Biographical Sketches
JUDGE CLEVELAND F. MOULTON
An esteemed member of the bar of Kansas City, was born in Genesee county, New York, July 4, 1828, and is a son of Daniel J. and Eliza Charlotte (Cleveland) Moulton. His maternal grandfather was Moses Cleveland, to whom the land on which the city of Cleveland, Ohio, now stands was granted by the government in consideration of military services. His mother is a cousin of President Grover Cleveland. The father of the Judge, removing from the Nutmeg state, became a resident of New York in 1824, and there followed the occupation of farming until his death, which occurred 50 years later. His wife survived him 13 years, and died in 1887, leaving 5 children out of a family whose original number was 12. These are Ms. Louisa J. Warner, now living in Cleveland, Ohio; John Jay, a resident of Springfield, Illinois; George A., who makes his home in San Francisco, California; Mrs. Frank Rogers, now of Chicago; and the Judge.
In early manhood our subject, leaving the Empire state, went to Mobile, Alabama, where he engaged in reading law, and was admitted to the bar in that city in 1849. He at once entered upon the practice there and continued his labors as a member of the profession until the beginning of the war, when he entered the Confederate service as a private of Company A, Mobile Continentals, first Alabama regiment. February 25, 1861, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 48th Alabama regiment, of which Colonel Makinstry was in command at the time; and when the latter was made judge advocate of the southern Confederacy Mr. Moulton was commissioned colonel of the regiment. He also served on the staff of Governor Gill Shorter, of Alabama, and from 1864 till the close of the war he served on the staff of Governor H. Watts, of Alabama, and at this time he was still in command of the 48th regiment and was a member of the state legislature. To this position he was elected by the conservative party whose political object was to bring the war to a close. He remained in the legislature 4 terms and then returned to the service, continuing in the Confederate army until the close of the war.
When hostilities had ceased, Colonel Moulton resumed the practice of law in Mobile, and in 1866 was elected to the office of city attorney. He was afterward prosecuting attorney, and in July, 1868, was appointed judge of the circuit court at Mobile, and served in that capacity for 8 years, discharging his duties in a most efficient manner. In 1875 he removed to St. Louis, where he practiced law until 1882, and then retired to the farm which he had previously purchased in Bates county, Missouri. For 6 years he devoted his energies to the management of his agricultural interests. In 1873, while on the circuit bench of Mobile, Alabama, he was elected mayor, and reelected in 1874. In 1888 he came to Kansas City and opened an office for general practice here. For a time he was associated in business with Webster Davis, and the partnership continued one year. The Judge has since been alone and now enjoys a liberal clinetage.
Judge Moulton was married in 1858 to Miss Ruth Perkins Pomeroy, of East Hampton, Massachusetts. The children of this marriage are Williston Jay, a farmer now residing near Adrian, Missouri; John Dane, a merchant of Kansas City; Reverdy Halleck, who is engaged in merchandising in Harrisonville, Cass county, Missouri; and Cleveland F., who is now following farming near Adrian, Bates county. The mother of this family was called to her final rest February 19, 1892, and her remains were interred in the cemetery at Adrian.
This page was last updated August 2, 2006.