HOLLEY, JOHN MlLTON (17 Sept 1777- ) was a member of General MOSES CLEAVELAND's party sent out by the CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY in 1796 to survey the lands of the WESTERN RESERVE and kept a journal of the undertaking.
Holley was the son of Luther Holley, a merchant in Dover, Connecticut, and joined the Moses Cleaveland party as a surveyor in the spring of 1796. He was present at the council with Red Jacket (see RED JACKET'S SPEECH) and the Iroquois Nation held at Buffalo Creek which he described in his journal. As part of their surveying activities, Holley, along with Amos Spafford and Theodore Shepard, laid out Cleaveland Township and Spafford prepared a township map which was found among Holley's papers by his son, Governor Alexander H. Holley of Connecticut. His journal described the working life of a surveyor in the wilderness and the character of the land he traversed during the expedition. With the signs of winter approaching in mid-October, his journal entries leave no doubt that the party was anxious to leave the Reserve and return to the homes they had left in the spring. Holley returned to Connecticut and settled in Salisbury where he remained for the rest of his life.