DUANE
Duane's take
Well, I'll tell you what the official marker says, and let me tell you, this one's worth every word. John L. Cleveland came into this world in Georgia in 1851, son of James Monroe and Catherine Wright Cleveland.
Now that name — James Monroe Cleveland — sounds like a man who had opinions, and I'd wager young John inherited a few. He studied agriculture and business, which is a fine combination if you're planning to conquer something, and then he pointed himself toward Texas. Toward Midlothian, specifically, where he arrived to teach and to farm.
Two noble callings, both of them requiring patience, and both of them apparently just the warm-up act. Meanwhile, over in Old Washington, Texas, a young woman named Annie Hamilton Upshaw — daughter of Samuel Crockett and Attelia Aldridge Upshaw — was growin' up with a name that sounded like destiny already had an itinerary. Her family moved to Hillsboro, and Annie went off to the Stuart Female Seminary in Austin, which tells you something about the kind of woman she was becoming.
Sharp. Purposeful. The sort of person who, when she walks into a room, things start getting organized.
She and John Cleveland found each other in Hillsboro, married there in 1884, and together they set their sights on Cleburne. In 1887, they purchased two lots from a man named B.J. Chambers — two quiet pieces of earth that had no idea what was about to happen to them.
Construction on the house began in 1892, and the family moved in the following year. Now when I say house, I want you to hear that word the way it deserves. This was a Queen Anne style home with Eastlake details — fishscale shingling on the exterior, polychromatic painting, sunburst motifs, spindled friezework, and a prominent modified keyhole window that looks out on the world like it's asking a question nobody has quite answered yet.
This house was not a coincidence. It was a statement. John Cleveland wasted no time filling up Cleburne with himself.
He owned the cottonseed oil mill — right up until 1907, when fire made that decision for him — and he owned a hardware store, and he sold automobiles to the citizens of Cleburne. That last detail, I have to pause on. The man sold cars to his neighbors for years, and did not learn to drive one himself until he was eighty years old.
Eighty. There's a life philosophy buried in that fact, and I'll let you find it. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias, the school board, and the Democratic Club of Cleburne, and he and Annie both were instrumental in founding the Main Street Methodist Church.
But if John filled up Cleburne, Annie Cleveland shaped it. She served as president of the Cleburne chapter of the Circle of King's Daughters. When World War I came rolling through American life like a freight train, Annie headed the local Red Cross canteen.
And then in 1925 — she wasn't slowing down, mind you — she helped organize the city's parent-teacher associations and the Cleburne Council of Mothers, a group that later became the City Council. She served as its first president. The woman built institutions the way her husband built that house — with intention, with care, and with the expectation that they would last.
John and Annie had ten children together. Six of them lived to adulthood. Four did not.
The marker doesn't dwell on that, and neither will I, except to say that they carried it, the way people of that era carried such things — forward, and together. John died in March of 1936. Annie died four months later.
They had shared that house for more than four decades, and apparently she wasn't prepared to be far from him for long. The house passed to their children, who sold it in 1941, and subsequent owners — to their credit — maintained the aesthetic of what had been built. The fishscale shingles.
The sunburst motifs. That keyhole window, still asking its question. The Texas Historical Commission placed a marker here in 2002.
A hundred and some-odd years after John and Annie moved through that front door, Cleburne is still saying their names. That's not a bad kind of permanence.
What the marker says
John L. and Annie Upshaw Cleveland House John L. Cleveland was born in Georgia in 1851 to James Monroe and Catherine (Wright) Cleveland. He studied agriculture and business before moving to Midlothian, Texas, to teach and farm. Annie Hamilton Upshaw, daughter of Samuel Crockett and Attelia (Aldridge) Upshaw of Old Washington, Texas, moved with her family to Hillsboro and attended Stuart Female Seminary in Austin. She and Cleveland married in Hillsboro in 1884, and the two settled in Cleburne, where, in 1887, they purchased two lots from B.J. Chambers. The couple began construction on their home in 1892 and moved in the following year. John and Annie were both instrumental in the formation of the Main Street Methodist Church. John owned the Cleburne cottonseed oil mill, which was destroyed by fire in 1907. He also owned a hardware store and sold cars to Cleburne citizens, although he did not learn to drive until he was 80 years old. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias, the school board and the Democratic Club of Cleburne. Annie, or Anne, served as president of the Cleburne chapter of Circle of Kings Daughters, headed the local Red Cross canteen during World War I and, in 1925, helped organize the city's parent-teacher associations and the Cleburne Council of Mothers, which later became the City Council. She served as the group's first president. The couple had ten children, six of whom lived to adulthood. John died in March 1936, and Annie died four months later. The house passed to their children, who sold it in 1941. Subsequent owners maintained the aesthetic of the historic home, which was built in the Queen Anne style with Eastlake details. Interesting features include decorative Fishscale shingling, polychromatic painting, sunburst motifs, a prominent modified keyhole window and spindled friezework. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002