Contents
Whose family are you here for?
Showing both families — every line on the page. Pick a side to hide the other
family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · Victoria Janette Smith
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationVictoria Janette Smith
- 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 1844
- Died
- Not found
- Married
- Charles Edgar Cleveland
- Children
- Melton Cleaveland
- Sources
- 5
Research status
Research status: CONFIRMED as Melton's mother — his 1896 marriage register names her V. J. Smith
S463, and she is Janette, 36, in the family's 1880 Cass County, Michigan census
S465. Her full name and 19 March 1844 birth come from the printed
Descendants of Moses Cleveland S467 Life in the order the records give it
Census1860
🆕 In 1860 a
V., 16, born in Ohio, was in J. Smith's household at Leroy, Ingham County, Michigan; he was 54 and born in New York
S713. It is the first record made in her lifetime that puts a girl of her age in Jeremiah Smith's home
Probable confirm or correct →, but it gives initials only and states no relationships. added 26 September 2026.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
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.
- S7131860 U.S. census, Leroy, Ingham County, Michigan, p. 57, dwelling 389. Ancestry record 44727900. Image examined, read 26 September 2026. Confirmed J. Smith, 54, born New York; L., female, 18; V., 16, female; L., male, 13; and E., 4; the children born Ohio. No wife in the house. Initials only; the 1860 census states no relationships.