Notes for: Moses Cleveland

Moses (or Moyses) Cleveland (or Cleaveland), the common ancestor of all the Clevelands or Cleavelands of New England origin, came as a youth from Ipswich, Suffolk County, England. According to family tradition, he sailed from London and arrived in America in the year 1635. He first landed in Massachusetts, probably either at Plymouth or Boston, only 15 years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.

There is evidence to suggest that the young Moses was at that time an apprentice to a ship's carpenter, working for his passage over. It is believed that he came from Ipswich as an indentured apprentice to a joiner, housewright, or master builder, name of his master not known but conjectured to be Edward Winn, whose daughter he later married. He was known to have gone to Woburn with his master, and he did settle there in 1640-41.

In 1642, he was granted a share of public land in Woburn, and in 1643 he became a freeman. A freeman was required to be of godly walk and conversation, to be at least 20 years of age, to take an oath of allegiance to the government of Massachusetts Bay Colony, to be worth 200 pounds, to hold office if elected or else pay a fine of 40 shillings, and to vote in all elections or pay the same fine. These restrictions and conditions were so onerous that many who were eligible preferred never to become freemen, being more free as they were. Over the years, Moses Cleveland became a man of some prominence in New England.