Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/284

 CLEVELAND

CLEVELAND

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1886, and after resting in New York for a few days repaired to Washington, where on June 2, 1886, Miss Folsoni was married to President Cleve- land in the bhie room of the White House. Mrs. Cleveland endeared herself to the people by the

tact and grace- ful dignity with which she fulfilled the duties of her position, and no word of unfavor- able criticism was ever uttered, de- spite her youth and inexperience, she being the youngest mistress the White House had ever known. On her return to Washington, on President Cleve- land's second inauguration, she was welcomed •with cordial affection and made as great a social success as she had during her husband's first ad- ministration, having the dignity of motherhood added to her many charms. Of her children, Euth, the eldest, was born in New York city, Oct. 3, 1891 ; Esther, at the White House, Wash- ington, D.C., Sept. 9, 1893; Marion, at Gray Gables. Buzzard's Bay, Mass., July 7, 1895; and Eichard Folsom, at Princeton, N.J., Oct. 28, 1897. Mrs. Cleveland was elected a trustee of Wells college in 1887.

CLEVELAND, Qrover, 22d and 24th Presi- dent of the L'nited States, was born in Cald- well, Essex county. N.J., March 18, 1837; son of the Eev. Richard FaUey and Ann (Neal) Cleveland ; grandson of Deacon Williana and Margaret (Fal- ley), great-grandson of the Rev. Aaron and Abiah (Hyde), great ^ grandson of the Eev. Aaron and Susannah (Porter) , great ^ grandson of Captain Aaron and Abigail (Waters), great* grandson of Aaron and Dorcas (Wilson) Cleveland, and great* grandson of Moses Cleaveland, who came to America from Ipswich, Suffolk, England, in 1635, settled in Wo- burn, Mass., in 1641, and was married Sept. 26, 1648, to Ann, daughter of Edward and Joanna Winn of Woburn. Richard FaUey Cleveland was

graduated from Yale in 1824 ; was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1827 ; and was married in Baltimore, Md., to Ann Neal, daughter of a pros- perous merchant of Irish birth. A number of years afterward they removed to Caldwell. Essex county, N.J., where their third son was born, and he was given the name of Stephen Grover, after his father's predecessor in the CaldweU. church. In 1841 the family removed to Fayette- ville, Onondaga county, N.Y., and here Grover attended the village school and served as a clerk in the village store. In 1853 his father was called to the Presbyterian church at Holland Patent, Oneida county, where he died a few weeks after his installation. The death of the father com- pelled Grover to abandon his expectation of a collegiate education, and he obtained a position as teacher in the Institute for the blind in New York City and remained there for one year. In 1855 he set out to find his fortune in the " far west " intending to locate in Cleveland, Ohio. Visiting his uncle, the Hon. Lewis F. Allen, at Buffalo, N.Y., he was persuaded to assist him in the preparation for the jjress of " Allen's Herd Book,'' upon the promise that on the completion of that work an effort would be made to give him an opportunity to study law. After ten weeks spent upon the herd book, a place was obtained for him in the law office of Rogers, Bowen and Rogers in Buffalo where on the 6th day of Au- gust, 1855, he began his legal studies. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar, but remained in the office of Rogers, Bowen and Rogers until Jan. 1, 1863, when he was appointed assistant district attorney for Erie county. In 1865 he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for district attorney. He then took up the practice of law in partnership with Isaac V. Vanderpool, and in 1869 became a member of the firm of Lanning, Cleveland and Folsom. In 1870 he was the suc- cessful candidate for sheriff of the county and held the office for three years. In 1874 his law business was reorganized under the firm name of Bass, Cleveland and Bissell, afterward Cleveland and Bissell. In 1881 he received the Democratic nomination for mayor of Buffalo. While the Democratic state ticket was defeated in the city by 1600 votes, Mr. Cleveland was elected mayor by over 3500 majority. He introduced numerous reforms and checked various abuses, becoming known as the ' ' veto mayor ' ' by reason of his fearless exercise of executive power in guarding the public treasury and disallowing extrava- gant expenditures of public money. His fame as a reform mayor had extended throughout the state and the Democratic state conven- tion of 1882 made him the nominee for gov- ernor. In the election he received a plurality of upwards of 200,000 over Charles J. Folger,