After her return to Canton came the romance of her life with the young lawyer who had just been elected prosecuting attorney of Stark County. Like the Harrisons, they started their married life in a boarding house, but only until their own little home was ready. Here their first child, Katie, was born, late in December of 1871. This little one lived to be three years old. Another little daughter, named Ida for the young mother, also died in infancy. Added to the grief of losing her children, she had the additional sorrow of her mother’s death. Altogether, the shock proved too much for her reserve force. From the time she was sixteen, ill health had threatened, and the poignant grief for her loved ones made her an invalid. Mr. McKinley was first nominated for Congress in 1876, and elected. During the progress of this canvass, he visited the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia and was introduced by James G. Blaine to a great audience which he completely captivated. He entered Congress while his old colonel, Hayes, was President, and the friendship gave him at the start an influence which might have taken a much longer time to win under other circumstances. His power as a speaker brought him distinction, and his ability as a worker in committees was soon recognized. He was reëlected to the Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first Congresses. During his whole career in Congress, Mr. McKinley was a consistent advocate of a protective tariff. It was in the Fifty-first Congress that McKinley’s great political opportunity came. He was a leading candidate for the speakership with Thomas B. Reed. Reed was elected. The chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee fell to McKinley. On April 6, 1890, he introduced the tariff measure which has since borne his name. The bill became a law on October 6, 1890. During all of the struggle while the bill was pending, McKinley displayed qualities of leadership of the highest order. Before the next election came around, his district had been gerrymandered against him, the adverse majority being fully 3,000. McKinley was defeated by 300 votes. His defeat really made him Governor of Ohio. His victory over Governor Campbell, the Democratic candidate for reëlection, was decisive.