He served as a captain in the Lincoln County Regiment of the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution.
[1][2] Born near Rutherfordton, North Carolina, in 1754, Holland received a very limited education.
He was first elected to the North Carolina State Senate, serving in 1783 and to the North Carolina House of Commons in 1786 and 1789, and was a delegate to the Fayetteville Convention which adopted the United States Constitution in 1789.
In 1811, Holland moved to Maury County, Tennessee, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits near Columbia.
He is buried in the Holland Family (now known as Watson) Cemetery, nine miles east of Columbia.