HORATIO P. VAN CLEVE AND FAMILY:

Horatio Phillips Van Cleve was born in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on November 24, 1809, to John (1778-1826) and Louisa Anna (Houston) Van Cleve (1782-1827). He was educated in the Lawrenceville Academy and attended Princeton University for two years. He then entered West Point Military Academy, being graduated from there in 1831. He joined the United States Fifth Infantry Regiment as a Second Lieutenant, remaining with it for five years. He was posted to frontier duty at Fort Howard, (later) Wisconsin and then to Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin.

Charlotte Ouisconsin Clark was born July 1, 1819, at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, (later) Wisconsin, the daughter of Nathan (d. 1836) and Charlotte (Seymour) Clark (1794-1873). Shortly after her birth, her father’s regiment moved to Fort Snelling, (later) Minnesota, where she resided for a number of years. On March 22, 1836, she married Horatio Phillips Van Cleve.

From 1836 to 1856 the Van Cleves lived in Davis Prairie, Missouri, and in various locations in Michigan. In 1856 they returned to Minnesota, residing in Long Prairie. In 1861, with Van Cleve's appointment as a colonel of the Second Minnesota Regiment, they moved to St. Anthony Falls. He served throughout the Civil War and was in charge of Union forces at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, from 1863 to 1865. After his muster out in 1865, he returned to Minnesota and served as Adjutant General for the state of Minnesota.

Charlotte was a member of the Minneapolis Board of Education (East Division) from 1876 to 1878; she founded the Sisterhood of Bethany and was instrumental in the operation of Bethany Home. She was active in women’s suffrage activities. She authored numerous books and articles on topics related to Minnesota history, many of them based on her personal recollections.

Horatio P. Van Cleve died on April 24, 1891 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Charlotte Van Cleve died on April 1, 1907, in Minneapolis.

Edward Mortimer Van Cleve, son of Horatio P. and Charlotte (Clark) Van Cleve was born January 30, 1851, in Rosedale, Michigan. On October 2, 1871, he married Sarah Martindale Adams (circa 1848-1875) in Providence, Rhode Island. To this union one daughter, Mary Adams Van Cleve (1874-1957) was born. After the death of his first wife, Edward M. Van Cleve married Mary Seymour Williams on May 3, 1881, in Chicago, Illinois. He served as a statistician for the Minneapolis board of education. He died April 9, 1924, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Mary Seymour Williams, daughter of Erastus Smith (1821-1884) and Rebecca M. (Woodbridge) Williams (1826-1864) was born in 1856. Her marriage to Edward Mortimer Van Cleve occurred 3 May 1881. They were the parents of Horatio Phillips Van Cleve (1882-1972), Rebecca Woodbridge Van Cleve (Mrs. James H. Nicol) (1884-1977), Erastus Williams Van Cleve (b. 1888-1964), and Grace Williams Van Cleve (b. 1897). She died in August 11, 1947, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Grace A. Williams, daughter of Erastus Smith and Rebecca M. (Woodbridge) Williams was born in 1858. She taught at Central High School (Minneapolis) for 37 years; she died in 1933.

Anna Houston Van Cleve, daughter of Horatio P. and Charlotte (Clark) Van Cleve, was born on December 20, 1840, in Cincinnati, Ohio. On October 24, 1857, she married Mortimer Thomson, New York journalist, in New Haven, Connecticut. She died in 1859.

Elizabeth Archer Van Cleve, daughter of Horatio P. and Charlotte (Clark) Van Cleve, was born on November 25, 1846. She married William Wisner Hall on December 26, 1865, in Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. She died on June 27, 1918, in Honolulu.

Mary Adams Van Cleve, daughter of Edward Mortimer and Sarah Martindale (Adams) Van Cleve was born in 1874 in Providence, Rhode Island. From 1910 to 1944 she served as secretary of the geology dean at the University of Minnesota. She died on August 24, 1957, in Minneapolis.

Carl Ernest Van Cleve, son of Horatio P. and Charlotte (Clark) Van Cleve, was born on June 25, 1861, in Long Prairie, Minnesota. He died on April 17, 1934, in Minneapolis.

Horatio Phillips Van Cleve, son of Edward Mortimer and Mary Seymour (Williams) Van Cleve, was born on December 8, 1882. He was educated at the University of Minnesota as a civil engineer. He married Leslie Allen in 1910. He served as second ward alderman for the city of Minnesota between 1933 and 1945. In 1944, he married Audrey Wells. He died on May 26, 1972, in Minneapolis.

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A large portion of the collection consists of family correspondence during Van Cleve's Civil War service as colonel (eventually general) with the 2nd Minnesota Infantry. Other materials include letters from H. P. at Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin (1834-1836); letters and compositions of Charlotte Clark at school in New Haven, Conn. (1834-1836); letters of their daughter Anna, married to New York journalist Mortimer Thomson (1850s); letters of their daughter Elizabeth in Honolulu (1860s); correspondence of their son Edward Mortimer Van Cleve, his two wives, their families; papers of their grandson Horatio P. Van Cleve as a civil engineer and Minneapolis alderman (1893-1970); and Charlotte Van Cleve's reports as president of the Sisterhood of Bethany. There is information on life in southeast and northern Michigan (1830s-1850s), on the Winnebago Indian agency at Long Prairie, Minnesota (1850s), and in Saint Anthony, Minnesota (1860s-1870s).

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Horatio P. Van Cleve and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 3067; 5966; 10,814; 11,341; 11,447; 11,625; 12,150; 16,509; 16,611

Processing Information:

Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Digitized by: Aubrey Mullenix, January-March 2024, December 2024.

Digitization was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.

Catalog ID number: 990017337090104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Military pensions -- United States.

Postal service -- Minnesota.

Winnebago Indians -- Minnesota -- Long Prairie.

Persons:

Clark, Nathan, 1789-1836.

Crocker, Clara Peabody, author.

Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901, author.

Johnson, Richard W., 1827-1897, author.

Pillsbury, J. S. (John Sargent), 1827-1901, author.

Ramsey, Alexander, 1815-1903, author.

Sibley, Henry Hastings, 1811-1891, author.

Van Cleef family.

Van Cleve, Charlotte Ouisconsin, 1819-1907, author.

Van Cleve family.

Organizations:

Daughters of the American Revolution. Monument Chapter (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Sisterhood of Bethany (Minneapolis, Mann.)

United States. Army. Infantry Regiment, 5th (1815- ).

United States. Army. Minnesota Infantry Regiment, 2nd (1861-1865).

United States. Army -- Pay, allowances, etc.

United States Military Academy.

Places:

Fort Snelling (Minn.)

Michigan.

Minneapolis (Minn.)

Minnesota -- Militia.

Saint Anthony (Hennepin County, Minn. : 1855-1872)

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.

Document Types:

Diaries.

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