San Diego-San Francisco County CA Archives Biographies.....Cleveland, Daniel 1838 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 21, 2006, 3:06 pm Author: Theodore S. Van Dyke DANIEL CLEVELAND. In this country, where hereditary titles are unknown, and the only recognized aristocracy is that of ability or wealth, we are apt to value too lightly the pride of ancestry. This is accounted for when we bear in mind the fact that so few American families can climb the genealogical tree without meeting with a broken limb, or a branch that shows unmistakable signs of decay; in fact, with many families, the genealogical tree is nothing more or less than a shrub of very commonplace proportions. It will be generally admitted that there are many individuals among us who would be glad to be able to trace their descent through an unblemished channel for a dozen or more generations. There are a few American families, however, that have been so favored by fortune, for generation after generation, that they have never known any marked reverses, and their increase in wealth has been of such a healthy growth as to have caused neither demoralization nor that much-to-be-deplored condition of mind christened " purse pride," and so they have continued from father to son, for a century or more, occupying prominent yet not exalted positions in the walks of life, and respected and beloved by their acquaintances and neighbors. If we have in this country any aristocratic class, these families can properly claim to be members of it. And it is not such an aristocracy the Republic would ever have cause to fear: it would rather find there its firmest and most valued supporters. To such a family belongs the subject of this brief sketch. Daniel Cleveland was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, March 21, 1838. His father, Stephen Cleveland, practiced law for many years in New York City and Poughkeepsie. He was eminent in his profession, and had as his clients some of the most distinguished citizens of the nation, including the Governor of the State, a Vice-President of the nation, and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Daniel Cleveland came from Revolutionary stock, his grandfather on both the paternal and maternal sides having fought in the war for Independence. His father was an officer in the last war with England. While attending college at Burlington, Vermont, he marched at the head of a company of his college students, as their captain, to join the American army, which met and defeated the British troops at the battle of Plattsburg, New York. Besides his eminence as a lawyer, he was prominent in politics in the Empire State, being always an earnest and consistent Whig. As a political speaker he was very able and convincing. For some years he owned the Poughkeepsie Gazette, he died in that city January 3, 1847. Until he was twelve years of age Daniel Cleveland resided in Poughkeepsie, where he attended school. He then went to Biloxi, Mississippi, where he remained for five years attending school. At seventeen he removed to New Orleans, where for two years he was the head book-keeper in a commercial establishment. He then, in April, 1857, returned to Poughkeepsie, where he entered the office of Tallman & Paine and began the study of the law. In April, 1859, he was admitted to the Supreme Court of the State, after an unusually severe examination, lasting two days, and the following month went to San Antonio, Texas, and entered into a law partnership with his brother, William H. Cleveland, who was already established there. In August, 1865, he was commissioned Mayor of San Antonio, on the petition of the leading business men of that city. He held the office about one year. He was the first officer in the State to admit the testimony of a negro against a white man. He had been a warm friend of the Union throughout the war, and soon after its close he took editorial charge of the San Antonio Express, the first Republican newspaper established in Texas, of which he was one of the founders. It is now one of the most prominent journals in the State. From the editorial chair and upon the stump he was earnest in the advocacy of Republican principles, which in Texas, in those days, was dangerous. Mr. Cleveland's frank utterances and his known stability of purpose did much to advance the Republican cause. He assumed the office of mayor, with a city badly demoralized, and deeply in debt. He surrendered the office with the city out of debt, and a considerable sum of money in the treasury. In October, 1866, finding his health failing from his arduous labors, he started for New York, where he remained a year. Then he left for San Francisco. He resided in the latter city for nearly two years, practicing his profession. In May, 1869, he came to San Diego and again entered into a law partnership with his brother, William H. Cleveland, who, during the Civil War, had come here and engaged in practice. He was a prominent citizen of San Diego, an able lawyer, a bank director and interested in the city's progress. He died in New Hampshire in 1873. During his residence here Daniel Cleveland has invested largely in real estate and now owns the Cleveland Addition, a considerable tract of water front property, a large tract on the mesa, and property in different parts of the city. He has just begun the erection of a brick building on the corner of Sixth and E Streets, covering one hundred feet square, seven stories in height, and with a basement, provided with all the modern improvements, including elevators and incandescent electric lights at an estimated cost of about $150,000. While engaged in active practice, Mr. Cleveland was attorney for the Texas and Pacific Railway Company for five or six years, until it transferred its franchises to the Southern Pacific, and was also attorney for the Bank of San Diego while it existed. He has been identified with every public movement, and is always looked upon as one of San Diego's most public-spirited citizens. He is an earnest and consistent member of the Episcopal Church, and has been Senior Warden of St. Paul's Church almost continuously since 1869. He also officiated as lay reader in the church from 1870 until quite recently, often for many months at a time when there was no rector. He was one of the founders, and is one of the Directors and Vice-President of the San Diego Society of Natural History. He is an enthusiastic botanist and was the first resident of San Diego to engage in field botany. One genus and many species of plants have received his name in recognition of his services as a collector and discoverer. Moses Cleveland, the founder of the family, came from England, and settled at Canterbury, Connecticut, in 1635. Among his descendants are the President of the United States; a Governor of Connecticut; the founder of the city of Cleveland, Ohio; the most distinguished mineralogist of America; Father Cleveland, the famous Boston missionary; some other eminent citizens, and the subject of this sketch. The Huntingtons — Daniel Cleveland's paternal grandmother's family —were among the Pilgrims of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Mr. Cleveland does not know of any intermarriage in his family with any person of foreign birth since 1640. Additional Comments: From: THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO. ILLUSTRATED, AND CONTAINING BI0GRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS. SAN DIEGO, CAL. LEBERTHON & TAYLOR 1888 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sandiego/bios/clevelan577bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 7.9 Kb