a.
Here he died suddenly, a few weeks after his removal, leaving to his
wife and nine children no other fortune than the legacy of an honorable
name, and the enduring influence of a true and devoted life.

V. Grover Cleveland, third son and fifth child of Richard Falley and
Anne (Neale) Ceveland, was sixteen years of age when his father died.
The sad event necessarily marked a turning-point in his career. He was
forced to look life and duty seriously in the face, and he proved
himself equal to the emergency. It had been a cherished hope of his
boyhood that he might secure the benefit of a classical education at
Hamilton College, from which his eldest brother, William (now a
Presbyterian clergyman at Forestport, N.Y.), had then recently
graduated. But this was now out of the question. He had not only to
provide for himself, but he felt bound to aid his mother in the support
of the younger members of the family. The idea of the college course,
for which he had partially fitted himself in the preparatory school at
Clinton, was relinquished, and the battle of life commenced in earnest.
He had already learned something of the lesson of self-reliance, having
served for a year or more as a clerk in a grocery at Fayetteville, and
he soon secured a situation as an assistant in the Institution for the
Blind in the city of New York, where his brother William was then
engaged as a teacher. Here he remained nearly two years, faithfully
discharging the duties assigned him, and promptly forwarding to his
mother such portion of his moderate wages as remained after providing
for his own personal necessities. The situation, however, grew irksome.
As the young man's capabilities developed his ambition was aroused.
There was no way of advancement open before him here, and he felt that
his duty to himself, as well as others, demanded that he make the best
practicable use of the powers with which he was endowed. Returning home
for a short visit, and taking counsel with his mother, he soon set out
for the "West," the field toward which ambitious young men have turned,
with hearts full of hope, for the last half century.

His proposed destination was Cleveland, Ohio; his cherished ambition the
study and practice of the law. He was accompanied on his journey by a
young friend of kindred aspirations. Arriving at Buffalo he called on an
uncle, Mr. Lewis F. Allen, who had a fine stock farm, just out of the
city, and who finally induced him to rem