Guide to the Van Cleve-Dover Papers

Biography of Benjamin Van Cleve, John W. Van Cleve, and Thomas Dover

Benjamin Van Cleve (1773-1821) was one of the earliest European settlers of what would later become the city of Dayton, Ohio. He was born February 24, 1773, to John Van Cleve and Catherine Benham Van Cleve in Monmouth County, New Jersey. In December of 1789, John and Catherine Van Cleve headed west with their family, including 16-year-old Benjamin, and arrived at present-day Cincinnati on January 3, 1790. Less than two years later, on June 1, 1791, John Van Cleve was murdered by Native Americans while tending his fields. For a number of years after his father's death, Benjamin carried the burden of supporting his mother and siblings. Benjamin Van Cleve was one of the first settlers of Dayton, Ohio, when he arrived with a small group of others at the present site of downtown Dayton on April 1, 1796. Benjamin Van Cleve's other important roles in Dayton history include teaching at the first school in the city, being the first postmaster of Dayton, and serving as the clerk of courts for Montgomery County. He was also a surveyor. In 1805, Benjamin Van Cleve was among the founders of the first library incorporated in the state of Ohio; the library was located in Van Cleve's log house in Dayton. Benjamin himself wrote down his memoirs in his Memoranda, which contains, among other things, the most accurate and detailed description of General Arthur St. Clair's defeat and the only reliable account of the settlement of Dayton in 1796. On August 28, 1800, in Dayton, Benjamin married Mary Whitten, who was born February 17, 1782. Benjamin Van Cleve had five children with his first wife, Mary Whitten Van Cleve; she died on December 28, 1810. On March 10, 1812, Benjamin married Mary Tamplin, by whom he had no children. Benjamin died on November 29, 1821; his second wife Mary died in 1825 or 1826. The remains of Benjamin Van Cleve and both of his wives were interred in their final resting place in Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, on February 29, 1844. The five children of Benjamin Van Cleve and Mary Whitten Van Cleve were: John Whitten Van Cleve (1801-1858), who was unmarried; William James Van Cleve (1803-1808); Henrietta Maria Van Cleve (1805-1879), who married Samuel Best Dover and later married Joseph Bond; Mary Cornelia Van Cleve (1807-1878), who married James Andrews; and Sarah Sophie Van Cleve (1809-1839), who married David C. Baker.

John Whitten Van Cleve (1801-1858), son of Benjamin and Mary Whitten Van Cleve, was one of the first white children born in Dayton. John was born on June 27, 1801, five years after his father had arrived at present-day Dayton. John would become locally noted for his literary, scientific, and artistic achievements, and his life-long and unpaid work for the public good. John was a born scholar, endowed with a vigorous intellect and a facility for acquiring knowledge of both mathematics and languages. John entered Ohio University at Athens when he was sixteen years old. He established quite a reputation for his scholarship at the university; he was a teacher of Greek and Latin at the university before graduating. Upon his graduation, John studied law with Judge Joseph H. Crane, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. John's political career included serving elected terms as recorder in 1824 and 1828, as well as three terms as Mayor of Dayton between 1830 and 1832, and he was several times the city engineer. In December 1828, John purchased an interest in the Dayton Journal, which he edited until 1834. John was also involved in the drug business, in partnership with Augustus Newell, their firm being Van Cleve & Newell. Van Cleve & Newell was on the north side of Third Street, just east of Main. In his later years, John W. Van Cleve became an accomplished musician, painter, engraver, civil engineer, botanist, and geologist. John was a founder of Woodland Cemetery, being president of the Woodland Cemetery Association from its inception in the early 1840s until his death. In 1847, John also became one of the founders of the Dayton Library Association, which would eventually become the present-day Dayton Metro Library system. John W. Van Cleve died from tuberculosis on September 6, 1858, in Dayton. His funeral was held the following day at the Phillips House, and he was buried in Woodland Cemetery, Dayton. He had no spouse or children. Thomas Dover (1829-1881) was born February 24, 1829, in a log cabin five miles north of Dayton, on the Old Troy Road (now OH-202), though the family removed to Dayton in the early spring of 1839. Thomas was the son of Henrietta Maria Van Cleve (daughter of Benjamin Van Cleve) and Samuel Best Dover; Thomas was a nephew of John W. Van Cleve, who was his mother's brother. The other children of Samuel B. and Henrietta Van Cleve Dover were: Mary Ann Dover (1825-1903), who married Jacob Andrew Drill; Robert Best Dover (1827-1841), who died as a teenager; Henrietta Sophia Dover (1830-1911), who married Silas M. B. Simpson; Phoebe Maria Dover (1833-1876), who married Emory B. Belden; and Serah Greenham Dover (1836-1879), who married Ebenezer S. Allan. As a young man, Thomas learned the drug trade at the firm Van Cleve & Newell, with his uncle John W. Van Cleve . Thomas was with Van Cleve & Newell from 1843 until 1847, when after a bout with typhoid and a trip to Rising Sun, Indiana, he came home to find himself out of a job there. From 1851 until about 1862, Thomas worked for several druggists in Dayton, Ohio, as well as in Centerville, Indiana, and Muscatine, Iowa. He also worked with his father in the gas pipefitting business, as well as planting peach trees on his uncle John Van Cleve's farm. In the spring of 1862, Thomas purchased a tract of land at the corner of Fifth Street and Wayne Avenue in Dayton and opened his own drug store, which he operated until his death. Thomas Dover married Louisa Jane Donavan on July 2, 1857, in Springfield, Ohio; Louisa had been born May 13, 1836, in Springfield. Thomas and Louisa had five children: Robert Fay Dover (1858-1897), who married Jennie Lehman; Samuel B. Dover (1860-1928), who married Clara Rice; Anna Maria Dover (1863-1942), who married Edwin E. McKnight; John James Dover (1865-1944), who married Bertha _____; and Harry Thomas Dover (1870-1877). Thomas Dover died April 21, 1881, being killed instantly upon falling from a stepladder in his drug store. He was buried in Woodland Cemetery, Dayton. His wife, Louisa, died March 5, 1896, in Dayton, and was also buried in Woodland.

Scope and Content

The collection largely represents the lives of Benjamin Van Cleve and his son John W. Van Cleve. The collection also includes, to a lesser extent, materials relating to other family members, as well as some genealogical notes. Benjamin Van Cleve was one of the first settlers in the city of Dayton, and his son John W. Van Cleve was a prominent member of the Dayton community during the early and mid-nineteenth century. This collection would be of interest to researchers of Dayton's initial settlement, as well as nineteenth-century Dayton history, and perhaps also early Ohio settlement in general.

Series I: Papers of Benjamin Van Cleve Series I, Papers of Benjamin Van Cleve, consists primarily of correspondence, especially between Benjamin and his son John. The series also includes: correspondence with John Cleves Short; financial records kept as the clerk of courts for Montgomery County, Ohio; and Benjamin's personal memoir, Memoranda, which gives an account of the founding of the city of Dayton in 1796. Series II: Papers of John W. Van Cleve Series II, Papers of John W. Van Cleve, consists of correspondence; financial documents; official and legal documents; academic writings and research notes written or collected by John; artistic and literary materials created or gathered by John; and personal notes and mementos. Much of the material in this series is contained in notebooks. This series is the largest in the collection and is divided into the following subseries: Subseries 1: Correspondence Subseries 2: Financial Documents Subseries 3: Official Documents Subseries 4: Academic Writings & Research Notes Subseries 5: Artistic & Literary Materials Subseries 6: Personal Notes & Mementos Series III: Papers of Thomas Dover Series III, Papers of Thomas Dover, consists primarily of correspondence with family and acquaintances. The series also includes financial records, pharmaceutical notebooks, a brief autobiography, and other miscellaneous notes. Series IV: Papers of Other Relatives and Individuals Series IV, Papers of Other Relatives and Individuals, consists primarily of correspondence among other family members besides Benjamin Van Cleve, John W. Van Cleve, or Thomas Dover. These family members include: Jerome Holt, Serah (Dover) Allan, Ebenezer Allan, Mary Ann (Dover) Drill, and Henrietta (Dover) Simpson. Series V. Genealogical and Reference Materials Series V, Genealogical and Reference Materials, is mostly comprised of various genealogical materials and research, including correspondence between Van Cleve researchers and the Dayton Metro Library. This series also includes an announcement about the acquisition of the Gentleman's Library donated by Col. Edward Deeds.

Statement of Arrangement

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

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Preferred Citation

The Van Cleve-Dover Collection, a special collection of historical materials at the Dayton Metro Library, Dayton, Ohio.

Collection Item Listing

For a complete, item-level listing of the contents of this collection, please contact the Dayton Metro Library's Local History Room. Or, visit : http://content.daytonmetrolibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/finding/id/3009