NORTH CONWAY, N.H. — “I used to think I had a kind of competition going on with Gov. Bush,” a mustachioed man said in introducing Jeb Bush before a townhall meeting here on Thursday. “His family had three terms in the White House so far. Mine only had two.”
The man, George Cleveland, was referring to his grandfather Grover Cleveland, the only president to ever serve two non-consecutive terms.
The youthful-looking George, who runs the Gibson Center for Senior Services here, told the the Washington Examiner that his ancestry story is often greeted with skepticism.
“A lot of people raise their eyebrows, or some people refuse to believe it,” he said.
How can a 63-year old possibly be the grandson (not great-grandson) of somebody who first was sworn into office in 1885, the year the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor?
It turns out that when Grover, who was born in 1837, was in the White House in 1886, he married the daughter of his deceased law partner. She was just 21, making her the youngest ever First Lady. Grover and his young bride, Frances Folsom Cleveland, had Richard Cleveland — George’s father — in 1897.
Richard, who had children from a first marriage, got remarried to his kids’ young schoolteacher, Jessie Maxwell Black, in 1943. Together, the couple had George, meaning there was a huge age gap between him and his father’s other children.
“I was born an uncle,” George said.
Cleveland often dresses up as his grandfather, as he did at a recent Grover Cleveland dinner thrown by Democrats. He’s also made some interesting friends over the years.
“I’m friends with a guy in his 80s – his name is Lyon Tyler,” Cleveland said. “He is the grandson of President John Tyler.”
John Tyler, the nation’s 10th president, was sworn into office in 1841.
