Aaron Cleveland was an American clergyman. He served as a pastor in the church at various locations in the United States and Canada including Haddam in Connecticut, Halifax in Nova Scotia, Lewes in Delaware and New Castle in Delaware.
Background
Aaron Cleveland was born on October 29, 1715 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Aaron and Abigail (Waters) Cleveland. His father kept a tavern in Cambridge, was a contractor and builder, and in time grew well-to-do by speculating in land at Charlestown and elsewhere. In 1738 he moved to East Haddam, Connecticut, where he rose to be captain in the militia and was described in the tax list as a “gentleman. ”
Education
Aaron Cleveland entered Harvard College. Students were graded according to their social position, and accordingly young Aaron ranked only thirty-second in a class of thirty-eight. To compensate him for his lowly station he had inherited from his father a large, powerful, and handsome body. His feats of strength and his popularity with the belles of Cambridge and vicinity eclipsed the fame of whatever intellectual attainments he may have displayed. He swam from Cambridge to Boston and back again without resting, knocked senseless a bully who had journeyed all the way from Boston to try the manhood of the collegians, and excelled in general as a swimmer, wrestler, and skater. He graduated in 1735.
Career
In 1735 Cleveland accepted a call to the Strict Congregational Church of Haddam, Connecticut. There he proved to be a witty, scholarly, and earnest pastor, but his Whitefieldian tendencies were too much for some of his parishioners, dissension arose, and in 1746 he resigned, much to the regret, it would seem, of most of his congregation. He was pastor of the South Church in Malden, Massachusetts, 1747-1750, when he went to the newly settled town of Halifax in Nova Scotia to organize the congregation known as Mather’s Church.
By 1754 he had become convinced of the correctness of the Episcopal position, resigned his charge, went to England, where he was ordained by the Bishop of London, and became a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The ship on which he returned went aground on Nantucket Shoals; while assisting the sailors Cleveland was struck by a wave and injured severely. He sought to organize a parish at Lewes, Delaware, but abandoned the field as unpromising. On July 1, 1757, he was commissioned by the Venerable Society to take charge of the church at New Castle, Delaware. He proceeded thither, was received with cordiality, and set out for Norwich, Connecticut, to bring his family. At Philadelphia he became ill and found shelter and care at the home of his friend Benjamin Franklin, who was then absent in Europe. He died in Franklin’s house.