name, like many others, as time elapsed, came to be spelled in a variety of ways-Cleffland, Clifland, Cleiveland, Cleaveland, Cleveland. An antiquarian of repute states that William Cleveland of York, England, who died at Hinckley, in Leicestershire, in 1630, was the remote ancestor of the American Clevelands. It is also shown that a lineal descendant of his, whose name was Moses, and who was a housewright or builder by trade, emigrated from England and landed at Boston in the year 1635, where he remained for several years. He then, in connection with Edward Winn and others, founded the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, where both he and Winn permanently settled.

This Moses Cleveland was a man of intelligence and enterprise. He aspired to full citizenship, and became, in 1643, what was then called a "freeman." The qualifications of a freeman required that he should be of "godly walk and conversation, at least twenty-one years of age, take an oath of allegiance to the government of Massachusetts Bay colony, be worth £200, and consent to hold office if elected, or pay a fine of forty shillings, and vote at all elections or pay the same fine.” The restrictions and conditions were so onerous that many who were eligible preferred not to become freemen, being more free as

they were.

But this Moses, who had now become a freeman, feeling that he had ancestral blood in his veins of a superior quality, thought that it ought to be transmitted, and after a brief courtship married, in 1648, Anne Winn, the daughter of his friend, Edward Winn of Woburn. In taking this step "Moses" did not make a "mistake." The result was that he

became the accredited progenitor of all the Clevelands born in the United States-a race not only numerous, but noted for great moral worth and many noble traits of character.

General Moses Cleaveland, the subject of this sketch, was born January 29, 1754, in the town of Canterbury, Windham county, and State of Connecticut. He was the second son of Colonel Aaron Cleaveland, who married Thankful Paine. Both his father and mother were persons of culture. They saw promising traits of character in their son Moses when he was but a child, and resolved to give him a liberal education. At the proper age they sent him to Yale college, where he graduated in 1777. He then adopted the legal profession, and commenced the practice of law in his native town with marked success. The abilities of the young lawyer soon attracted public attention, and induced congress to recognize his merits by appointing him, in 1779,

captain of a company of sappers and miners in the army of the United States, The following is the commission he received:

The United States of America in Congress assembled. To Moses Cleveland, Esquire, Greeting:

We, reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor, conduct and fidelity, do by these presents constitute and appoint you to be a captain in the companies of sappers and miners in the Army of the United States, to take rank as such from the second day of August, 1779. You are, therefore, carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of a captain, by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belonging. And we do strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under your command to be obedient to your commands as captain. And you are to observe and follow such orders and directions from time to time as you shall receive from this or a future Congress of the United States, or for the time being of the Army of the United States, or any other superior officer, according to the rules and discipline of war, in pursuance of the trust reposed in you. This commission to continue in force until revoked by this or a future Congress, the committee of Congress before mentioned, or a committee of the States.

Entered in the war office, and examined by the board. Attest. Witness: His Excellency Samuel Huntington, Esq., President of the Congress of the United States of America, at Philadelphia, the fourteenth day of February, 1780, and in the fourth year of our independence. SAM. HUNTINGTON, President.

BEN. STODDERT, Secretary of the Board of War.

Captain Cleveland is hereby, at his own request, discharged from the services of the United States.

By His Excellency's command.

TEUCH TILGHMAN, Aid-de-Camp.

New Windsor, June 7, 1781.

He accepted the commission, but in the course of

a few months, as appears, resigned the office. No reason is given. He doubtless preferred the practice of law, to which he returned. He was not an officeseeker in a political sense, yet he was a member of the Masonic fraternity and held the position of grand marshal of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut. He was several times elected a member of the state legislature, and in this capacity acquired an enviable reputation as a statesman. In 1794 he married Esther Champion, a young lady of rare accomplishments, and the daughter of Henry Champion. Early in 1796, after having risen rapidly through the subordinate military grades, he was advanced to the generalship of the Fifth brigade of the state militia.

In regard to the subsequent career of General Cleaveland, it should be remembered that Connecticut, when a colony, acquired by grant of King Charles II. of England, in 1662, a vast tract of territory lying between the same parallels with the colony, and extending west from "sea to sea," or from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. When Connecticut was admitted into the Union as a state, she claimed this territory as her rightful domain. adjusting the claim, congress allowed her to retain only that part of the territory now known as the

In

"Western Reserve." This she accepted in full discharge of her claim.

The Western Reserve embraces the northeastern part of Ohio, and contains three millions and eight hundred thousand acres. In 1792 the state donated five hundred thousand acres of this land, since known as the "Firelands," to citizens who had suffered by fire in the Revolution; and, in 1795, authorized a sale of the remaining part of the Reserve and appointed a committee to effect the sale. This remainder was sold within a few months for $1,200,000, which the state appropriated as a permanent fund for the support of her common schools. The purchasers of the land were sundry wealthy citizens known as the "Connecticut Land company." The individuals comprising the company held different shares, and with a view to convenience in the transaction of business, conveyed their respective interests to three trustees, John Cadwell, John Morgan and Jonathan Brace. In accordance with articles of agreement entered into by the land company, the general management of its affairs was confided to a board of seven directors, Oliver Phelps, Henry Champion, Moses Cleaveland, Samuel W. Johnson, Ephraim Kirby, Samuel Mather, Jr., and Roger Newbury. On the twelfth day of May, 1796, the follow