Cemetery RecordChanhassen Pioneer Cemetery
Lot 35.1
Grave Status Occupied
update Date 7/2/2013
Place of Birth Belchertown, Massachusetts
Place of Death Minneapolis, Minnesota
Age 41
Marital Status Married on December 14, 1846 in Belchertown, Massachusetts (Mass. VR)
Mother Dorothy Thompson
Father Reuben Clevealand
Children Emmesette, Ella, Carrie, Harriet, Eva
Occupation Farmer and Territorial House of Representatives from Carver County
Military Status
Baptized 9/7/1856 - First Independent Church of Excelsior and Chanhassen
Purchaser Information
Purchased By
Occupant Information
Name
Arba Cleaveland
Sex
Male
Social Sec. No.
Date of Birth
12/28/1819
Date of Death
7/4/1860
Interment Date
Cause of Death
Drowning in Lake Calhoun
Place of Birth Belchertown, Massachusetts
Place of Death Minneapolis, Minnesota
Age 41
Marital Status Married on December 14, 1846 in Belchertown, Massachusetts (Mass. VR)
Mother Dorothy Thompson
Father Reuben Clevealand
Children Emmesette, Ella, Carrie, Harriet, Eva
Occupation Farmer and Territorial House of Representatives from Carver County
Military Status
Baptized 9/7/1856 - First Independent Church of Excelsior and Chanhassen
Purchaser Information
Purchased By
Arba Cleaveland
Street
City, State, Zip
Phone
Date Purchased
2/7/1861
Amount Fee Paid
$0.00
Date Int Fee Paid
Interment Fee
0.00
Spouse Information
Name Clarissa Burr Sikes Cleaveland (Born 12-17-1821 in Massachusetts)
Address (Died in 1979 in Amherst, Massachusetts)
City, State, Zip
Phone
Next of Kin Information
Name
Relationship
Address
City, State, Zip
Phone
Lot 35.1 Update Date 7/2/2013
Name Arba (Honorable) Cleaveland
Comments/History The Cleaveland family came to Chanhassen in April 1853 with the North Hampton
Colony of Massachusetts aboard the steamship "Time & Tide". Arba became a
member of the First Independent Church of Excelsior and Chanhassen on
9/7/1856. He was also baptized that same date according to church records. In
1855, Arba Cleaveland was elected to the Territorial House of Representatives
from Carver County on the Republican ticket. In 1856, he was Vice President of
the Territorial Agriculture Society. In 1855, the first school sessions in
Chanhassen were held by Susan Hazeltine at the Cleaveland home. Arba
Cleaveland is also credited with planting two potatoes from which he raised a
bushel -and -a -half of good merchantable potatoes. This information was taken
from "Personal Recollections of Minnesota and its People" by Stevens. In the
book "A Frontier Family in Minnesota" (p. 140), Theodore Bost describes Arba
Cleaveland as follows: "A tall, robust, hearty fellow, American (New Englander).
has a good head on his shoulders. Represents our county in the legislature. Very
polite, too." In a letter written home by Theodore Bost, dated 7/29/1860, he
writes: Mr. and Mrs. Cleaveland went away with their 4 children on the 4th of July
to visit their sister and brother-in-law who is a minister in Minneapolis (Reverend
Henry Nichols). On the 5th, the two families went to bathe in the lovely lake
famous for its rocky shore and gradually sloping bottom. The two older girls
(Emmesette, age 12, and Ella, age 10) ran into the water, but all of a sudden one
of them began to struggle and call for help; the second one went to give her a
hand and also lost her footing. Their 12 year old cousin ran to rescue them and
also got into deep water. Then Mr. Cleaveland threw himself into the water and
his brother-in-law too, then his sister-in-law and someone else. One after another,
they sank without a word. Mrs. Cleaveland wanted to rush in after the others, but
two men who came running up held her back while trying to save the drowning
people; but one of them got tangled up in a shawl and his friend had a hard time
rescuing him. Others who drowned were: Reverend Henry M. Nichols, age 36, of
the Plymouth Congregational Church; Nancy Sikes Nichols, age 35, who was Mrs.
Cleaveland's sister; Henry B. Nichols, age 12, who was the son of the Reverend.
The Nichols family was buried at the Pioneer Cemetery in Minneapolis on Lake
and Cedar. They were disinterred in 1921, and moved to Crystal Lake Cemetery.
Clarissa Burr Sikes Cleaveland's parents were John Sikes and Dorothy Kellogg.