A Book About John Cleaveland's World - Take Two (Second Post)

"The World of John Cleaveland" by Christopher M. Jedrey, profiled the life of John, a descendant of Moses Cleveland (I am also a descendant of Moses Cleveland who married Ann Winn).

John Cleaveland represented a descendant of an early colonial New England family of Woburn (Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts), and also the dilemma of a younger son, whose fate is not as typically as assured as is the fate of the oldest son in the family. Mr. Jefrey's book stated that "Culture, like property, must be passed on from generation to generation. And the means of cultural transmission in rural New England, education both formal and informal, were conservative."

As a pastor, the impact on John Cleaveland's life as the dynamics of religion, including the "First Great Awakening," in early New England changed and his role in the change was a theme in the book. In John Cleaveland's later life, as the political winds of change were in the air during the days leading up to the Revolutionary War; the book illustrated how Cleaveland participated in and reacted to those changes.

John Cleaveland was profiled here in the History of Essex County, Massachusetts. The history referenced a letter from John to his wife in Chebacco.

John Cleaveland, writing as "Johannes in Eremo" (the title of a book by Cotton Mather), commented on the pre-Revolutionary political atmosphere; excerpts of his writings can be seen here. An earlier writing entitled "An Epicedium or A Poetical Attempt Upon the Life & Death of Josiah Cleaveland" composed by Reverend John Cleaveland in 1752 can be found here. A bibliography of some of Reverend John Cleaveland's work can be found here. The Reverend Cleaveland is referred to as a man of "unusual polemic abilities" in this book, Genealogy of the Child...families, here.

A "Cleveland" time line (several various Cleveland references) can be seen on "Google" here. Edmund Janes Cleveland wrote the definitive Cleveland Family book (3 volumes!) covering the whole family (as of 1899) as opposed to the specific book about John Cleaveland profiled here. A post in my "Detour Through History" blog is planned to elaborate on other descendants of Moses & Ann (Winn) Cleveland.