Among “classic” compiled genealogies of the late nineteenth century, The
Genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland Families by H.G. and E.J. Cleveland (3
vols., 1899; hereafter CG) holds an honored place. This work mostly traces
descendants of Moses and Ann (Winn) Cleveland of Woburn, Mass., from 1635 to its
publication date. It can, however, be a source of misinformation. Much of the
biographical data (for later entries especially) was probably assembled from
letters returned to the author by family members, and thus relied heavily on
their recollections. The following essay corrects errors in the ancestry of CG
#3696 (2:1180), Ama Ann7 Cleveland (1840-1911) (John6, Rev. Nathan5,
Benjamin4-3, Aaron2, Moses1).
For the correct ancestry of Dorcas Wilson (1657-1714), wife of Aaron2
Cleveland (CG #4, pp. 36-39) see Ken Stevens, Wilson of New England... Volume I:
Descendants of John Wilson of Woburn, Massachusetts (1991), pp. 1-5, 631-32; the
latter pages discuss an early fabricated Mayflower connection which places
Dorcas’s father, Lt. John Wilson of Woburn (without evidence) as son of the
Roger Wilson of Sandwich, Kent (NOT Scrooby, Notts.) who married, at Leyden,
Holland, 11 March 1616 Elizabeth Williams (NOT a sister of Dr. Samuel Fuller of
the Mayflower). The Woburn Wilsons were early Baptists.
For the marriage of CG #37 (1:123-25) Benjamin3 Cleveland (Aaron2, Moses1)
(d. 7 July 1784) to Ann Clark (d. 21 October 1754; not Ann Church, as stated in
CG), see TAG 12(1935-36):129-31. Ann Clark was a descendant of the Nicholas
Clark, Paul Peck, Benjamin Burr and John Baysey families of early Hartford; see
L.B. Barbour, Families of Early Hartford, Conn. (1977), passim.
According to CG, [Dea.] Benjamin4 Cleveland (Benjamin3, Aaron2) married
(prob. Windham, Conn.) 20 February 1754, as his first wife, Mary Elderkin, born
16 December 1735, daughter of Nathan Elderkin (#138, pp. 123-25). Arthur W.H.
Eaton, History of Kings County, Nova Scotia (Salem, Mass., 1910, hereafter HKC),
pp. 606-08, gives her father as Nathan “Alderkin,” citing CG. Mary Elderkin was
instead born Norwich, Conn. 9 December 1736 (VRs, 1:406), daughter of Joseph
[Jr.] and Mary (Story) Elderkin. Joseph Elderkin, Jr., son of Joseph and Deborah
(Brockway) Elderkin, married Mary Story, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Burnham)
Story, at Norwich 28 April 1731 (VRs, 1:406). Their ten children, born at
Norwich between 1732 and 1759, were Rachel, Mary, James, Elizabeth, John,
Jemima, Japtha (Jeptha), Joseph [3rd], Frederick, and “Rowminer.” HKC outlines
the family of Japtha (Jeptha) Elderkin, but does not note that his father,
Joseph Elderkin, bought land in Horton, Nova Scotia, in 1764 and settled there.
Benjamin and Mary (Elderkin) Cleveland also settled at Horton ca. 1761-64.
Joseph Elderkin dictated an unsigned deathbed will 1 August 1767; it was
accepted based on a signed affidavit of its three witnesses, and proved 5
October 1767in Windsor, Hants Co., N.S. (see TAG66[1991]: 236, a list of Kings
Co. wills filed in Hants Co.). Joseph mentioned children James, John, Japtha,
Jemima, Rachel wife of John Vincens, and his “younger children”; he also noted
that he had “given my son Cleaveland all his portion” (Hants Co., N.S. Probate,
Will Book 1:25).
[103] The ancestry of Mary (Elderkin) Cleveland includes a royal descent from
Mary (Lawrence) Burnham of Ipswich, Mass.; see G.B. Roberts, The Royal Descents
of 500 Immigrants (1993), pp. 455-57, and a forthcoming monograph in The
Genealogist by David L Greene. For other families in her ancestry see D.W.
Elderkin, Genealogy of the Elderkin Family... (1888), p. 6-8; F.B. Gay,
Descendants of John Drake of Windsor, Connecticut (1933), pp. 1-3, 13; TAG
33(1957):95-98 (Brockway, Briggs); Emma S. White, “William Story 1614-1703 and
Descendants” (mss. at NEHGS) and Boston Transcript 12 Dec. 1927, #6418 (Story,
Burnham); W.G. Davis, Ancestry of Dudley Wildes (1959), pp. 177-81 (Foster);
M.W. Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, vol. 1 (1931), pp. 129-30 (Burnham);
401 (Lawrence); 64-65 (Antrobus); and P.W. Clement, Ancestors and Descendants of
Robert Clements (1927), pp. 13-30,37-38 (Clements, Pengry).
Baptist clergyman Rev. Nathan5 Cleveland (10 Nov. 1777-30 June “1868 [or]
1869 a. 92”), son of Benjamin and Mary, married Diademia “Dextor” of Liverpool,
N.S. 10 November 1799, according to CC #410(1:252-53), which gives her dates of
birth and death (“Liverpool, N.S. or thereabouts” 10 October 1778-16 August
1869, at Alma) but no parents. Diademia appears as “Ariedana” Dexter, however,
in W.A. Worden and R.L Dexter, The Genealogy of the Dexter Family in America:
Descendants of Thomas Dexter (1905, henceforth Dexter), pp. 44-45, as the
eleventh of fourteen children of Ebenezer and Lydia (Rider) Dexter, of whom the
youngest five were born after 1773. According to this work, the first three
children were born in Rochester, Mass., the remainder in Liverpool, N.S., and
“Ariedana” is said to have married “Nathaniel” Cleveland. A manuscript of Queens
Co., N.S., families at the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia (PANS), also shows
Diademe Dexter, wife of Nathan Cleveland, as the daughter of Ebenezer and Lydia
(Rider) Dexter. Ebenezer’s first Nova Scotia land grant was dated 20 November
1764; he died at Liverpool 10 August 1781 [Perkins Diary, PANS]. I-us widow was
baptized 4 August 1811, aged “upwards of 70” [ibid.]. John Payzant’s records of
marriages, also at PANS, confirm the marriage date of Rev. Nathan Cleveland and
Diademia Dexter.
For the ancestry of Diademia (Dexter) Cleveland, whose forebears include
Kenelm Winslow (brother of Gov. Edward Winslow of the Plymouth Colony), see
Dexter, pp. 5-9,11-12,19-22,30; Justin Winsor, History of Duxbury (1849),
pp.221-22 (Arnold); NEHGR 145 (1991):374 (Arnold, Holmes); “Genealogical Papers
of Rev. Lucien M. Robinson,” mss. at NEHGS, carton two (Barrows); M.L. Holman,
The Scott Genealogy (1919), pp. 279,282-5 (Bonham, Morton, Carpenter); E.A.
Hannibal, John Briggs of Sandwich, Massachusetts (1962), pp. 1-3; NEHGR
119(1965):161-73 (Ellis); Fremont Ryder, Preliminary Materials for a Genealogy
of the Rider (Ryder) Families in the United States, vol. 2 (1959), alphabetical
listing for “Lydia 1734,” etc., TAG 43(1967):117-123, and Mayflower Descendant
11 (1909):49-55 (Rider/Ryder); C.F. Swift, Genealogical Notes on Barnstable
Families, vol. 1 (1888, repr. 1979), pp. 450-52,455 (Hall); W.L. Learned, The
Learned Family in America, 1630-1967 (1967), pp. 1-3; Fanny L.S. Meadows,
“Genealogical Records of Austin Bearse, 1638-1933” (tss at NEHGS, 1933), pp.3,
4, 9 and TAG 15(1938): 111-18 (Bearse); D.P. and Mrs. F.K.F. Holton, Winslow
Memorial, vol. 1 (18Th, pp. 71, 78, 81, 82 (Winslow); F.C. Warner, “The Ancestry
of Samuel, Freda and John Warner” (tss., 1949), pp.806-7 (Worden); and N.G.
Parke and D.L. Jacobus, The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley and His Wife Emma
Arabella Bosworth (1960), pp. 43-46 (Bangs, Hobart).
Rev. John6 Cleveland (Rev. Nathan5, Benjamin4-3, Aaron2, Moses1) (CG #1251,
1:573-74) married Hopewell, Albert Co., N.B. 12 February 1823 “Amy or Emma”
Martin. She was, in fact, Amy Martin (b. Hopewell 24 December 1799, d. Salmon
River, Alma, N.B. 19 July 1863), daughter of James and Prudence (Wickwire)
Martin, named most likely for her aunt Amy (Wickwire) Fox. Prudence (Wickwire)
Martin died 9 August 1851; her will states, “Also I give to my daughter Amy
Cleveland one bed and side saddle” (Albert Co., N.B., Probate RS61A). See also
A.M. Wickwire, Genealogy of the Wickwire Family (1909), pp. 88-89; H.A. Baker,
History of Montville, Connecticut, from 1640-1896 (1896), pp. 360-64; and HKC
above. James Martin died 11 February 1842; he fought in the 70th Regiment of His
Majesty’s army in the American Revolution (Land grants, Albert Co., N.B.). John
Cleveland died 1 April 1892 and is buried with his wife and parents in Alma,
N.B. (D.F. Christopher, Cemeteries of Albert County, New Brunswick [1987], p.
94).
Ama Ann7 Cleveland (John6, Nathan5) (CC #3696, p. 1180) married James Smith
[Jr.], son of James “Smyth” and Catherine Sinclair, at Alma, N.B. 17 November
1859. CG gives names and birthdates of all their children (in the eighth
generation from the progenitor Moses Cleveland); all were born at Alma. CC then
notes that this family “dwelt Alma to 1884, afterward in Me.; res., 1885,
Sacarappa, Me., farmer” (ibid.). In 1887 the Smiths left Sacarappa (now
Westbrook) for Beverly, Mass., where they are listed in the 1900 and 1910
censuses. James Smith was a carpenter by trade, as was his son John Wesley
Smith. The family belonged to the Methodist Church in Beverly and to such
organizations there as the Pythian Sisters and Knights of Malta. James Smith,
Jr. died 17 September 1904 (1904 Mass. VRs 4:310; obit., Beverly Evening Times).
His will (Essex Co. Probate #95133) names seven living children - five of
Beverly; daughter Agnes Jane (Smith) Quigley of Westbrook, Maine; and Alfred
James Smith of Boston. Ama (Cleveland) Smith died at Beverly 10 December 1911
(1911 Mass. VRs 5:319; obit., Beverly Evening Times). Her will (Essex Co.
Probate #1 12388) names her children, as well as grandchildren Truman H.J. Smith
and Gertrude LeFavour. Both James and Amy Smith are buried at the Central
Cemetery, Beverly (as are their children John Wesley Smith, Johnson Smith, Annie
Maria Smith, and Ada [Smith] Keene).
A brief account of the Cleveland-Smith family follows. All dates given are
from Maine and Massachusetts vital records unless otherwise noted.
James SMITH, Jr., b. Alma, N.B. 8 April 1835, d. Beverly, Mass. 17 Sept.
1904, son of James and Catharine [104] (Sinclair) Smith; m. Alma 17 Nov. 1859
Ama Ann CLEVELAND, b. there 26 June 1840, d. Beverly 10 Dec. 1911 (rec. in Mass.
VRs [1911] 5:319 as “Amy A.”), dau. of John and Amy (Martin) Cleveland.
Children:
1. John Wesley Smith, b. Alma 4 Sept. 1860, d. Beverly 5 Oct. 1940; m.
(1) Monckton, N.B. 25 Dec. 1882 Margaret Ellen Buckard, b. Alma 4 July 1858, d.
Beverly 7 Dec. 1891, dau. of Charles and Margaret (Terry) Buckard; (2) Beverly
15 March 1893 Mary Olivia Snyder, b. Cumberland Co., NS. in March 1868, d.
Peabody, Mass. 3 Nov. 1958, dau. of Naphtali and Sophia (Thompson) Snyder.
Children (of first m.): Gertrude Maude (Smith) Lefavour (1885-1967); Ethel Smith
(1888-1890). Children (of second m.): Ernest Smith, 1898-1899; Lillian Victoria
(Smith) Porter (1899-1987); Edith Louise (Smith) Raiche (1910-1993).
2. Johnson Smith, b. Alma, N.B. 20 July 1862, d. Danvers, Mass. 12 Dec.
1954; m. Westbrook, Maine 1 July 1885 Robeana McWhirter, b. New Richmond, P.Q.
17 Sept. 1863, d. Beverly 3 Aug. 1949, dau. of Robert and Margaret McNair
(Fallow) McWhirter. Children: Lila (Smith) McCormack and Calvin V. Smith.
3. . Agnes Jane Smith, b. Alma, N.B. 6 Sept. 1864, d. Westbrook, Maine
28 July 1930; m. there 28 Aug.1887 John Quigley, b. Sussex, N.B. 10 April 1855,
d. Westbrook 22 Dec. 1929, son of William T. and Eliza (Killen) Quigley. Both
are buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Westbrook. They had one dau., the author’s
great-grandmother: Lila Mae Quigley, b. Westbrook 2 July 1888, d. there 29 June
1959; m. there 28 June 1911 Archibald Thompson Pratt, b. there 18Apr11 1888, d.
there 15 March1964, son of Joshua Thompson and Elizabeth Jane Marie (Stack)
Pratt.
4. Annie Maria Smith, b. Alma 12 Nov. 1867, d. there 22 June 1879.
5. Alfred James Smith, b. Alma 12 March 1870; m. Westbrook 25 Sept. 1889
Mary A. Stewart, whom he later divorced. He left no children.
6. William Ackerman Smith, b. Alma 12 July 1872. d. Middleton, Mass. 16
Nov. 1950; m. Beverly 26 June 1895 Bessie Masury Preston, b. there in Jan. 1873,
d. there 16 Aug.1946, dau. of John MI. and Lydia (Morse) Preston. Children:
Doris Elnora (Smith) Burnham and Cassinger Garfield Smith.
7. Ada S. Smith, b. Alma 1 April 1875, d. Beverly 28 April 1934; in
there 1 March 1892 Charles Arthur Keene, b. there 29 April 1873, d. there 27
Oct. 1935, son of Daniel Child and Mary Bradley (Whelding) Keene. Children:
Annie Bradley Keene and John Wesley Keene.
8. David Arthur Daniel Cassinger Gravencroft Smith, b. Alma 11 March
1879, d. Long Beach, Calif. 28 Dec.1954; m. Beverly 25 June 1902 Eva Lowell
Larkin, b. Pubnico, Nova Scotia 27 July 1879, d. Long Beach 12 April 1975, dau.
of Freeman John and Magaret Miriam (Lowell) Larkin. Children: Truman Herbert
Judson Smith, Chester Lowell Smith, Edna Mildred Smith, and Mary Anderson
Smith.
Martin Edward Thompson Hollick graduated from Bowdoin College in 1985, and
works for the Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities at
Harvard. Interested readers may contact him at 69 Holland St., Apt. D,
Somerville, MA 02144.