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Frank C. Cleveland
Although
a native of Illinois, Frank C. Cleveland has spent nearly his entire
life in Greene county and yet resides upon the old family homestead on
section 18, Jackson township. It was his playground in early childhood,
his training school in youth and has been the scene of his manhood’s
labors - a fine farm, well improved and splendidly developed.
Mr. Cleveland was born in De Kalb county, Illinois, in 1872, and
the following year was brought to Greene county, Iowa, by his father,
Charles L. Cleveland, who settled upon the place which has since been
the family home. Here he purchased two hundred acres of land, which was
then largely a wild and wind-swept prairie, but he began to cultivate
the raw land, breaking the sod, planting his crops and in due time
gathering rich harvests. He placed all the improvements on his farm,
erecting substantial buildings, setting out trees and doing much to
beautify the place as well as render it productive. He added two
hundred acres to the original tract, making four hundred acres in all,
and continued farming upon the place till about ten years ago. He
produced good harvests, rotating his crops, and as the years passed he
prospered in his undertaking. In addition to the cultivation of the
fields he raised shorthorn cattle and red hogs, and this also proved a
source of profit. Retiring from the active management of his place, he
enjoyed a well merited rest and four years ago was called to the home
beyond at the age of sixty-one years. At the time of the Civil war he
had responded to the country’s call for aid, enlisting with the boys in
blue of Company B, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Infantry,
with which he served from 1862 until the close of the war, loyally
defending the old flag and the cause it represented. In Illinois he had
married Miss Wealthy Allen, who, like her husband, was a native of the
state of New York. Unto them were born five children, but Frank and
Fred are the only ones now living.
Frank C. Cleveland was only two months old when brought by his
parents from Illinois to Iowa and in the schools of Scranton he pursued
his education, which well qualified him for life’s practical duties,
when combined with the training which he received upon the home farm.
He has always remained upon the farm and he early became familiar with
the best methods of tilling the soil and cultivating the crops. Ten
years ago he began operating the farm on his own account and has since
carried on general agricultural pursuits and stock raising, keeping
good grades of stock, while his corn and other products indicate the
care and attention he bestows upon the fields.
In Scranton, Iowa, in 1897, Mr. Cleveland
was united in marriage to Miss Anna O’Brien, daughter of James O’Brien,
a resident farmer of Willow township. They now have one daughter,
Nellie, aged eight years. Since his marriage Mr. Cleveland has
remodeled his residence, built a large machine shed and otherwise
improved his property, and he always keeps in touch with the modern,
progressive methods of farming. His political views are in accord with
democratic principles, but he has neither time nor inclination for
oflice. He is pre-eminently a business man, fully occupied with the
duties of the farm and as he annually carries forward his work good
results are achieved, both in a financial way and in the improved
appearance of his place.
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