Charles Cleapor

1770 - 1822  (51 years)

• Name	Charles Cleapor  [1]
  Birth	Apr 1770	New Jersey   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	22 Feb 1822	Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina   [2]
  Burial	23 Feb 1822	St. Philip's Episcopal Church Cemetery, Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina   [2, 3, 4]
  Person ID	I20003	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of LDN
  Last Modified	2 Mar 2026

  
  

  Family
  Children	+ 1. Caroline Cleapor,   b. Abt 1794, of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina d. 1 Jul 1854, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts (Age 60 years)
  Family ID	F12395	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	14 Dec 2018

  
  

• Notes

  Slaveowner and sail-maker. His will, dated 12 Feb 1822 and proved on the 25th of the same month, names his "negro Workmen Viz. Jim, Joe Alonzo, Daniel, Jack, and Kelly," directing that they be "left under the particular direction and management of my Copartner Nathaniel Fields, the proceeds of their copartnership to be divided between Fields and Charles Cleapor's wife. Unfortunately neither his will nor the record of his probate give his wife's actual name. The probate document does, however, confirm that his primary business was sail-making. From its formation in 1808 to his death in 1822, he was an officer of the Masonic Grand Lodge of South Carolina, according the The History of Freemasonry in South Carolina (citation details below). The 1822 city directory for Charleston (included in Charleston, South Carolina City Directories: For the Years 1816, 1819, 1822, 1825, and 1829 ed. James William Hagy, Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1996) lists him as "Cleapor, Charles, Sail Maker, Lothrop's Whf." "The Friends and Acquaintances of Mr. Charles Cleapor, are invited to attend his Funeral This Afternoon, at 3 o'clock, from his former residence, No. 22 Ellery-street. (Tuesday, February 26, 1822)" [Marriage and Death Notices from the City Gazette of Charleston, citation details below.] Find a Grave gives his wife as an Agnes Fields, born Oct 1779, died 9 Mar 1853, buried in the same cemetery as Charles, but attached notes make it clear that he was married at least twice, and offer little clue as to who might have been Caroline's daughter. From the fact that Caroline was born when Charles was only 24, it seems likelier that her mother was an earlier wife.

  
  

• Sources

  [S2576] A Genealogical Sketch of a Dover, N.H. Branch of the Leighton family by Walter Leatherbee Leighton. Newton Center, Massachussets, 1940. [S2577] Find a Grave page for Charles Cleapor. [S2578] Elizabeth H. Jervey, “Marriage and Death Notices from the City Gazette of Charleston, S. C. (Continued).” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine 49:76, 1948. [S8888] The History of Freemasonry in South Carolina, From its Origin in the Year 1736 to the Present Time by Albert G. MacKey. Columbia, South Carolina: South Carolina Steam Power Press, 1861.