page_title: Rose Cleveland
section_title: Life and career
hierarchical_section_title: Rose Cleveland / Life and career
caption_attribution_description: English: Rose Cleveland, before 1918
context_page_description: Rose Elizabeth ”Libby” Cleveland, was acting First Lady of the United States from 1885 to 1886, during the first term of her brother, President Grover Cleveland's two administrations. The president was a bachelor until he married Frances Folsom on June 2, 1886, fourteen months into his first term.
context_section_description: Rose Elizabeth Cleveland was born in Fayetteville, New York, on June 14, 1846. Known to her family as "Libby", Rose was the youngest of nine children born to Richard Falley Cleveland and Ann Neal Cleveland. In September 1853, the family moved to Holland Patent, New York, where her father had just been appointed pastor of the Presbyterian church. He died the following month, with Rose being seven years old at the time of her father's death.
  Rose stayed in Holland Patent to care for her widowed mother. Grover Cleveland, Rose's elder brother, was 16 years old at the time and was determined to help support his family.  He left school and went to New York City to work as a teacher at the State School for the Blind. Rose was educated at Houghton Seminary in Clinton, New York where she later became a teacher to support herself and also help support her widowed mother.
  Rose also taught at the Collegiate Institute in Lafayette, Indiana, and at a girls school in Muncy, Pennsylvania, where she taught in the late 1860s. At Muncy Seminary Rose was known for her strong personality and independence.
  Rose gained a nickname within her circle of friends in Muncy; they called her "Johnny Cleveland" because she was usually found reading a book under an old tree at a nearby farm. Rose then prepared a course of historical lectures; one lecture, in particular, focused on altruistic faith, which she delivered before the students of Houghton Seminary and at other schools.
  In the 1880s Rose returned to Holland Patent to care for her ailing mother. During this time she taught at Sunday School and did some work in literature. When not employed in this manner, she devoted herself to her aged mother in the homestead at Holland Patent until her mother's death in 1882.  After Ann Neal Cleveland's death, Rose was left alone at the homestead known as "The Weeds."
  Rose continued to teach Sunday School and give lectures. In one lecture on altruistic faith, she stated, "We cannot touch humanity at large, except as we touch humanity in the individual. We make the world a better place through our concrete relationships, not through our vague, general good will. We must each find a true partner, someone who understands and appreciates us, someone whose faith in us brings out our best efforts. Our deepest craving is for recognition—to be known by another human being for what we truly are."
caption: Rose Cleveland
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