Elbert-Crawford County GaArchives Biographies.....Cleveland, Martha Thomas Wright 1819 - 1859 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Kristina Simms ktina1@windstream.net January 2, 2008, 3:01 pm Author: Kristina Simms CLEVELAND [Compiled by Kristina Moore Simms, 200 Bristol Street, Apt. 36, Perry GA 31069, June 2004] The Clevelands are English in origin. The point at which the Cleveland line appears in our heritage is the marriage of Green Pinckney Harp, son of Dixon Harp [see HARP Chapter] to Martha Thomas Wright Cleveland ca 1828. Green and Martha Cleveland Harp, of Crawford County GA, were the parents of my g-grandfather, William Dixon Harp, of Macon County GA. The first of our Cleveland line to come to Georgia was Jacob Cleveland, b. 1729 in Culpeper County VA [probably b. in Orange County from which Culpeper was formed in 1748], and died 1791 at Van’s Creek, Elbert County, GA. Jacob [1766-1790] married Mildred "Millie" White, daughter of Jeremiah White and Mary Martin White. Millie was born in York County, VA on March 20, 1730, and died in Elbert County about 1806.# There are researchers who have traced the Jeremiah White line back a few more generations but I am not going to include that here. Cleveland ancestry in the United States has been the source of much debate among Cleveland descendants, both of the Northern and Southern lines. In 1899, not long after the tenure of Grover Cleveland as President of the United States, Edmund J. Cleveland and Horace Gillette Cleveland published their monumental three-volume Genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland Families.# The authors of this work did a generally fine job, but the information on Southern branch of the Clevelands, in particular, has some errors; for example, the father of Jacob Cleveland is listed as "Jeremiah," and no evidence can be found for the existence of this "Jeremiah." Cleveland researcher Grace Lee Smith Green has made a good case for a John Cleveland, listed in 1767 Tithables, Pittsylvania County VA to be the father of Jacob. Jacob had connections and land dealings in Pittsylvania County and also lived there a while. John is in the right place and the right time frame. Although there were Cleveland men with the name Jeremiah, none can be found in Virginia records (which are plentiful) with the location and dates to be a possible father to Jacob. Because the "Jeremiah" link does not hold up, neither does the supposed descent of Jacob Cleveland from Alexander Cleveland. All of those early Virginia Clevelands were surely related, but the sequence of descent that lists Alexander I > Alexander II > Jeremiah > Jacob as set forth in the 3-volume Cleveland genealogy has so far lacked complete support from family researchers. A further unusual characteristic of the Cleveland line is the so-called "Cleveland-Cromwell connection." The name Cromwell shows up frequently in Cleveland family trees. Down through the years many Southern Clevelands maintained that they were descended illegitimately from Oliver Cromwell with the result that the name Oliver Cromwell shows up regularly in Cleveland families. This tradition goes back to a novel written in 1741 by Antoine Francois Prevost (1697-1763) entitled Le philosophe anglais; ou Histoire de Monsieur Cleveland, fil naturel de Cromwell, ecrit par lui meme – translated into English as The Life and Entertaining Adventures of Mr. Cleveland, Natural Son of Oliver Cromwell, Written by Himself. "Mr. Cleveland," the supposed illegitimate son of Cromwell is never even given a first name in the book, so he is difficult to identify if indeed he existed outside of fiction. Another character in this novel, a Lady Axminster, has also found her way into early Cleveland genealogy, as "Lady Asminster" wife of Alexander Cleveland I, and nobody has been able to identify her either. This book was a pot-boiler written by a popular author and was, no doubt, much talked about in its day.# It would be an exciting bit of genealogical research to find that "Mr. Cleveland" and "Lady Axminster" are really part of our ancestry but so far, no one has been able to prove them to be anything more than entertaining fiction. Until further proof appears we will have to content ourselves with our Cleveland ancestors being plantation owners of normal descent rather than clandestine descendants of Oliver Cromwell.# Now back to Virginia. The children (not necessarily in birth order) of Jacob Cleveland and Millie White Cleveland are:# Jeremiah Cleveland—b. August 12, 1757 Rice Cleveland—b. March 13, 1760 James Cleveland – b. July 2, 1762 John Cleveland, b. 1769 Jacob, Jr. Cleveland—b. Jan. 26, 1772 Wyatt Cleveland—b. Feb. 25, 1764 Martha (Patsy) Cleveland—b. Feb 20, 1774 Mary Cleveland—b. Jan. 7, 1768 Elizabeth Cleveland—b. Jan. 29, 1782 Reuben Cleveland – b. Aug. 13, 1776 Daniel Cleveland—b. Sept. 9, 1778 William Cleveland, b. in Virginia, b. April 8, 1766, St. Ann’s Parish, Albemarle Co., VA., #d. Crawford County GA ca 1844 (our ancestor). Some transactions linking Jacob to Albemarle County VA are as follows: 1760, p. 87, Surveyors Plat Books \vols. 1 & 2; Cleaveland Coffey buys 47 acres on the South Hardware River joining Jacob Cleaveland. Page 90, Cleaveland Coffey adjoining land of Jacob Cleaveland on head branches of South Hardware. From Deed Abstracts of Albemarle County, VA, Deed Book 2, 9 Feb 1758-12 March, 1761, p. 93, David Bernitt [sic] sells a tract of land which Edward Coffey lived on in Albermarle County on the branches of the Hardware River adjoining Jacob Cleveland. The Cleveland family and the Coffey family had marriages, but none that are in our direct line. On September 9, 1762, Jacob Cleveland, planter, and his wife Mildred sold 99 acres to Alexander Cleveland in Albemarle County. The old Cleveland family history states that an "Alexander Cleveland" was grandfather to Jacob, but no existing records [or known dates] support this claim. The Alexander with whom Jacob had land dealings was more likely a cousin. Jacob and Millie and family migrated from Virginia about 1780. They stayed in the Pendleton District of S.C. for a couple of years, and then moved on to Elbert County, GA. The Clevelands moved for the same reason our other ancestors moved --- to seek a better economic opportunity. For people of Jacob Cleveland’s era, a better opportunity meant more land on which to farm. Large families were common, and parents also had to consider the future opportunities that might be available for their sons and daughters. Elbert County was formed in 1790 from Wilkes, which was part of the "Ceded Lands" of 1773. In the last two decades of the 18th century, permanent settlers like the Cleveland family migrated into the area seeking new farming land. Jacob Cleveland’s will was executed April 4, 1790 and recorded May 16, 1791. Executors were Will Kidd and Jacob’s son Jeremiah. The will mentions daughter Elizabeth, wife, and sons Reuben, Daniel and Jeremiah.# Witnesses were Reuben White and John White. William Cleveland, son of Jacob and Millie, born April 6, 1766, in Virginia, appears on the nearby Franklin County GA tax lists from 1801 to 1819. I cannot find him on the 1820 census. He was on the census in Jasper County GA in 1830. Listed as having been a soldier, he was a fortunate drawer in the 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery for land in Jasper County. I am assuming that this means he was in the militia in Georgia but I cannot find his name on any of the lists I have consulted so far. Even though some descendants of Jacob Cleveland believe that he was a revolutionary soldier, records have not been found to substantiate the tradition Records from the former Wilkes County area are known to be fragmented, so the true information may be irretrievably lost. Other members of the extended Cleveland clan, such as Col. Benjamin Cleveland, hero of the Battle of King’s Mountain, in North Carolina, have found their way into the history books. William Cleveland married (1) Mary Seaggs in Franklin County. She was born about 1771, and died before 1798. He married (2) Rhoda Wright# in 1798, daughter of David Wright. Rhoda was born September 1777 and died 1865 in Crawford County, GA. William is on the federal census in Crawford County in 1840. In the household: one male, 60-70; one female 60-70; one female 5-10; 2 females 10-15. From notes made by Adrianne Harp Moore, the children of William Cleveland were: "Absalom Carter Cleveland, married Miss Lucinda Harp of Crawford County,was murdered, 1854; Mary, married Allen G. Simmons; Mildred or Millie, married Reaves of Fayette County, GA; Elizabeth, married Morgan of Crawford County; Martha, married Green Pinckney Harp; Washington Cromwell, b. April 3, 1803, married Edna Armstrong. William Cleveland, Revolutionary Soldier, married in Franklin County and in a few years went to Jasper County, GA, finally settled in Crawford County. These dates corroborate with Mrs. O. C. Cleveland’s Bible, in the possession of Mrs. Oliver Cleveland of Culloden, Georgia." William Cleveland’s was signed on January 12, 1835. Letters testamentary were issued to W.C. Cleveland and A. C. Cleveland, executors, and this was recorded Jan, 1844 (exact date illegible). Rhoda Cleveland (wife) was given the lot of land upon which they lived and "the following negroes (viz) Spencer, Sam, Easter, Rap, Silla, Harriet, Peggy and Queen Silva and her child Hester". Daughter Betsy Morgan was given "a negro woman, Vernice and child". The children of his daughter Milly W. Cleveland Reeves were given a "woman named Easter and her children" to remain in the possession of "this father William Reeves during his life time." Daughter Patty Simmons was given a "woman Milly and her children." His son Washington C. Cleveland was given a "man Isaac". His son Absolom C. Cleveland was given land. His daughter Martha T. Harp was given a slave and some cash.# Martha Thomas Wright Cleveland was born 1819 in Jasper County. She was the daughter of William Cleveland and Rhoda Wright Cleveland. She and Green Pinckney Harp lived in Crawford County "near Hickory Grove" where they raised ten children, one of whom was my g-grandfather, William Dixon Harp. [See HARP Chapter] She died February 10, 1859 in Crawford County, GA of erysipelas, a painful skin disease, about a week after her husband had died of the same disorder. FOOTNOTES: # 1 Grace Lee Smith Green has informed me that this county was sometimes called "New York County," and hence some researchers have said that Mildred was born in New York. #2 A copy of this work can be found in the genealogy room at the Washington Memorial Library in Macon, GA. My main sources of information for this essay are notes taken by my grandmother, Adrienne Harp Moore, from research obtained from her distant cousin, and Cleveland descendant, a Mrs. Clevie Jordan of Roberta, Crawford County, GA; the 3-Volume History of the Cleveland and Cleaveland Families, located at Washington Memorial Library in Macon, GA; and the research of my cousins, Grace Lee Smith Green, and Desmond Harp.. #3 The entire book [in French] can be found online at a Duke University website. (2004) #4 In the book Cromwell is described as being cruel to "Mr. Cleveland" and his unfortunate mother. # 5 From Grace Lee Smith Green’s research # Info on birthplace from Cleveland researcher, Grace Green #7 Will abstract from Desmond Harp # 8 Grace Greene has told me that Rhoda Wright Cleveland is mentioned in the will of her brother, Obediah Wright. # 9 Information from Desmond Harp, Reynolds, GA. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/elbert/bios/clevelan942gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 12.0 Kb