Cleaver, James H. (1856-1935)

CLEAVER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 1/3/2024 at 15:46:18

James Harvey Cleaver
(March 21, 1856 – February 7, 1935)

James Harvey Cleaver, M. D.
No man is better nor more favorably known in Council Bluffs than Dr. J. H. Cleaver. He has an extensive practice there, is a large property owner, and is always to the fore in movements for the advancement and development of the city. The doctor is a native of Pennsylvania, having been born in Washington County on March 21, 1856. The ancestors on his father’s side were of German descent. Peter Cleaver joined a colony organized at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1683, as a result of a visit to that country by William Penn. They came to America and settled near what is now Philadelphia. He was a member of the Society of Friends, or Quakers. He married Miss Hannah Shoemaker in 1695, in the Abbington meeting house near Jenkingtown. Isaac N. Cleaver, doctor’s father, was a school teacher in his younger days, then engaged in the mercantile business and finally became a retired farmer, having made profitable investments in farm land in Pennsylvania and Iowa. The mother’s maiden name was Isabel M. Dutton, and her ancestors were among the first settlers of Virginia.
At the close of his common school days, young Cleaver completed a course at the Iron City College, of Pittsburg, from which he graduated in 1875. He then entered upon the study of medicine, and in the winter of 1877-8 attended a course of lectures at the Cleveland Medical College. Later he received an appointment in the Baltimore University Hospital as an interne, and remained there until the date of his graduation from the University of Maryland in March 1880. Shortly thereafter he came to Iowa and located in Pottawattamie County, where he has since been engaged in the practice of medicine. He became a member of the American Medical Association at Washington, D. C., 1884, and shortly joined the Iowa State Medical Society; is also a member of the Society of the Missouri Valley, and Council Bluffs Medical Society; member of the staff of St. Bernard’s Hospital; served as local surgeon for the Union Pacific Railway for twelve years; at present he is a member of the board of pension examiners; also served a term as city physician.
He has been a life-long Republican, as was his father before him. He was elected by that party to the office of mayor of Council Bluffs in 1884 for a term of two years. He is a member of the Mason, Odd Fellows, Elks, Ancient Order of United Workmen and Modern Woodmen; is at present grand medical examiner for the state of Iowa for the A.O.U.W., and is local examiner for many of the leading insurance companies. He takes an active interest in the enterprises of his town, and is a member of the Executive Board, Merchants and Manufacturers Association, having served a term as its president. He was married in 1881 in Washington, Pennsylvania, to Miss Mary L. Deaves, a daughter to Rev. A. H. Deaves, who was favorably known in western Pennsylvania. They have five children, a daughter and four sons, all of whom are living. [Source – Biographies and Portraits of Progressive Men of Iowa…, by Gue & Shambaugh, 1899, vol.2, p.169-170]