Arthur Cleland

ARTHUR CLELAND.

Distinguished as the first white child born in Vernon township, Arthur Cleland, who is the subject of this biography, is a well-known resident of Crawford county, Ohio, through which he is also known as a substantial farmer and estimable citizen. Flis parents settled in Crawford county late in the fall of 1825 and his birth took place on February 6, 1826. He was a son of William and Rachel (Ramsey) Cleland, who had eight children born in their pioneer home, the brothers and sisters of our subject being as follows: William, who is a resident of Defiance county, Ohio; and Rachel, who is the wife of Hugh Dobbins and lives in Bucyrus township, while those who passed away bore the following names: Mary, who married Thomas McCullough; Margaret J., who married William Magee; Susan, who married Thomas Alemus; Eliza, who married Davidson Aladdox; and John.

William Cleland, the father of our subject, was born in county Down, Ireland, May 14, 1796, and he was a son of Arthur Cleland, the latter being of Scotch-Irish extraction. About 1816 an aunt of our subject emigrated to America and soon after wrote such glowing accounts back to the old country of the conditions and opportunities in the United States, awakening in the breasts of those left behind also an ambition to cross the sea, that resulted in the sale of the little farm and the embarkation, on a sailing vessel, of the whole family, bound for a new home across the Atlantic. Our subject's father, with his parents and his brothers and sisters, left Ireland on May 14, 1817, and after a voyage of sixty-six days were landed at Cape May, at the mouth of the Delaware river. Their destination was New York, but head winds drove the poorly managed ship out of its course, and as a major portion of the passengers wished to go to Wilmington the captain landed them all there. From Cape May the Cleland family found its way to Washington, Pennsylvania, and resided there for a time, later removing to Jefferson county, Ohio. The grandfather had been a famous weaver in his prime, but he and his wife were growing old and from this time remained with some one of their children.

In the fall of 1824 the father of our subject, with his brother John, came to Crawford county, Ohio, and entered our subject's present home farm, a fractional quarter section, consisting of one hundred and fifteen acres. Then they returned to Jefferson county and in the fall of the following year William Cleland, with his wife and his brother John, removed to the new home in the Ohio woods. The men soon cleared off a space and built a log cabin, and, in the February following, into this frontier home came the child whose biography appears in this writing. In the following spring John Cleland went to Mansfield, where plenty of work was to be found at his trade of stone mason, and it was in that year the great canal system of the state was begun. For two years he worked in stone and brick and then went back to Pennsylvania.

In the spring following the location of William Cleland in this part of the county, the township was organized, and at the spring election the ten votes were polled by William Garrison. Eli- Arnold, Isaac Hitchkok, George Dickson, three of the Coles family, James Richards, James Clemens, and William Cleland. During these early days William Cleland worked as a weaver and exchanged the product of the looms for labor to assist in the clearing of land, and much of the laborious work was performed in this way. For many years he continued his work at the loom, finding ready sale or barter for all he could produce. His death occurred on September 25, 1881, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, after a life of usefulness and industry, which left his family well provided for at his decease. His many years here had covered a period that saw the forest give place to smiling, fruitful fields and orchards, and the little log cabin, during this time, gave place to the magnificent country home which is not only complete in comfort and construction, but is also an ornament to the landscape.

Mr. Cleland was an excellent man of business and was in the habit of buying land when he found desirable tracts for sale, until he had acquired three hundred and twenty-four acres in Crawford county, and two hundred and twenty acres in Defiance county. Democratic in politics, he always ardently upheld the party of his choice, while he was equally active in the support of the Presbyterian church. The mother of our subject was a most superior woman and came from noted ancestry. She was born in Brooke county. West Virginia, on January 16, 1801, and she was a daughter of Samuel Ramsey, who was a native of Ireland. During the war of the Revolution he, in company with one hundred and thirty others, was captured by the British, and he was one of the four of those who escaped and almost starved, in hostile territory, before he reached his friends. The mother of our subject was one of the hardy pioneers who became a tower of strength to her husband in those early days, and reared a family to habits of thrift and industry.

The early school days of our subject were spent in a very primitive log building, where the instruction was not much superior to the surroundings. Mr. Cleland possessed a quick and active mind and soon absorbed all the teacher had to impart. His father needed his services and he remained on the home farm until his twenty-ninth year. On October 4, 1855, he was united in marriage to Miss Priscilla Gundrmn, who was a native of Dauphin count)', Pennsylvania, her birth occurring near Harrisburg, on March 2, 1833, and she was a daughter of John Gundrum. The latter belonged to a fine old Pennsylvania family, and he came to Crawford county in 1836, spending the first winter in Bucyrus, removing in the following spring to Sandusky township where his last days were spent.

After his marriage our subject located on one of his father's farms, consisting of eighty acres, in Sandusky township, making an agreement with his father to clear the land, rebuild the house and pay the taxes, for which he was to keep the proceeds of the property. During this time his father purchased an additional forty-nine acres, and our subject took charge of this also, and lived here until the spring of 1877 when he went back to the home farm, in order to extend filial care to his ageing parents. Since that time this has been our subject's home, and it is one of the best improved properties in Crawford count v. Success has attended the persistent efforts of Mr. Cleland, and in 1879 he purchased one hundred and sixty additional acres situated on the west of his home farm, the place now aggregating two hundred and seventy-five acres.

Three children have been born to our subject and wife, only two of these surviving, viz.: William J., who farms his father's land and is serving his second term as township trustee; Arthur B., who died October 30, 1886, aged twenty-three years and ten months; and Rachel E., who is the wife of Marion Bender, of Auburn township.

In political sentiment Mr. Cleland has clung to the Democratic doctrine in which he was reared and he has acceptably served for five years as township clerk, and was township trustee previously in Sandusky township. He is held in high esteem in Vernon township, and although his life has not been filled with exciting events, they have been replete with faithful and well-directed work, and he enjoys the consciousness of knowing that he is regarded as one of the best representative citizens of this unequaled county.

As printed in A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio .. (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.