Chester A. Arthur became president in 1881 after James Garfield’s assassination.
Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886) was born 196 years ago today. Elected vice president in 1884, he became president on Sept. 19, 1881 after James Garfield’s assassination.

Chester Arthur was a protégé of Roscoe Conkling’s corrupt New York Republican machine. He surprised many by supporting civil service reform and trying to maintain the rights of freed slaves and Chinese immigrants. Often thought one of the worst presidents a century ago, today he’s risen to about midpoint on historians’ rankings.
Chester is an English place name from Old English “caestrum,” meaning “Roman city,” itself from Latin “castrum” (“fort”). In medieval times it became a surname, showing one’s ancestor came from a place called Chester.

When the custom of turning surnames into first names began in the 18th century, boys named Chester appeared in Britain and America. Britain’s 1851 Census found 197 men with the first name Chester. The 1850 U.S. Census, when the two countries had about equal populations, included 5,478.

Why Chester was more than 27 times more common in the United States is a bit mysterious. Its American popularity began in New England. 42 of the 44 American-born Chesters over age 70 in 1850 were born in New England or upstate New York. The two others were Black men born in Maryland, where slave owners sometimes turned place names into first names.

Chester Waterman (1760-1856), the oldest 1850 example, was probably named after his father’s sister’s husband, Jonathan Chester, descended from well-off ship’s captains in New London. Younger examples may have honored John Chester (1749-1809), a Revolutionary war colonel who became speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives and a judge on Connecticut’s Supreme Court.