaver.
Speaker 1: This article kicks off with quote, Presidents of the United
Speaker 1: States must be born on US soil, so says the
Speaker 1: American Constitution. But evidence suggests that Chester Arthur, the twenty
Speaker 1: first president, was born in a foreign land, Canada. Perhaps
Speaker 1: don't tell the Americans. Later on this article says quote
Speaker 1: Chester Arthur was most likely a citizen of Lower Canada,
Speaker 1: a British subject born in Dunham Flats, Quebec, near the
Speaker 1: Vermont border. So, among other things, this article kind of
Speaker 1: misrepresents what natural born citizen really means, and at least
Speaker 1: in the online version, it does not cite any sources
Speaker 1: for where its information came from, but it does seem
Speaker 1: like a lot of it is from a p Headman's
Speaker 1: how a British subject became President of the United States,
Speaker 1: which we noted lots of problems with earlier in the episode.
Speaker 1: CBS Sunday Morning produced a segment inve that takes more
Speaker 1: of a both sides approach, interviewing a museum curator in
Speaker 1: Quebec who says she's pretty convinced he was born in Canada,
Speaker 1: along with Fairfield, Vermont locals who say he was not.
Speaker 1: They also talked to John Dumbville, Vermont's Historic Sites Operations chief,
Speaker 1: who says, of the Canadian question, there is a chance,
Speaker 1: but I doubt it. This debate has also come up
Speaker 1: over the last decade or so in the context of
Speaker 1: Ted cruise is eligibility for the presidency because he was
Speaker 1: born in Canada, as well as the birther Or conspiracy
Speaker 1: theory about President Barack Obama's citizenship. For all three of
Speaker 1: these men, these questions were definitely attempts to discredit them
Speaker 1: and suggest that they were not fit for office. But
Speaker 1: in a lot of other ways, these controversies don't really
Speaker 1: compare because Ted Cruise and Barack Obama both released their
Speaker 1: birth certificates showing where they had been born. Arthur, on
Speaker 1: the other hand, was not at all forthcoming. He released
Speaker 1: no documentation of where he had been born, and this
Speaker 1: was really totally in line with how secretive he always
Speaker 1: was with the press about everything. And really, who know
Speaker 1: whether if he had brought out his family Bible and
Speaker 1: was like right here, it says whether people would have
Speaker 1: moved on to insisting that that family Bible was fake. Really,
Speaker 1: it's not impossible that chester A. Arthur's mother visited her
Speaker 1: parents or his father in Canada while she was pregnant
Speaker 1: with him and gave birth to him there. But there's
Speaker 1: no evidence whatsoever that Arthur assumed the identity of a
Speaker 1: deceased brother, and there are multiple family and census records
Speaker 1: listing his birthplace as Vermont. Most of them date back
Speaker 1: to before the Civil War, long before Arthur became the
Speaker 1: vice presidential nominee, and long before he had any reason
Speaker 1: to prove that he was in natural born citizen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: why would he have started lying about it in eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty We call that the long con the super long count,
Speaker 1: especially because he personally might not have been the person
Speaker 1: talking to the census taker that day, right. Uh So, anyway,
Speaker 1: that is the cookie story of Chester A. Arthur. Uh
Speaker 1: When the first little reference to it that I read
Speaker 1: was like and then people asked whether he was born
Speaker 1: in Canada, and I said, Okay, that's weird. And then
Speaker 1: I got to the part of people saying he had
Speaker 1: assumed the identity of a dead baby brother, and I
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, now this is just strange. We are
Speaker 1: going to talk about it a little more. Yeah, do
Speaker 1: you have listener meal to talk about I do. It's
Speaker 1: for Megan, and I wanted to read this because it's
Speaker 1: just funny to me. Megan first of all, has the
Speaker 1: subject line in the email of You're in luck. You
Speaker 1: are I and and it says Dear Tracy and Holly.
Speaker 1: I hope that pun didn't send this note straight to
Speaker 1: your spam folder. I just wanted to write a quick
Speaker 1: note to say thank you for your recent episode on
Speaker 1: Hennig and Phosphorus. I was having a very bad day
Speaker 1: and I was cracking up listening to this episode. I
Speaker 1: felt like I could hear you guys trying so hard
Speaker 1: not to laugh, and that made me laugh harder. So
Speaker 1: thanks for that. It is right up there in my
Speaker 1: favor episodes with Hessian's Marjory Camp and the boy Jones. Also, Holly,
Speaker 1: I know you don't like musicals, but I really think
Speaker 1: you should check out the music for the show You're
Speaker 1: in Town. I was thinking about it the whole time
Speaker 1: you were talking about p Barrels. I know nothing about
Speaker 1: this show. Just for the record, f y, I for clarification,
Speaker 1: I feel like I am forever defending this. I don't
Speaker 1: mind musicals. I don't want to watch them because I
Speaker 1: don't want to watch people. I love music, I don't
Speaker 1: want to watch people singing. Uh. This is sort of
Speaker 1: like how I said something in an episode one time
Speaker 1: about not enjoying Sonheim and we got a number of
Speaker 1: emails explaining to me how how like, gifted and brilliant
Speaker 1: Sonheim was, and I was like, I'm not arguing the
Speaker 1: mastery of Sondheim. I'm talking about my personal enjoyment listening
Speaker 1: to it right anyway. Uh. Megan goes on to thank
Speaker 1: us and says that she runs on Mondays and Wednesdays
Speaker 1: because she has the show to listen to you on
Speaker 1: those days. Thank you so much, Megan for sending this note.
Speaker 1: It made me laugh. Just now made Holly laugh. I'm
Speaker 1: really excited when we get to do episodes that make
Speaker 1: people laugh sometimes because not all of them new. If
Speaker 1: you would like to write to us about this or
Speaker 1: any other podcast, we are at History Podcast at how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com, and then we're all over social
Speaker 1: media at miss in History. That's where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
Speaker 1: and Instagram. You can come to our website, which is
Speaker 1: missed in history dot com, where you will find show
Speaker 1: notes of all the episodes that Holly and I have
Speaker 1: worked on together. In the show notes for today include
Speaker 1: links to scans of a whole lot of nineteenth century newspapers,
Speaker 1: and you can also find a searchable archive of all
Speaker 1: our episodes ever, and you can subscribe to our show
Speaker 1: on Apple podcast the I heart Radio app, and wherever
Speaker 1: else you get podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class
Speaker 1: is a production of I heart Radio's How Stuff Works.
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