Contents
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family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · Charles Edgar Cleveland
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationCharles Edgar Cleveland
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- about 1846
- Died
- Not found
- Parents
- Solomon Cleveland & Mary Malinda (Thompson) Elliott
- Children
- Melton Cleaveland, Anna J.
- Sources
- 9
Research status
Research status: CONFIRMED as Melton's father — Melton's 1896 Nance County, Nebraska marriage register, read from the image, names his parents as C. E. Cleavland and V. J. Smith
S463; the 1880 census of Penn Township, Cass County, Michigan has Chas., 34, and Janette, 36, with Milton, 6, born in California
S465; and Melton's 1939 death certificate names his father as Charles E., born in Michigan
S464. The full given names come from the printed
Descendants of Moses Cleveland, p.1939
S467 Life in the order the records give it
Birth1846
Born about
1846, Michigan. Married
Victoria Janette Smith; the printed genealogy gives the wedding as 11 April 1866 at Rives, Michigan, a date no record has yet confirmed
Census1860
🆕 In July 1860
Chas. Cleveland, 15, born in Michigan, was at school and living in the household of Horace Hastings, a farmer, in Newberg Township, Cass County, Michigan (P.O. Vandalia)
Confirmed S1155. His father had died in 1845. The census states no relationship.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Children1894
🆕 His daughter
Anna J., 25, born in Michigan and entered as “Mrs Anna J. Hoit” (the surname is hard to read), married
Frank Hodges, 54, born in New York, at Belgrade, Nance County, Nebraska, on 18 April 1894. The register names her father as Charles Cleavland, and the witnesses were her brother
Milton Cleavland and Lottie Cleavland
S706. She is the Anna J., 11, of the 1880 household
S465, and the record puts the family in Nance County two years before Milton's own wedding there
S463. added 26 September 2026.
Parents1845
🆕 His parents:
Solomon Cleveland, who died in California township, Branch County, Michigan, on 22 October 1845, and
Mary Malinda (Thompson) Elliott, a widow when she married him in New York in 1834
Probable confirm or correct →. The printed Cleveland genealogy enters Solomon on p. 1438
S822 and numbers Charles Edgar as his son on p. 1939
S467, and a FamilySearch index of a Nebraska marriage of Charles E. Cleveland, born 1846, names his parents Solomen Cleveland and Mary Thompson
S823. What is weak: a compiled book and an index with no image; no original record naming his parents has been read. added 28 September 2026.
Children1869
🆕 The Cass County birth register enters his daughter
Anna J. Cleveland, born at Marcellus on 22 March 1869, to Charles Cleveland, born in Michigan, and Jennet, born in Ohio, farmer, of Marcellus
Confirmed S1129. The printed genealogy gives 21 March; the register is followed.
In the record
Generation 5 — Kristin's great-great-grandparents
- S463Nebraska, U.S., County Marriage Records — Nance County, p. 145: Milton Cleavland and Maud Warner, 4 February 1896. Ancestry record 116059. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Milton Cleavland, 23, born Rockland [Rocklin], California, son of C. E. Cleavland and V. J. Smith; Maud Warner, 18, born Nebraska, daughter of Clifford Warner. Licence 3 February 1896 at Fullerton; married 4 February 1896 at Belgrade. One register page carries both of Ancestry's hints (record 900116059 for Maud). Her mother's name is left blank.
- S464Wyoming, U.S., Death Records — Milton Cleaveland, Sheridan, 1939. Ancestry record 180607657. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Milton Cleaveland, carpenter, died 2 June 1939 at Sheridan, Wyoming; born 15 July 1872, Rocklin, California; father Charles E., born Michigan; mother born Wood County, Ohio; wife and informant Alice L.; buried Sheridan Municipal Cemetery, 6 June. The Cleveland genealogy (S467) and the 1880 census (S465) put his birth in 1873; the day, 15 July, agrees.
- S4651880 U.S. Federal Census — Chas. Cleaveland household, Penn Township, Cass County, Michigan (ED 72, p. 15). Ancestry record 31126485. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Chas. Cleaveland, 34, labourer; Janette, 36, born Ohio; Anna J., 11; Milton, 6, born California.
- S467Descendants of Moses Cleveland (printed genealogy), p. 1939, no. 11632: Charles Edgar Cleveland. Ancestry record 3845121. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Probable Charles Edgar Cleveland, son of Solomon, married 11 April 1866 at Rives, Michigan, Victoria Janette Smith, born 19 March 1844 in Ohio, daughter of Jeremiah Smith and Patience Kittle. In Placer County, California, 1883. Children Anna Jane (1869), Milton (15 July 1873) and Ella. A derivative book. The parents' names agree with the marriage register (S463) and the 1880 census (S465); the ancestry back of Charles Edgar rests on the book alone.
- S706Nebraska county marriage record, Nance County, 1894, p. 57. Ancestry record 1350115971. Image examined, read 26 September 2026. Confirmed Frank Hodges, 54, born New York, son of John Hodges, and “Mrs Anna J. Hoit” (surname hard to read), 25, born Michigan, father Charles Cleavland; licensed at Fullerton 17 April 1894, married 18 April 1894 at Belgrade by R. M. Henderson, M.E. pastor; witnesses Milton Cleavland and Lottie Cleavland. The index reads “Charles Clearland”.
- S822Genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland Families (1899), p. 1438, no. 5238: Solomon Cleveland. Ancestry collection 61157, record 3831102 (image 46155_b290469-01473). Image examined, read 28 September 2026. Probable “SOLOMON7 CLEVELAND (Enoch, Solomon, Enoch, Deliverance, Edward, Moses), d. California tp., Branch co., Mich., Oct. 22, 1845, a. 39, m. Lowville, N.Y., Feb. 11, 1834, or in Fowler, N.Y., Apr. 14, 1834, Mrs. Mary Malinda (Thompson) Elliott, b. Wightford, …” A compiled, derivative book; the same work as S467. The entry, with her birth and the list of children, runs onto the next page, which has not been read. Collection: North America, Family Histories.
- S823FamilySearch, Nebraska Marriages 1855–1995 — Charles E. Cleveland and Rachel Gibson, South Branch Township, Nance County, Nebraska. FamilySearch ark:/61903/1:1:QPQJ-17HD, checked 28 September 2026. Probable Charles E. Cleveland, born 1846; parents Solomen Cleveland and Mary Thompson; bride Rachel Gibson, born 1849, father W. Gibson. Index only; FamilySearch shows no image. Evidently a later marriage of Charles Edgar, whose son Milton married in Nance County in 1896 (S463). Reading the Nance County register would settle his parents.
- S1129Michigan birth records, Cass County, 1869, p. 244, entry no. 228. Ancestry record 106991943. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 26 September 2026. Confirmed Born 22 March 1869 at Marcellus, Anna J. Cleveland, white, female; parents Charles Cleveland, born Michigan, and Jennet Cleveland, born Ohio, of Marcellus, farmer; recorded 30 May 1870. The printed Cleveland genealogy gives 21 March; the register, written at the time, gives 22 March.
- S11551860 U.S. census, Newberg Township, Cass County, Michigan, P.O. Vandalia, p. 139, dwelling 1023 (3 July 1860). Ancestry record 44398139. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 25 September 2026. Confirmed In the household of Horace Hastings, 37, farmer, born New York, with Lorena, 30, and Alice L., 1: Chas. Cleveland, 15, born Michigan, at school. No relationship is stated. The identification rests on name, age and county; his father Solomon had died in 1845.