Robert Cleveland

Who was Robert Cleveland?

Robert Cleveland was an American revolutionary from Wilkes County, North Carolina, and served as a Captain in the militia under his brother Colonel Benjamin Cleveland.

Cleveland was the son of John Cleveland and Elisabeth Coffey Cleveland. He was born on his father's plantation in Orange County, Virginia on June 8, 1744; along with several siblings he migrated to western North Carolina sometime around 1769. Those family members who migrated with him were: Benjamin Cleveland, Jeremiah Cleveland, Absalom Cleveland, Larkin Cleveland, Rev. John Cleveland, and a sister Mary who married Bernard Franklin. Franklin's son Jesse Franklin served as governor of North Carolina.

Cleveland was an acquaintance of Daniel Boone and married a Kentucky girl named Aley Mathis. They had thirteen children. He made his home near the Parsonsville community near Lewis Fork. This area is now known as Purlear, North Carolina as recognized by the US Postal Service. The home he once lived in is said to be the oldest existing home in Wilkes County and has been moved and restored to a place behind the Old Wilkes Jail Museum in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.