Aaron Erastus Cleveland (1939)

BELDING, CARROLL, CLEVELAND, LEE, WHEELER

Posted By: John Warmouth
Date: 7/26/2010 at 19:12:33

The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, January 11, 1939
Page 1, Column 5

LAST CIVIL WAR VETERAN IS DEAD

A. E. Cleveland of Earlham Last Survivor in County Died Saturday

Madison county’s last living veteran of the Civil war passed last Saturday. He was Aaron E. Cleveland of Earlham, who died at his home at the age of 92 years.

Mr. Cleveland enlisted for the defense of his country on March 28, 1864, at Farmington, Wis. At that time he was 17 years of age. He served as private in Company E, First Wisconsin Cavalry. He was engaged in the battle of Franklin, Tenn., against the Confederate cavalry under the famous Generals Wheeler and Forrest, and participated in the Wilson raid, which was running fight through Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia. He received an honorable discharge on July 19, 1865, at Edgefield, Tenn.

Mr. Cleveland was a native of Humphrey, New York, and was born May 26, 1846, the son of Andrew and Lucy Wheeler Cleveland. When he was seven years old they moved to Jefferson county, Wisconsin, where he grew to manhood. He was married to Jane Belding of Hebrew, Wis. They were the parents of four children. In 1901 he was married to Ella Lee Carroll.

With the exception of 15 years spent in Montana, he had been a resident of Iowa and the vicinity of Earlham for 63 years.

He was deeply interested in civic affairs, and recalled with pride that he had cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. He was affiliated with the Presbyterian church and was a member of the Odd Fellow and Rebekah lodges, and was the last member of the G. A. R. post of Madison county.

Two of his children, Perry and Elva, preceded their father in death. He is survived by his wife; two sons, Sydney Cleveland of Van Meter and Roy Cleveland of Winterset, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Funeral services were held Monday from the Presbyterian church at Earlham, and the burial service was held with military honors, in charge of the American Legion. Pall bearers were Charles Mleynek, Mervyn McLennan, Charles Thrailkill, Robert Lewis, Dale Callison, and E. G. Tough.
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Earlham Echo
Earlham, Iowa
Thursday, January 12, 1939

A. E. Cleveland, 92, Madison county’s last Civil War veteran, was buried Tuesday with full military honors in services conducted at 2:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian church and later at the grave in the Earlham cemetery by the American Legion and by Rev. Peter Bock assisted by Rev. S. R. Overholser.

Mr. Cleveland died at his home in Earlham shortly after 8 o’clock, Saturday evening, January 7, after having been in failing health for several years.

After the death of J. M. Robbins of Winterset in September 1935 only two surviving veterans of the Civil war were left in Madison county. They were M. J. Graham of Winterset and A. E. Cleveland of Earlham. Graham died in 1938 at the age of 97. Robbins was 92 at the time of his death as was Cleveland. Robbins was the last commander of the Pitzer post of the G.A.R. at Winterset.

Both Robbins and Cleveland cast their first ballots for Abraham Lincoln in 1864 before they were of age, the voting privilege having been extended to all Union soldiers.

Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland were honored guests at the Madison county republican convention last July at which time the delegates enjoyed meeting with one of the few remaining persons who voted for the greatest of all republicans.

The following is the obituary of Mr. Cleveland as read at the services:

We are here this afternoon to pay honor to the memory of a comrade and fellow citizen whose years have spanned almost a century.

Aaron E. Cleveland was born May 26, 1846 at Humphrey, Catarange County, New York and departed this life January 7, 1939 at Earlham, Iowa, being 92 years, seven months, and 11 days of age. He was the son of Andrew S. and Lucy Wheeler Cleveland. When nine years of age he moved from his birthplace, with his parents, to Jefferson County, Wisconsin, where he grew to young manhood.

Comrade Cleveland enlisted for the defense of his country on March 28, 1864 at Farmington, Wisconsin, being at that time 17 years of age. He served as a Private in Company E First Wisconsin Cavalry and especially remembered the battle of Wheeler and Forest at Franklin, Tennessee and the Wilson Raid which was a running fight through Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia. Honorable discharge was received July 19, 1865 at Edgefield, Tennessee.

Mr. Cleveland was married to Jane Belding of Hebrew, Wisconsin. To this union four children were born. Perry, the oldest son, and Elva are deceased. The surviving children are Sydney Cleveland of Van Meter and Roy Cleveland of Winterset. On December 9, 1901 Mr. Cleveland was married to Ella Lee Carroll, daughter of John W. and Ruth Wilson Lee.

With the exception of fifteen years spent in Montana, Mr. Cleveland had been a resident of Iowa and the vicinity of Earlham for 63 years. He was deeply interested in civic affairs and remembered with much pride having cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, the Order of Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, and was the last member of the G.A.R. post of Madison county.

Those left to cherish the memory of our brother departed are the wife, two sons, four grandchildren, and one great granddaughter.

Taking part in the military service were Dave Smith, commander of the All American post of the American Legion; W. G. Jackson, chaplain of the post; the pall bearers which included Legionnaires Chas. Thrailkill, Dale Callison, Mervyn McLennan, Chas. Mleynek, R. J. Lewis and E. G. Tough; the firing squad commanded by Legionnaire John N. Conrad and including Legionnaries Fred Victora, Elbert Beals, M. Mohler, A. C. Carr, Jim Tough, Ern Fry and Frank Wengert; and the color guard including Legionnaires Chas. Price and H. E. Pickett of Earlham and Kimble of Winterset.

Robert Butner served as bugler and vocal music was furnished by a chorus composed of Mrs. Peter Bock, Mrs. Harry Foster, Mrs. Stanley Wood and Mrs. L. C. Blackburn. Miss Dorothy Godby accompanied on the piano.

Among those from a distance who attended the services were Mr. and Mrs. Roy Cleveland of Winterset, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Cleveland of Van Meter, R. H. Elkins of Chicago, Illinois, Mr. and Mrs. Y. Dykstra of Orange City, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Moore of Van Meter, John Burch of Des Moines, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Burch of Winterset, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Johnson and Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Johnson of Winterset, a number of the Daughters of Union Veterans from St. Charles and a group of American Legion members from Winterset.

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