Rose Elizabeth Cleveland was born in Fayetteville, New York, on June 14, 1846. Known to her family as "Libby", Rose was the youngest of nine children born to Reverend Richard Falley Cleveland and Ann Neal Cleveland. In 1853 the family moved to Holland Patent, New York, where her father was settled as pastor of the Presbyterian church, and where he died that same year. Rose was 7 at the time of her father's death. She stayed in Holland Patent to care for her widowed mother. Grover Cleveland, Rose's elder brother, was 16 years old at the time.