Robert Cleaves was one of the several early settlers of Kennebunkport (then named Arundel) who were enslavers. He was a blacksmith and resided at what is still called Cleaves Cove.

"A few of the inhabitants of Arundel were able to hold slaves. Mr. Prentice bought the first one owned in town, in 1734. Mr. Hovey also owned one, and probably sold him in 1747. Robert Cleaves, Thomas Wiswall, Samuel Hutchins, John Fairfield, Gideon Walker, Andrew Brown, and Jonathan Stone each owned a slave. Several of them were living in the town, but a few years since, the last two of whom died in the poor house, or which the son of the former master of one of them was an inmate." - Bradbury, p. 158

"Robert Cleaves built his house near the ocean above the cove that is still called Cleaves Cove." - Butler, p. 29

"Beverly Massachusetts blacksmith Robert Cleaves purchased shorefront land near what we now know as Walker's Point from James and Jane Smith in 1732. Over the years that followed, he accumulated additional lots until his property encompassed 281 acres, all the land between Walker's Point and the Wildes lot at Turbat's Creek, from the shore to the Wildes District Road." - from The History of Cleaves Cove

Bibliography:

History of Kennebunk Port from its First Discovery (1602-1837) - Charles Bradbury

Kennebunkport - The Evolution of an American Town (Volume I - 1603-1923) - Joyce Butler

The History of Cleaves Cove - Sharon Cummins - https://kporths.com/2021/08/06/the-history-of-cleaves-cove-and-the-18th-century-cape-that-never-arrived/