Maine Pioneers, 1623-60 about Mr. George Cleve; Cleeve; Cleaves; Cleeves

Name:  Mr. George Cleve; Cleeve; Cleaves; Cleeves

Esquire, as designated in the patent of Gorges to him 27 Jan. 1636, came to New England about 1630. Settled at Spurwink, built a house, planted, etc. having a promise from Gorges of 200 acres of land, as he claimed. In 1632 he bought a share in the patent which Richard Tucker had purchased of Richard Bradshaw. John Winter, as agent of Robert Trelawney, ejected him from the land in 1633, and seized upon his houses. [Testimony in Maine court at Saco June 25, 1641.] He had a lawsuit in court at Saco 25 March, 1636. He visited Boston in 1643 with Mr. Rigby, "a lawyer and a parliament man, wealthy and religious," who had purchased the "Plough Patent"; they sought to obtain the help of Mass. in establishing the claims of that patent; desired to join "the consociation of the United Colonies." [W.] He petitioned the Gen. Court of Mass. 5 (3) 1645, "on behalfe of the people of Ligonia," asking protection against the claims of Mr. Vines and others, basing his claims on the Rigby patent. [Mass. Arch. 3, 179.] As agent of "Collonell Alexander Rigby, President and proprietor for the province of Laconia," he leased lands in 1651. Took oath of allegiance to Mass. govt. 13 July, 1658. As deputy president of the Assembly of Lygonia, 22 (7) 1648, he was chairman of the committee to sit at Richmond Island and report on the estate of Winter.

He deeded 20 May, 1658, to his grandchild Nathaniel Mitten, land adjoining that formerly granted to his father Michael M. Was sued by Robert Jordan in 1659, and his goods attached in a rough manner; bed and clothing taken from his sick wife, then 87 years of age.

Nathaniel Mitten was alleged by "Richard Powssley of ffalmouth" in 1687, to have been a grandson of Cleve.

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from Journals of the Rev. Thomas Smith, and the Rev. Samuel Deane, pastors of the First church in Portland: with notes and biographical notices: and a Summary history of Portland [Maine]. W. S. Willis. Published 1849

p. 74

May 21, 1731, the Proprietors admitted to the common rights, Edward and John Tyng, on the right of Col. Edward Tyng who lived here in 1683, where Edward was born. Edward was the son of Col. Edward Tyng, an Old Proprietor, by Elizabeth, daughter of Thaddeus Clark, who was daughter of Michael Mitton and granddaughter of George Cleeves, the first settler of the town in 1632, and the father of Col. William Tyng who resided here before the Revolution, and Sheriff of the County at that time.

p. 315

... This is now called Peak's Island; John Waite owned a portion of it, and resided there at the time referred to. This Island has borne various names, chiefly from its successive proprietors. Cleeves, the first settler, called it Pond Island, but in a conveyance of it to his son-in-law, Michael Mitton, he named it Michael’s Island. It afterwards went, successively, by the name of Munjoy, Palmer, Peak, and is a fine island about two miles long. 

p. 424

… As we cast our eyes over the names of men, who, in their day, filled large space in the stirring annals of our town, and for whose fame and ambition the town was too small, we find now many, of whom not a descendant among us bear their names. If the works and the odor of their good deeds do not preserve them, they are dead indeed to the world; Cleeves, Mitton, Munjoy, Phillips, Bowdoin, Tyng, Clark, Sylvanus, Davis; and to come to our modern history. East, Wheeler, Pearson, Waldo, Westbrook, Bangs, Preble, Milk, Cotton, Jones, Titcomb, Coffin, Mayo, Smith, Deane. Nothing of them remains here, but the good or evil of their brief day, and the blood which may flow in collateral streams.

(p. 426 ff. Summary: History of Portland )

Ancient Falmouth originally embraced Cape Elizabeth, Portland, Falmouth and Westbrook, together with a number of large and valuable Islands in Casco Bay, lying at the mouth of the harbor…

Before 1648 we have accounts of large ships arriving there, and taking cargoes for Europe. In 1638, a ship of three hundred tons was sent to the Island laden with wine, and the same year, Mr. Trelawny, of Plymouth, England, the proprietor employed sixty men at the Island in fishing; and in 1639, John Winter, his Agent, sent home in the bark Richmond 6000 pipe staves. The future history of this part of the town did not sustain this precocious promise. After the death of Winter, the prime mover in these affairs, about 1648, its commerce declined, its population fell off", and after the first Indian war, it ceased to be a place of any business or importance...  

That part of the town now called Portland owes its settlement at the particular time it was made, to a contest in regard to the title to land at the month of Spurwink river... Winter brought [an action] against Cleeves in 1640 to recover possession of this tract too, claiming the whole under a grant to Trelawny; in this he failed, and Cleeves was left in full possession. This is the origin of Portland, which was first called Cleeves' Neck, then Munjoy's Neck, and sometimes Casco, and old Casco, from its position on Casco River and bay.   The lease referred to, bears date January 27, in the 12th year of the reign of Charles 1st, whose reign began March 29, 1625, which would make the date Jan. 24, 1637… Cleeves on his return with his lease, brought over his son-in-law, Michael Mitton, with his family, and leased to him for 60 years, under authority from Gorges, Peak's then called Pond island, at the mouth of the harbor, and afterwards, Jan. 1, 1651, conveyed to him one hundred acres of land, at Clark's point on the Neck, "adjoining his Dwelling house, which he had possessed for ten years" ...

The Brackett title descended from Cleeves, whose only daughter, Elizabeth, married Michael Mitton. Mitton’s daughter, Anne, married Anthony Brackett, and his daughter, Mary, Thomas Brackett, Anthony's brother, [i.e. 2 Mitton daughters married 2 Brackett brothers] whose descendants retained a large portion of the property, until after the revolution, parting with it gradually, as the wants of the town pressed upon it. The Indians killed Thomas Brackett near his dwelling house, in the neighborhood of Clark’s point, in 1676, and Anthony by the same enemy, on his farm, at Back Cove, now occupied by Mr. Deering, in 1689.  Thaddeus Clark, from whom Clark's point derives its name, came from Ireland, married Elizabeth, another daughter of Michael Mitton, and lived near the point.  His eldest daughter Elizabeth married Capt. Edward Tyng, distinguished in the history of Massachusetts, and his youngest, John Graves. Mitton had but one son, Nathaniel, who was killed by the Indians, unmarried, and thus the name became extinct. But the blood of our first settlers flows though innumerable and honored channels, scattered far and wide through the country.