Cleaveland, Moses (1754-1806), a United States pioneer, the founder of Cleveland, Ohio. He was born in Connecticut and studied at Yale. After serving in the Revolutionary War, he practiced law and was a member of the state legislature. The Connecticut Land Company, which had purchased Western Reserve lands in 1795, appointed Cleaveland a director and surveyor. In 1796 he led a party of 52 people into the region and founded Cleaveland—a settlement on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The spelling was later changed to Cleveland.