Cleveland Dear

Cleveland Dear, Sr. , was a twoterm U.S. representative for Louisianas 8th congressional district, since disbanded, a district attorney, a state court judge, and a candidate in 1936 for governor of Louisiana. A Democrat from Alexandria, Louisiana, he was allied with the antiLong political faction.

Dear was the youngest of eleven children born to Mississippi natives James Mackburn Dear and the former Sarah Jane Harper in Sugartown in Beauregard Parish in western Louisiana. After early education in country schools, Dear graduated from Louisiana State University and its Paul M. Hebert Law Center, both in Baton Rouge. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. In 1914, he received his law degree and was admitted that same year to the bar. At first, he was in partnership in Alexandria in Rapides Parish in Central Louisiana, with Frank H. Peterman in the firm Peterman amp Dear. When V. H. Peterman, the father of Frank Peterman joined the firm, it became Peterman, Dear amp Peterman. The firm handled local interests of the Texas amp Pacific Railway and the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company.

Source: Wikipedia