John Albert Cleaver Biography


	This biography appears on page 1380 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JOHN ALBERT CLEAVER, a representative business man and popular 
citizen of Huron, Beadle county, was born in Havana, Mason county, 
Illinois, on the 28th of October, 1860, being a son of Hiram R. and 
Isabelle (Wilburn) Cleaver, the father being a druggist by vocation and 
being long one of the prominent business men of Havana. The subject 
received his early educational training in the public schools of his 
native town and later continued his studies in the Presbyterian College, 
at Lincoln, Illinois. Upon leaving school he initiated his business 
career by securing a position as bookkeeper for a firm of retail 
implement dealers, in Havana, Illinois, and in 1881 he engaged in the 
same line of enterprise on his own responsibility, in his native town of 
Havana. In 1884 he entered the employ of the A. J. Hedges Header 
Company, in the capacity of traveling representative, and he came to the 
territory of Dakota in the interest of the company, and, as he states 
the case, he "managed to get mixed up in the Highmore cyclone in 1885 
and was scared out of a year's growth." He passed the winter of 1886-7 
in South America, as a representative of the same company, which was 
succeeded by the Acme Harvester Company in 1891, and Mr. Cleaver 
facetiously remarked to the writer that he "went with the assets," 
passing the years 1891 and 1892 in Lincoln, Nebraska, as the local 
representative of the company, while during the ensuing two years he was 
in the home office of the company, at Pekin, Illinois, while in 1895 he 
returned to South Dakota and took up his residence in Huron, where he 
has since maintained his home, being the general agent of the same 
company for this state. 

	In 1898 Mr. Cleaver was elected mayor of Huron, his administration 
proving so acceptable that he has ever since been retained at the head 
of the municipal government, by successive yearly elections. Fraternally 
he is identified with Huron Lodge, No. 26, Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons, of which he is past master; Huron Chapter, No. 10, Royal Arch 
Masons, of which he is past high priest; Lacottah Commandery, No. 6, 
Knights Templar, in which he is captain of the guard at the present 
time; South Dakota Consistory, No. 4, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite; 
and El Riad Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic 
Shrine, at Sioux Falls. He is one of the prominent and popular members 
of the time-honored fraternity, and in 1900 and 1901 served as the grand 
master of the Masonic grand lodge of the state. He also is affiliated 
with Huron Lodge, No. 17, Ancient Order of United Workmen, of which he 
is past master workman. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian 
church in Huron. While a resident of Illinois Mr. Cleaver was for five 
years a member of the National Guard of the state. 

	On the 27th of December, 1882, Mr. Cleaver was united in marriage 
to Miss Effie Pierce, of Havana, Illinois, she being a daughter of John 
and Mary Pierce.