 To counter Cleveland 's image of superior morality , Republicans discovered reports that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child while he was a lawyer in Buffalo , New York , and chanted " Ma , Ma , where 's my Pa ? " . ( To which the Democrats , after Cleveland had been elected , appended : " Gone to the White House , Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! " ) Cleveland admitted to paying child support in 1874 to Maria Crofts Halpin , the woman who claimed he fathered her child named Oscar Folsom Cleveland . Halpin was involved with several men at the time , including Cleveland 's friend and law partner , Oscar Folsom , for whom the child was also named . Cleveland did not know which man was the father , and is believed to have assumed responsibility because he was the only bachelor among them . At the same time , Democratic operatives accused Blaine and his wife of not having been married when their eldest son , Stanwood , was born in 1851 ; this rumor was false , however , and caused little excitement in the campaign . 
