RICHARD B. CLEVELAND.
Richard B. Cleveland, retired farmer and old settler, of Muscotah, Kan., was born December 29, 1830, in New York State. He was a son of Richard and Elizabeth (Mead) Cleveland, who left New York when Richard was a small boy and settled in Illinois. The Cleveland family are of English descent and can trace their ancestry back to the settlement and colonial days of New England. Richard, the father, was a successful merchant in New York, who suffered considerable losses on account of an absconding partner, who left after looting the business. Richard then decided to make a new start in the West, and again succeeded in rehabilitating his fortunes on the rich farm lands of Illinois in Cook county. When he first went to Illinois he was too poor to do otherwise than to rent land, but as time went on he gradually got on his feet and became a prosperous land owner.
Richard B. Cleveland was reared to young manhood in Cook county, Illinois, and was married there. In 1862 he left Illinois and came to Kansas with his wife and family, first living for a few years on a farm in Jackson county, north of Holton. He then bought 160 acres of land in Grasshopper township which was unimproved. Before he built his home on this tract he lived for a time at New Eureka on the old Salt Lake trail and operated a small grocery store. All of Mr. Cleveland’s worldly goods when he came to Kansas in company with Isaac Gordon, an old Englishman, consisted of a team and wagon and a few household goods. He bought 160 acres of unimproved land, his mother’s watch being applied on this deal. In 1863 he enlisted in the Second regiment, Nebraska infantry, and was engaged in fighting the Sioux Indians on the border for over nine months. He was mustered out of the service at Falls City, Neb., late in the winter of 1864, at a time when a deep snow covered the ground and he had difficulty in reaching his home after his long absence. He then took a job of carrying the mail for a Government contractor named Darlington. The route which he traveled extended from Falls City, Neb., to Indianola and Mr. Cleveland received the munificent salary of twelve dollars per month for carrying the mail on horseback between these two cities and furnished his own horse. The farm which he purchased near Eureka was located on Straight creek, and there was plenty of timber growing on the banks of this stream which was a favorite camping ground of the Indians of the Pottawatomie tribe. Sometimes a large band of over 100 would camp in the timber along the stream. An incident which occurred is well worth recording. Mrs. Cleveland had a fine flock of turkeys which were running in the woods and prairies. One day she heard the sound of a gun, and looking out of the doorway of the cabin she saw an Indian buck going toward one of her turkeys which he had shot. This incensed her and she ran toward the Indian. A neighbor woman also started toward the Indian with a gun in her hands, ready to shoot him if it became necessary. She shook her fist at the buck, who said in explanation: “Me thought prairie chicken.” Mrs. Cleveland replied: “You thieving rascal, that was my turkey, now you get.” The Indian sulkily moved on and the Cleveland family feasted on turkey the next day. In the spring of 1864 the soldier returned to his family and began building up his farm, settling down to farm life and endeavoring to make good. He succeeded and is the owner of a fine farm of rich land. By the exercise of thrift and industry he accumulated a competence and reared a fine family. Like the other farmers of his neighborhood he had to go through the experience of the “grasshopper” years, and it is recalled that he was very skeptical of the news of the coming of the “hoppers” when travelers and grasshopper victims came through his country. He “pooh-poohed” the idea that the “hoppers” were coming in vast clouds and would not believe it, but he soon had serious reason to change his mind when they came in vast swarms and ate up his crops. Mr. Cleveland was married in Lockport, Ill., to Rhoda A. Perrin, who was born November 21, 1832, and departed this life July 11, 1907. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland, as follows: Orrin Almeron, a farmer of Atchison county; Mead Cleveland, a farmer in Oklahoma, and Hattie, at home with her father.
In politics, Mr. Cleveland has always been a Republican of the stalwart variety. He is a member of the Congregational church of Muscotah, and is one of the highly respected citizens of his township and city, and is one of the last of the old-time Indian fighters and pioneers who paved the way in the wilderness for the thousands of settlers who have come to this great land after him and his fellows had endured the hardships necessary for the redemption of the unpeopled prairie. It is to such men as he that this volume of historical annals is respectfully dedicated.