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+--- Thread: William C. Cleary anyone? (/thread-1342.html)
William C. Cleary anyone? - JMadonna - 11-29-2013 02:53 PM
Cleary was secretary to Clement Clay and Jacob Thompson. Does anyone know what became of him? I've traced him to escaping to Europe with Thompson but then nothing. Can anyone add more to this sketchy knowledge?
Thanks,
Jerry
RE: William C. Cleary anyone? - Wild Bill - 11-29-2013 03:11 PM
Try the Southern Historical papers
Excuse me, Southern Historical Society papers
RE: William C. Cleary anyone? - SSlater - 11-30-2013 08:44 PM
(11-29-2013 02:53 PM)JMadonna Wrote: Cleary was secretary to Clement Clay and Jacob Thompson. Does anyone know what became of him? I've traced him to escaping to Europe with Thompson but then nothing. Can anyone add more to this sketchy knowledge?I am a bit "slow" right now but I am trying to "Get on track". Question: Was William C. Cleary the same man as William Walter Cleary? CR says William W. Cleary was Sec. to Thompson and Clay.
Thanks,
Jerry
There is more info, on W.W. HELP!
(11-30-2013 08:44 PM)SSlater Wrote:PS Google "William Walter Cleary Diary".(11-29-2013 02:53 PM)JMadonna Wrote: Cleary was secretary to Clement Clay and Jacob Thompson. Does anyone know what became of him? I've traced him to escaping to Europe with Thompson but then nothing. Can anyone add more to this sketchy knowledge?I am a bit "slow" right now but I am trying to "Get on track". Question: Was William C. Cleary the same man as William Walter Cleary? CR says William W. Cleary was Sec. to Thompson and Clay.
Thanks,
Jerry
There is more info, on W.W. HELP!
RE: William C. Cleary anyone? - L Verge - 11-30-2013 09:19 PM
I think John is correct. I did some googling and William C. Cleary appears to be the one mentioned by the courts - especially by John Bingham in his summations against everyone of Confederate importance related to the assassination.
However, I then googled William Walter Cleary and found this link http://banjosbourbonbarrelsandbluegrass.tumblr.com/post/67471604401/william-walter-cleary-diary-now-online. If I can find it again, I also found another site related to Harrison County, Kentucky, with information on William Walter Cleary that is basically the same as William C. Cleary. There is even a picture of William Walter Cleary with his d of b and d of d.
I suspect that someone 150 years ago got the middle name incorrect??
(11-30-2013 09:19 PM)L Verge Wrote: I think John is correct. I did some googling and William C. Cleary appears to be the one mentioned by the courts - especially by John Bingham in his summations against everyone of Confederate importance related to the assassination.
However, I then googled William Walter Cleary and found this link http://banjosbourbonbarrelsandbluegrass.tumblr.com/post/67471604401/william-walter-cleary-diary-now-online. If I can find it again, I also found another site related to Harrison County, Kentucky, with information on William Walter Cleary that is basically the same as William C. Cleary. There is even a picture of William Walter Cleary with his d of b and d of d.
I suspect that someone 150 years ago got the middle name incorrect??
The other link to William Walter Cleary is here:http://home.comcast.net/~harrisoncountykyus/military/civil-war-lincoln-and-todd-county-
P.S. We're so glad to see you back posting, John.
RE: William C. Cleary anyone? - JMadonna - 12-03-2013 08:11 AM
Thanks everyone,
Unfortunately, William C. Cleary and William Walter Cleary were two separate people. It's probably why the middle initial was used in official reports, to separate them from each other.
Jerry
RE: William C. Cleary anyone? - L Verge - 12-03-2013 09:24 AM
In what capacity is William C. Cleary involved? The Bingham summation seems to refer to William C. - but giving his job credentials as those of William W. Cleary. I'm confused.
BTW: Go to the thread right under this one with the postings of a variety of Lincoln assassination period newspapers. About three-quarters of the way down the page is a copy of the May 7, 1865, New York Herald bearing a column that mention William Walter Cleary.
RE: William C. Cleary anyone? - JMadonna - 12-03-2013 05:38 PM
William C. Cleary worked in Canada with Clement Clay & Jacob Thompson as a clerk. William Walter Cleary (from reading his diary from your links) apparently worked as a Confederate Treasury agent during that time and never left the country. Johnson's declaration put a reward of $10,000 on the head of William C. not William W.
The Herald must have gotten it wrong. It happens.
RE: William C. Cleary anyone? - RJNorton - 10-24-2016 04:13 AM
(12-03-2013 08:11 AM)JMadonna Wrote: Thanks everyone,
Unfortunately, William C. Cleary and William Walter Cleary were two separate people. It's probably why the middle initial was used in official reports, to separate them from each other.
Jerry
(11-30-2013 08:44 PM)SSlater Wrote: I am a bit "slow" right now but I am trying to "Get on track". Question: Was William C. Cleary the same man as William Walter Cleary? CR says William W. Cleary was Sec. to Thompson and Clay.
There is more info, on W.W. HELP!
PS Google "William Walter Cleary Diary".
This morning I received this note from Bill Penn:
"I only wanted to comment on the topic of William C. Cleary vs. William W. Cleary. They are the same person, which I have recently written about in my U. Press of Ky. Book, Kentucky Rebel Town: Civil War Battles of Cynthiana and Harrison County, which is in Google books. The poster apparently had the wrong middle initial for Mr. Cleary. Cleary was from my home town of Cynthiana, Ky."
RE: William C. Cleary anyone? - Leon Greene - 10-25-2016 12:33 PM
Here's an excerpt about Cleary from my book about Dr. Luke Pryor Blackburn, to be printed by McFarland Publishers in early 2017:
"William W. Cleary’s identity was confused both in many Civil War documents and later reports, including – of all things – the indictment charging the conspirators for the Lincoln assassination. The person indicted by the government with Booth, Herold, and the other conspirators was listed as “William C. Cleary.” In fact, William Walter Cleary was the person they sought in connection with the assassination plot. Furthermore, some sources cite him as “Walter” W. Cleary. Even the revocation of the rewards for Thompson, Tucker, Sanders, Cleary, and John Surratt had him listed as William G. (not “C.” or “W.”) Cleary.
William W. Cleary was born in September 1831 in Lexington, Kentucky. He graduated from Transylvania University in 1849 and received his law degree from Transylvania University in 1951, the school both Blackburn and Jefferson Davis had also attended. Cleary was admitted to the bar of Kentucky and settled in Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky, in 1852. He served in the Kentucky General Assembly. William Cleary had a unique appearance. Detroit lawyer and later a Sixth Circuit Court Judge Halmer H. Emmons would describe him as “about 30 years old, five feet 7 or 8 inches high, sandy hair grey eyes fair complexion red beard. Head little on one side, one shoulder higher than the other.”
During the Civil War, Cleary was briefly a member of Company D, 3rd Kentucky Infantry, Local Defense Troops. In the middle of June 1862, when he heard that he was about to be arrested by Union officers, and knowing that it wasn’t possible for him to escape further to the South, he fled to Canada. There he stayed at the Clifton House in Clifton, Ontario; two weeks later he went to the Queen’s Hotel in Toronto – places soon to become Confederate haunts in Canada. In September 1862 he returned to Kentucky. Cleary was briefly the Clerk of the Council of the Confederate Government of Kentucky. Cleary thereafter on January 20, 1863, became a Clerk in the Claims Division for the Second Auditor’s Office of the Confederate State Treasury Department in Richmond. Cleary then joined the group of Confederates that included Thompson, Clay, and Holcombe, serving in Canada at Jefferson Davis’ request. Cleary was also considered to be a close friend of Jefferson Davis, and Cleary’s diary records that he met with Davis on March 8, 1863, without further notation (“Called on the President”). Cleary was never completely sure about the wisdom of his joining the group of Confederates going to Canada. He, however, initially had wanted to be a part of the Canadian project. He wrote to "Governor" Richard Hawes on March 16, 1864, asking to be a member of the team going to Canada to promote the Southern cause. Cleary was interviewed on March 24 and April 7, and it seemed that he was still a candidate for the position. As late as June 15, 1863, he would record in his diary, “Am not certain yet that there is anything in it [the Canadian venture], trust there is for then I could arrange for my family.”
Cleary was informed of his own acceptance on the Canadian team on April 20. (“Saw Mr. Benjamin this morning, and I am to go…,” Cleary's diary recorded). We glean many details of the operations of the Canadian Confederates from Cleary who was commissioned as the Secretary of this group. Cleary was considered to be an honorable man, and his later testimony against Dr. Luke Blackburn would bear much weight in the assessment of the veracity of the other witnesses."
Regarding his later years:
" The press ultimately didn’t treat William Walter Cleary with much respect, either. Soon after hearings and trials had begun, Cleary was described as a man who “sneaks round in a very subdued manner, and if he is seen in the bar of the Queen’s [Hotel] it is only when he hopes to receive an invitation to drink.” Cleary initially had a bounty price of $10,000 on his head, but he never faced trial. He never applied individually for a pardon, but the Presidential Proclamation of General Amnesty ultimately covered him. Cleary finally returned to Cynthiana, Kentucky, where he continued to practice law and was later elected County Judge. In 1873 he was elected to be the Twelfth Judicial District Commonwealth Attorney. Cleary died in Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky, on March 16, 1897, at age 66, of Bright’s Disease of the kidney."
There's a lot more about Cleary in the book.
RE: William C. Cleary anyone? - L Verge - 11-03-2016 02:28 PM
Great information, Dr. Greene, and so glad to see that your book is ready for publication next year.