
A Forgotten  Mason


by Wilfrred A. Grose, MPS


This particular Mason was a soldier,
lawyer, surveyor, legislator, business-
man, and an explorer. All that he was
and all that he accomplished merited
very little recognition during his life-
time.

On one of the four quadrants of our
City's Public Square there stands a
monument to this Mason who was here
for only a short time, yet the ironic sit-
uation is that Cleveland, Ohio, is one of
the few cities named after an historic
figure who actually had a significant
connection with the City.

His statue stands surrounded by tall
buildings and a church which, if history
is to be believed, the man himself would
never have thought would ever exist as
it does today or, for that matter, be
named after him.

Harvey Rice, a nineteenth-century
historian, wrote "The pose of the statue is
not only graceful and manly, but indicates a
high degree of physical energy combined with
intelligence. "

Sadly, this proud figure of a man is
only visited by the City's pigeons and
vagrants for most people simply just
pass by without a glance.

Few people know about the man or the
statue which was once cut in half be-
cause many at the time it was cast
thought the statue portrayed a man
much taller than he really was in life.
No one knows for sure his actual height
or for a fact what he looked like since
very few drawings or true illustrations
are available.

All that is known about the man is
what a few of his loyal acquaintances
wrote in their journals. Amzi Atwater, a
fellow surveyor who accompanied
Moses Cleaveland and later became a
judge in this portion of the Northwest
Territory, noted that Cleaveland was a
"short thickset man of broad face, dark com-
plexion, very coarse features, slovenly dress
and very vulgar in his conversation and man-
ners. "

John Milton Holley, another member
of the surveying crew, wrote "His com-
plexion was so swarthy, his figure so square
and stout, his dress was rude, that the Indians
thought some of the blood of their race had
seeped into his veins. His resemblance to the
Indians was a common theme among those
who knew him. It was said that his surveyors
who had accompanied him would okingly call
him "Paque, " the name of an Indian Chief
they had encountered.

It was Moses Cleaveland's resem-
blance to the Indians combined with his
knowledge of the Mohawk and Seneca
languages that aided him in his negoti-
ating with "Red Jacket," "Brant,"
"Farmers Brother," "Little Billy" and
"Green Grass Hopper," all members of
the Six Nations, a confederation of
American Indians, i.e., The Mohawk,
Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca
and Tuscaroras Indians.

As a side note, forget the often told
story we may have heard or learned in
school that the spelling of our City's
name was the result of an editor of the
Cleveland Gazette lacking an "a" in
his type case.

The spelling of Cleaveland's name,
like so many words at that time, was
unsettled. Moses Cleaveland himself
sometimes spelled his name Cleveland,
as did some of his relatives. (President
Grover Cleveland, was a descendant of
Moses Cleaveland).

Moses Cleaveland held an Army
Commission during the Revolution and
was known as "General" Cleaveland.
He served with George Washington at
Valley forge. His military exploits, how-
ever, left much to be desired. He was
appointed a Captain in the companies
of sappers and miners in the Continen-
tal Army in August of 1779. He later
resigned and returned to his law prac-
tice in Connecticut.

He was made a Brigadier General,
but it was in the Connecticut Militia,
this being a political appointment owing
to his service in the state legislature.
The appointment was made in 1796
after the war and before he left for
Ohio.

After the Revolutionary War in 1786
Congress requested the state of Con-
necticut to relinquish its claim to lands
in the Northwest Territory. The Con-
necticut Legislature agreed only on con-
dition it could retain its rights to
3,000,000 acres per its original Colonial
Charter of 1630. 500,000 acres were re-
served as retribution to be distributed to
those families burned out of their homes
and property by the British during the
war.

This reserved land later came to be
called the Western Reserve and was the
beginning of the Connecticut Land
Company.

Moses Cleaveland was a Yale educated
lawyer, a Connecticut "Yankee"
businessman prominent in his home-
town of Canterbury. His "Yankee"
skills and an investment of S32,600 dol-
lars in the Connecticut Land Company
would be his historic beginning of note.

Moses Cleaveland, was not a true ex-
plorer, but due to his age (42) was
selected to lead a surveying party of 50
people to the Western Reserve of the
Northwest Territory.

It is of interest to note that the Con-
necticut Land Company paid the huge
sum of $ 1.2 million for the right to
develop the Western Reserve. Lorenzo
Carter, one of the first tenacious set-
tlers, thought the Connecticut Land
Company price of $25.00 per acre was
too high.

Moses Cleaveland and his party of
men, women and children traveled 68
days from Dover across New York State
to Conneaut, Pennsylvania named
"Port Independence" by Moses
Cleaveland because the date was July 4,
1796. The men fired their muskets and
celebrated.

Seth Pease, one of the surveyors, lo-
cated an original marker bearing the in-
scription "42 degrees north latitude 7
minutes 32 seconds west Pennsylvania. "

It was from this point the Surveying
party traveled an Indian Trail toward
their destination, the "crooked river."
They kept Lake Erie in view as they
made their way west. Part of the trail
they took was later to become known to
us as Route 20.

Upon arriving at the Lake they put
their boats into the water and followed
the shore to the mouth of the Cuyahoga
River, where they found the ground to
be marshy and soft. Moses Cleaveland
climbed a bluff to get away from, as he
wrote, the " gnats and ever present
mosquitoes and observed that wild
game was plentiful," and this would be
the site of his city in the Western Re-
serve.

General Moses Cleaveland and his
party arrived at the Cuyahoga River
July 22, 1796. After only a few months
he returned to Canterbury, Connecticut
and never again came back to Ohio.

Among those who had come with
Moses Cleaveland were James Kings-
bury, his wife and three children. They
were the parents of the first white child
born in the Western Reserve. They
moved from the river settlement to near
the area of Newburgh.

Moses Cleaveland was born Januaary
29, 1754 the second son of Cololnel
Aaron and Thankful Paine Cleaveland
Moses married Esther Champion
daughter of Henry Champion of Col-
chester, Connecticut, on March 2
1794. Moses and Esther were the
parents of four children.

Moses Cleaveland was made a Masson
Mason in American Union Lodge, this
being a military Lodge, in Septemtember
1779 while the Army was stationed in
what was known as the Hudson Highlands.

Later he affiliated with St. Pauul's
Lodge in Lichfield, Connecticut in
1781. In 1791 he was named Worship-
ful Master of Moriah Lodge, the first
Lodge to be chartered by the new
Grand Lodge of Connecticut.

As Deputy for the Grand Master of
the Grand Lodge of Connecticut he in-
stituted Putman Lodge at Pomfret
Connecticut in 1801. He also served his
Grand Lodge as Grand Marshall.
Moses Cleaveland died November 16
1806, and is buried in Canterbury,
Connecticut.

A memorial was erected near his grave
November 16, 1906 by the Cleveland
(Ohio) Chamber of Commerce which
inscribed "a lawyer, a soldier, a legislator
and a leader of men. "

In 1896 a prominent citizen of Cleve-
land represented Moses Cleaveland in
the City's centennial celebration.

1996 the City of Cleveland will Cele-
brate its 200th birthday and Moses
Cleaveland is all but forgotten.

The Western Reserve Historical
Society in Cleveland, Ohio has many of
Moses Cleaveland's papers and some of
his business correspondence relating
to the Western Reserve.
