This family sketch will be a short one, due to the limited information available at the turn of the 16th century.

Scholarly research has been done on the English origins of Moses Cleveland who married Ann Winn and lived in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts and then in Southold, Suffolk, New York.

Three more generations before Moses have been identified, although details are few.

1. William Cleveland was born c1505 and buried at Ipswich, Suffolk, England on 28 November 1565. The wife of William Cleveland (name unknown) was buried at Ipswich on 31 December 1568. They had one known son:

2. Richard Cleveland was born in July 1542 at Ipswich and died after August 1605. His wife was Alice (MNU). They had a son:

3. Isaac Cleveland was baptized at Ipswich on 1 January 1584/85 and was buried there on 3 June 1626. His wife’s name was Alice (MNU). She was buried, just one month before her husband,  at St. Stephen Ipswich, Suffolk, England on 4 May 1626. London was experiencing a plague epidemic, which spread to other parts of England.

There was a record in the St. Stephen Church minutes stating that Isaac left six children to the charge of the parish, so he evidently was not a man of means.

Because St. Stephen’s records are somewhat incomplete, only the names of three of Isaac’s and Alice’s children are known. The other three children were likely born earlier than the three who have been identified in the baptismal records.

Children:

1. Unknown; died after 3 June 1626.
2. Unknown; died after 3 June 1626
3. Unknown; died after 3 June 1626
4. Moses, baptized at St. Stephen Ipswich on 2 February 1621; died 9 January 1701/02, Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts; married Ann Winn.
5. Aaron, baptized 1 May 1623; buried 7 April 1627, both at St. Stephen Ipswich.
6. Enoch, baptized 8 May 1625; no further record.

Until and unless further research is done in English church records, this is all that has been documented about immigrant Moses Cleveland’s ancestors.

It is unusual when the most current research information is found in a book published at the end of the 19th century, but that is precisely what has happened as I tried to verify information about Moses Cleveland and his wife, Ruth Norton.

Edmund James Cleveland and Horace Gillette Cleveland published The Genealogy of the Cleveland & Cleaveland Families . . ., Hartford, Connecticut in 1899 and it still seems to be, for the most part, the go-to resource for information about the many Cleveland descendants.

While there are additional pieces of information gleaned about various family members, the Clevelands’ work has stood the test of time.

Moses Cleveland was born 1 September 1651 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, the son of Moses Cleveland and Ann Winn. He married Ruth Norton on 4 October 1676, Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

Ruth was born c1657, the daughter of Nicholas Norton and Elizabeth, whose maiden name has never been proven, in spite of what can be found online.

Moses and Ruth were the parents of eight children:

1. Anna, born 7 November 1677, Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died after 1734, probably Newport, Newport, Rhode Island; married Mr. Bell sometime after her 1699 deed in which she, a witness, was called Anna Cleveland.
2. Elizabeth, born c1679, probably Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts; died 11 March 1748/49, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts; married Joseph Moore, c1697.
3. Ebenezer, born c1681, probably Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts; died before 1 January 1747, probably in Edgartown; married Mary Vincent/Vinson, 19 January 1704/05, Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts.
4. John, born c1684, probably Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts; died before 2 May 1749, Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts; married Martha Simons/Simmons, 1 January 1711/12, Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts.
5. Joseph, born 31 March 1686, Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts (or more likely in Edgartown, even though his birth was recorded in Woburn); died before 31 January 1757, Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts; married Ruth Burt.
6. Nicholas, born c1688, probably Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts; lost at sea; unmarried.
7. Ruth, born c1691, probably Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts; no further record.
8. Ichabod, born 25 June 1695, Southold, Suffolk, New York; died about 17 March 1768, Southold, Suffolk, New York; married Anna Moore.

Moses and Ruth likely removed from Massachusetts to New York in the spring or summer of 1694. They had sold their property on Job’s Neck, Martha’s Vineyard on 8 March 1694 to Samuel Smith. Not that it affects any of this information, but for whatever reason, the deed was not recorded until 13 January 1730/31.

Given that the Clevelands lived in Woburn, Martha’s Vineyard and Southold on Long Island in New York, they left a very small paper trail.

If anyone can add further, more recent documentation to this family, please leave a comment!