BENJAMIN CLEAVELAND, farmer, P. O. Pleasantville, was born March 16, 1813, in Jefferson County, Ky., son of Adin and Mary (Conyers) Cleaveland.

He settled in this township in 1838, when it was comparatively a wilderness, building a small log house, sixteen feet square. He remained in this small cabin about five years, when he built another and better cabin, which some time after gave place to a hewed-log cabin with a shingle roof. The next house he built, and the fourth one, was a frame, in which he now lives.

He was married October 30, 1839, to Ann McCammon, and five children have been born to them--Mary J., William, John, Andrew and Wesley. His wife departed this life November 20, 1852, and in the fall of 1853 he married Louisa K. Douthitt, who also died the following fall, when he married his third wife, Margaret P. Padget, March 5, 1857, by which union there were born four children, viz.: Benjamin, Thomas, George and James S.

Mr. Cleaveland is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, having been baptized when eighteen years of age, by Rev. John Dale. Politically, he is a Conservative. He has filled the position of Trustee of the township, and levied the tax to build the first brick schoolhouse in the township. Mr. Cleaveland is a public-spirited man, being a friend to all charitable institutions.

Mrs. Cleaveland has a great many bedclothes of her own manufacture, and it is interesting to hear her tell about her first lesson in spinning. She is a highly respected lady, and her step-children think as much of her as though she was their mother.

Mr. Cleaveland attended Sunday School at Lacey's Wood, which he says was not a Baptist, nor a Methodist school, but only a good school without being denominational.