Daniel Cleveland

Daniel Cleveland (March 21, 1838 – January 3, 1929) was an American lawyer, politician, civic leader and botanist. Originating from a family of lawyers from Poughkeepsie, New York, he practiced law throughout his life. He served as the mayor of San Antonio from 1865 to 1866 before he settled in San Francisco and then San Diego. In San Diego, he built a reputation as a prominent civic figure, helping with the organization and founding of numerous community organizations which included the first public library in the city, the Bank of San Diego, the San Diego Society of Natural History and a chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. Cleveland was an avid naturalist and collected numerous specimens of flora and fauna in the San Diego region, forwarding many them to Dr. Asa Gray of Harvard University, earning his name on numerous species and genera. Early life Daniel Cleveland was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, on March 21, 1838. He came from a family of lawyers, and his lineage consisted of old-stock Americans who had come to the continent before 1640, with his great-grandfather fighting as a soldier in General Putnam's army during the American Revolution, participating in the Battle of Bunker Hill. His father, Stephen Cleveland, was a prominent lawyer in New York. At the age of twelve, Daniel Cleveland moved to Biloxi, Mississippi to attend school. He briefly moved to New Orleans for two years when he was seventeen, and then returned to Poughkeepsie to study law, being admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of New York in 1859. In May 1859, Cleveland moved to San Antonio, Texas to join his brother William H. Cleveland. With the eruption of the Civil War, the brothers swore allegiance to the Union, but were unable to perform military service.