History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, 1884



Washington Cleveland Biography

Washington LaFayette Cleveland, of the firm of Cleveland & Co., manufacturers of mill and machinery castings, Erie, was born in the State of N.Y. Dec. 21, 1825; son of Israel and Sally (Tuttle) Cleveland, of English descent, the former a native of R.I., the latter of Conn. Our subject was brought up on a farm, and received his early education in the old log schoolhouse. At the age of seventeen he received a certificate enabling him to teach country schools, a vocation he followed for eight winters from the time he was seventeen years old. In the summer months he worked on the farm. At the age of twenty-one he learned the carpenter trade, serving a regular apprenticeship, and worked at it till he was thirty-five years of age. While he was a resident of Steuben Co., N.Y., he acted in the capacity of Deputy Sheriff. When the oil excitement broke out in Penn. our subject started an oil refinery in Erie City, which business he followed six years; he afterward invested in oil lands, with moderate success, and then embarked in his present manufacturing interests. In 1851, Mr. Cleveland was married to Julia, daughter of Jonathan O. Stidd, a native of Penn. To this union were born three children - F.F. (of the firm of Cleveland & Hardwick, Erie City), Della F. and Jennie R. Our subject and wife are members of the Methodist Church, of which he has been Steward, Trustee and Sabbath School Superintendent. In politics, he is a Republican. Residence, corner Peach and 8th.


Source: History of Erie County, Pennsylvania; City of Erie; Chicago; Warner, Beers & Co.; 1884












Cleveland Genealogy Resources



Cleveland Ancestry Resources