(Stephen) Grover Cleveland

(March 18, 1837 - June 24, 1908)

Stephen Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, Essex County, N.J., March 18, 1837. His father was a Presbyterian clergyman. After his father's death Grover became a clerk and assistant teacher in the New York Institution for the Blind, but in 1855 he settled in Buffalo with his uncle, and studied law in the office of Rogers, Bowmen and Rogers. He was admitted to the bar in 1859, and from 1863 until 1866 was district attorney of Erie County. He became the law partner of Isaac V. Vanderpool, and in 1869 a member of the firm of Lanning, Cleveland & Fulsom, practicing until 1870, when he was made sheriff of Erie County. The firm of Bass, Cleveland & Bissell was formed in 1873, and in 1881 Mr. Cleveland was elected mayor of Buffalo.

In 1882, favored by a factional fight in the Republican party, he was made governor of New York, and in 1884 the Democratic party nominated him for President of the United States, and elected him the 22nd President on a platform of tariff reform. He was defeated for a second term by the Republican candidate, Benjamin Harrisan, but in 1892 he in turn defeated Mr. Harrisan, and became our 24th President. This made him the only person to serve non-consecutive terms as President of the United States.

He was married in the White House, in 1886, to Miss Frances Folsom, daughter of his former law partner.

During Cleveland's second term, the country suffered a severe financial slump, and Cleveland found himself under considerable pressure to convert to a silver standard.