Marion County, KY - Bios:  Cleaver, William Wells
Posted by Sandi Gorin on Thu, 29 Jul 1999
*************************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced 
in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or 
persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must 
obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative 
of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of 
this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives 
to store the file permanently for free access.

http://www.usgwarchives.net
*************************************************************************
William Wells Cleaver 3426, Marion Co. 

Surname: Cleaver, Kirk, Grundy

Kentucky: A History of the State, Perrin, Battle, Kniffin, 4th ed., 1887, Marion County.

WILLIAM WELLS CLEAVER, a prominent physician of Lebanon, Marion County, was born on the 
15th of March, 1827. His grandfather, David Cleaver, came from New Jersey in the close of 
the eighteenth century and settled in what is now Marion, then Washington County, serving 
the same as high sheriff. He had a family of twelve children, the eldest of whom born the 
name of his father, and was the father of Dr. W. W. Cleaver. David Cleaver, Jr., was born 
in 1804, and married Miss Lucy Kirk, daughter of James Kirk, of Virginia, who settled near 
Lebanon in 1792, and who lived to the age of ninety-nine years. David and Lucy (Kirk) Cleaver 
each lived to be quite old and died on the old Cleaver homestead near Lebanon. Of their twelve 
children eleven are now living and have families. Dr. W. W. Cleaver is the second of the family. 
He was reared on his father's farm, attending the common schools and Lebanon Academy. When 
eighteen years old he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. M. S. Shuck, and after 
thorough preparatory reading he entered the medical department of the Louisville University, 
from which he graduated in 1850. With slight exception he has been practicing at Lebanon 
since his graduation, and is pronounced a leader of his profession. In the early months of 
the late civil war he organized a company of soldiers for the Confederate Army, which was 
attached to the Eighth Kentucky Cavalry. This company he commanded at the battle of Perryville 
and elsewhere, and until he was appointed to the office of regimental surgeon. He was twice 
made a prisoner and for four months held in the Federal prison at Fort Delaware. Dr. Cleaver 
was married in Marion County, July 9, 1850, to Miss Joanna Grundy, daughter of Felix B. Grundy. 
The Doctor is a member of the State and Beech Fork Medical Associations, and of the Masonic 
fraternity, and enjoys the esteem of a large circle of friends.