Montgomery County PA Archives Biographies.....Cleaver, Chalkley Kenderdine October 15, 1857 - 
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Source: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, T. S. Benham & Company and the Lewis Publishing Company, 1904
Author: Ellwood Roberts, Editor

  CHALKLEY K. CLEAVER. Prominent among the enterprising 
business men of
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, is Chalkley 
K. Cleaver, who was born at the
family homestead, 10th mo., 
15, 1857. He is a descendant of one of the old and
prominent 
families of that section of the state, having migrated 
thence from
Germantown, where they settled upon their 
arrival in the country, in the time
of William Penn, the 
founder of Pennsylvania. Although originally Germans,
they 
have been among the staunchest members of the Society of 
Friends in every
generation of the family.

  Peter Klever, the progenitor of the American branch
of the 
family, was undoubtedly one of the company of German 
immigrants which
included the Shoemakers, Lukenses, Conrads 
and others, who came from the Lower
Rhine some time after 
the arrival of Pastorius and the earlier German settlers
of 
Germantown, Pennsylvania. He is on record as having been 
naturalized in
1691, and he died in Bristol township, 
Philadelphia county, adjoining
Germantown, in 1727. He left 
children as follows: Isaac, who possessed land
in 
Cheltenham, and probably removed to that township; John, who 
succeeded his
father on the farm in Bristol township, and 
was the father of six children,
namely: Elizabeth, Peter, 
William, Sarah, John, and Hannah; Peter, Jr.,
mentioned in 
this sketch; Derrick; Agnes; and two married 
daughters-Christiana
Melchoir and Eve Adams.

  Peter Cleaver, Jr., third son of Peter Klever,
settled in 
Upper Dublin prior to 1734, as his name is given in the list 
of
taxables for that year in said township, as the owner of 
a hundred acres of
land. 

  His name is frequently mentioned as a road juror, etc., in 
the early
records of Philadelphia county, from which 
Montgomery county was formed in the
year 1784. The name of 
his wife was Elizabeth Cleaver. He died in 1776, leaving
a 
will in which he mentions his sons- John, Isaac, Ezekiel, 
Peter, and Nathan
and his daughter, Elizabeth, who became 
the wife of John Roberts, of Whitpain
township, a brother of 
Ruth Roberts, who became the wife of Nathan Cleaver,
brother 
of Elizabeth.

  Nathan Cleaver, son of Peter Cleaver, Jr., was born
in 
Upper Dublin township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He 
was a farmer by
occupation, and on his marriage with Ruth 
Roberts, daughter of John Roberts, of
Whitpain township, he 
removed to Montgomery township, same county, and
purchased 
one hundred and thirty-seven acres of land which had been 
part of
the Isaac Jones property, located in the extreme 
lower end of the township.


 His children were: Phebe, who became the wife of Amos 
Griffith; David, who
married and had several children, 
namely Edward, a resident of Chicago, and
father of a family 
of children; Annie, wife of Wilmer A. Wood, of Horsham; 

Jesse; and Rebecca; who died a few years ago at the Friends' 
Home, in
Norristown, Pennsylvania; Jonathan, who married Ann 
Jones, and was the father
of one son, Elias, who married Ann 
Acuff; Nathan, Jr., who married Martha
Shoemaker; and 
Salathiel, of whom mention is made later in this sketch.


 Salathiel Cleaver, son of Nathan and Ruth (Roberts) 
Cleaver, was born l0th
mo., 1780, and was an active and 
industrious farmer of Montgomery township,
Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania. His wife, Mary (Shoemaker) Cleaver, 
daughter
of Daniel Shoemaker, of Upper Dublin township, bore 
him the following named
children: Lydia; Nathan, who married 
Deborah Conrad, and Sarah C. James, of
Byberry, is their 
daughter; Josiah, who married, 4th mo. 11, 1844, Martha P. 

Lukens, daughter of Peter and Mary Lukens, and among their 
children are: Mary,
Daniel (deceased), Jane, wife of William 
B. Richards, of Plymouth township,
near Norristown, and 
Phebe, wife of Charles Keisel; Daniel; Silas, mentioned
at 
length below; and John, mentioned at length in the following 
paragraph.
Silas Cleaver was born 2d mo. 7, 1819. He was 
educated at the Joseph Foulke
boarding school, and after 
completing his studies he entered the mill of
William Ely, 
in Whitemarsh, and learned the trade.

  The following eight years
he operated the Walnut Mill, in 
Upper Dublin township, and then purchased the
property on 
the Wissahickon, since known as Cleaver's Mill, and now 
operated
by Chalkley K. Cleaver, son of John Cleaver. Silas 
Cleaver attended strictly to
business, prospered in his 
undertaking, and had made all preparations to
retire, and 
had bought a handsome house, when he died rather suddenly, 
2d mo.
18, 1884. He was a man of the highest integrity and 
stood well in the community
in which he lived. He was noted 
for gentleness, which is a characteristic of
the Society of 
Friends, causing them to be greatly beloved, and as a 
business
man and in every other relation of life he was all 
that a man should be, and
his memory will long remain among 
the succeeding generations. He married, 3d
mo., 9, 1848, 
Mary E. Rupert, daughter of John Rupert, who is still living 
and
now resides in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

  John Cleaver, son of Salathiel and
Mary (Shoemaker) 
Cleaver, was born November 1, 1822, on the homestead in 

Montgomery township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He 
remained on the farm
with his parents until he was nineteen 
years of age, and his education was
acquired in a private 
school on his father's property, and later at the
boarding 
school of Joseph Foulke, in Gwynedd. 
 
  He decided to learn the
trade of a miller, and, 
accordingly, he entered a mill on the Pennypack, near 

Bustleton, in Philadelphia county, as an apprentice. Having 
finished his
apprenticeship two years and a half later, he 
went to Byberry, in the upper end
of Philadelphia county, 
where he remained one year, at the expiration of which
time 
he formed a partnership with William Buckman, long since 
deceased, this
business relation continuing two years. In 
the spring of 1848 an opportunity
presented itself for 
engaging in business with his brother, Silas Cleaver,
who 
owned a mill on the Wissahickon, in Whitemarsh township.  

  This business
relation was of the most satisfactory 
character and continued until the year
1884, when the 
partnership was dissolved by the death of Silas Cleaver. 

William J. and Chalkley K. Cleaver, sons of John Cleaver, 
having been admitted
into the firm the previous year, they 
continued the business until the death of
William J., which 
occurred August 31, 1888. The business was then conducted
by 
John Cleaver and his son Chalkley K., John acting as 
salesman and collector
in Norristown and elsewhere, and 
since the death of the former named, in 1901,
Chalkley K. 
Cleaver has managed it alone. John Cleaver was for some time 
a
member of the Commercial Exchange, in the city of 
Philadelphia. In politics he
was an earnest and 
uncompromising Republican. He was deeply attached to the 

principles of the Society of Friends, of which the family 
have for many
generations been members. With his family, 
about the year 1885, he removed to
Norristown, and for many 
years thereafter he served as overseer in that
meeting, and 
he was also prominent in other society work. 

  Mr. Cleaver
married, November 11, 1852, Sarah J. 
Kenderdine, daughter of Chalkley and Ann
(Jarrett) 
Kenderdine, of Horsham township, Montgomery county.

  Their children
were: William J., born 2d mo. 3, 1854, 
deceased; Anna K., born 6th mo. 3, 1855;
Ella, born 7th mo. 
5, 1856, and died 1st mo. 17, 1860; Chalkley K., born 10th 

mo. 16, 1857; Mary R., born 9th mo. 14, 1859; Emma, born 
10th mo. 16, 1862;
Sarah, born 3d mo. 9, 1864; Tacie K., 
born 11 mo. 21, 1865; Silas C., born 12th
mo. 17, 1866, and 
died 6th mo. 10, 1883. Anna K. Cleaver married George Rex, 

2d mo. 26, 1880, and they reside in Philadelphia. He is a 
son of Joseph and
Amanda Rex. Their children are: John C., 
born 2d mo. 26, 1881, and died 7th mo.
26, 1881; Joseph, 
born 4th mo. 8, 1882; William, born 11th mo. 18, 1885; and 

Sarah C., born 6th mo. 6, 1888, and died 5th mo. 3, 1894.

  Mrs. John Cleaver
is a descendant of Thomas Kenderdine, 
the head of the American family of that
name, who was born 
in Montgomeryshire, Wales, about 1650, and died at his
home 
near Byberry Meeting, in Abington township, Montgomery 
county,
Pennsylvania, 8th mo. 2, 1713. 

  He married Margaret Robert, daughter of John
Robert, prior 
to 1680, and among their children was a son Thomas, who was 
born
about 1692, and died in 12th mo., 1779, being buried 
12th mo. 5, of that
year. 

  In 1720 he married Dorothy Roberts, but not through the 
Meeting, he
not having the consent of his parents. Being 
dealt with, he delivered a paper
of condemnation, was 
retained in membership and became a very active member
at 
Horsham. Another son was Joseph (great-great-grandfather of 
Mrs. Cleaver),
who was born 12th mo. 14, 1703, and died 2d 
mo. 23, 1778. His estate was not
settled, however, until 
1785. He married, 7th mo. 28, 1738, Mary Jarrett, and
their 
family consisted of one son, John, and six daughters, 
Margaret, Mary,
Hannah, Rachel, Sarah, and Jane. John 
(great-grandfather of Mrs. Cleaver)
married Hannah Morgan, 
and their children were: Joseph, Issacher, and John. 

Issacher (grandfather of Mrs. Cleaver) was born l0th mo. 13, 
1780, and died 8th
mo. 15, 1848. He married, l0th mo. 31, 
1804, Sarah Morgan, daughter of Morgan
and Ann (Roberts) 
Morgan, and their children were: Chalkley, Morgan,
Issacher, 
Ann Morgan, Hannah, Elizabeth and Jane. Chalkley Kenderdine 
(father
of Mrs. Cleaver) was born 9th mo. 5, 1805, and died 
2d mo. 23, 1885. He married
Ann Jarrett, 1st mo. 2, 1828, 
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Lukens) Jarrett,
and their 
children were: Tacie, born 4th mo. 29, 1829, and died 3d mo. 
16,
1898; Sarah Jane, born 7th mo. 21, 1832, widow of John 
Cleaver; Letitia, born
5th mo., 2, 1838, who married William 
Ambler, 3rd mo. 8, 1860; and Elizabeth,
born 5th mo. 24, 
1840. The Kenderdine family are numerous in Bucks county as 

well as in Montgomery, and have intermarried with a majority 
of the old
families of Friends.

  Chalkley Kenderdine Cleaver, second son of John and
Sarah 
J. (Kenderdine) Cleaver, was educated in the public schools 
of
Whitemarsh, the Friends' Central School, in Philadelphia, 
which has a high
reputation for thoroughness and discipline, 
the Lauderbach Select School, in
Philadelphia, and the West 
Chester Normal School, where he completed his
studies. On 
leaving that institution he decided to learn the milling 
trade
with his father, and later he was admitted as a member 
of the firm. After the
death of his father he assumed entire 
charge of the business, and has since
conducted it with 
great ability and success. He has introduced much improved 

machinery, and under his judicious management every 
department of work has been
brought up to a high standard of 
efficiency.

  In politics Mr. Cleaver is an
earnest Republican, the 
policy of that party corresponding with his convictions
as 
the true theory of government. He is a member of the junior 
Order of United
American Mechanics. He attends Friends' 
Meeting at Plymouth.

  Chalkley K.
Cleaver married, 5th mo. 27, 1884, A. Laura 
White, daughter of Thomas and Mary
White, the former named 
being a retired cattle dealer of Norristown, and a 

descendant of an old county family. Their children are: Ella 
W., born 8th mo.
27, 1885; Mary A., born 8th mo. 5, 1889; 
and S. Isabel Cleaver, born 7th mo.
17, 1895.

Additional Comments:
Text also gives a birthday of 10/16/1857. 

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