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JUDGE CHARLES LANDER CLEVELAND - From "The Encyclopedia of the New West", pages 53 through 55.
Charles L. Cleveland was born in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, August 2 5, 1844. He was a farmer's boy till the age of thirteen, when he enter ed the office of the Texas Republican, in Brazoria, Texas, which was work ed on the first press ever introduced into Texas. He was known as the "war organ." while engaged on this paper, Colonel William H. Jack who is known in Texas history, was a contributor. Mr. Cleveland became well acquainted with him, and says of him that he was a most persuasive, silver-tongued, magnetic orator, a lawyer who stood in the front rank of the Texas bar, a speaker who carried a jury, court, or crowd with equal facility; t he author of the Turtle bayou resolutions that bear the same relation to t he Texas Declaration of independence that the Mecklenburg resolutions bear to the Colonial Declaration of Independence. They were written on Turtle bayou with a pen made from a cane cut from its banks.
Mr. Cleveland also worked in the office of the Telegraph, a paper publish ed at Columbia, on the Brazos, then the seat of government of the Republic of Texas. Having worked several months in that office, he entered Rutersville College in Fayette county, from which institution he graduated with the degree of master of arts in 1842. The same year he went to Galveston, whither his father had moved in 1841 from Brazoria, and began the study of law, his preceptor being Judge Benjamin C. Franklin.
He was admitted to the bar at Liberty in 1846. He remained at Liberty, and for twenty-five years devoted himself to the practice of his profession there. That he met with encouragement and pecuniary as well as profess ional success, may readily be inferred when it is stated that he began h is career without means, having only his profession and an honorable ambit ion, and that he is now the owner of a large and valuable property. In June, 1871, he formed a partnership with Judge Willie, of Galveston, to which city he removed, and where he now resides. The business of the firm is very extensive, and no lawyers rank higher than they at the Galveston bar.
From Liberty County Mr. Cleveland was elected to serve in the sixth legislature of Texas, and served one term, Governor Pease being then the chief executive of the state. Major John Henry Brown characterizes his career in the legislature as especially useful in checking hasty, inconsiderate and injudicious action, and more distinguished for preventing bad legislation the for the introduction of original measures. August, 1860, he w as elected Judge of the first judicial district of Texas, and this position he held until removed by Provisional Governor Hamilton, in 1865. No civil officers of the state were allowed to remain in office unless they would take and subscribe to the iron-clad oath. Those refusing to submit to this test of loyalty were regarded as impediments to reconstruction, and were accordingly removed. In 1861, while he was judge, he was elected a delegate to the secession convention from Liberty and Polk Counties. The convention assembled in January, 1861. Judge Cleveland advocated and voted for the ordinance of secession, urging its submission to the people, by whom it was subsequently ratified by a vote of four to one. This important statement of a historical fact will correct the impress ion that the convention favored the adoption of the ordinance of succession, and the withdrawal of the state from the Union without the concurrence of the people as expressed at the ballot-box. Judge Cleveland supported secession and the war with all his influence and energy. He was a delegate to the Democratic state convention in 1857 from Liberty county, and in 1873 and 1876 from Galveston.
Charles L. Cleveland and Mrs. Mary Ann Booker were married April 9, 184 9, in Liberty County, Texas. She is the daughter of Benjamin Watson Hardin, one of the pioneers of Texas, from Maury County, Tennessee. She was born January 5, 1829, in Liberty County, Texas, and was educated in Galveston. Benjamin W. Hardin was a member of the Ayuntiemente of the Jurisdiction of Liberty, under the government of Mexico, and subsequently under t he Republic of Texas; held the office of sheriff several terms - a resolute man of great personal courage and unquestionable integrity, distinguished for hospitality, kindness and benevolence. He died in Liberty County, January 2, 1849.
Judge Cleveland and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, but their children who belong to any religious society are members of the Baptist Church. Judge Cleveland adheres to the Methodist tenets because of the broad and liberal grounds they occupy, while he accepts orthodox Christianity in every guise, and looks more to the life of t he individual than to the particular creed or theory of church government he may espouse. His political principles are characteristically Democratic. Judge Cleveland became a Mason in 1848, in Liberty Lodge No. 48, and was master of that lodge for sixteen years. He has also taken the Roy al Arch degrees. He was deputy district grand master for the first judicial district for several years.
Judge Cleveland's possessions are extensive. On the corner of Church and Twelfth streets, Galveston, he owns a residence valued at $4,000. Two other dwelling houses in the city belonging to him are worth $6,000. Besides these possessions, he has in fee simple 50,000 acres of land, unimproved, in Bastrop, Bexar, Blanco, Bosque, Brown, Burnet, Callahan, Chambers, Clay, Coleman, Comanche, Denton, Hardin, Jefferson, Karnes, Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Taylor, Travis, Tyler and Williamson Counties. He is a director of the Texas Banking and Insurance company and al so a stockholder. He is a stockholder in the Gulf Loan and Homestead comp any, the Southern Cotton Compress Company, the Texas Cotton Press and Manufacturing Company, and the Galveston Gas Company, and is vice president of the Island City Protestant Orphans' Home.
Judge Cleveland is a first-class man, whether we regard him as a civilian, a lawyer, or business man. His position is an enviable one, and it has been reached not by any improper acts, but by industry, integrity, the exercise of sound judgment, and the employment of the highest principles known to enlightened society.
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1824 - 1892 (67 years)
