OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Recollections of Early Governors -- Article 1

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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
October 30, 2002.
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Historical Collections of Ohio
Series of Articles 
by S.L. Kelly
And Then They Went West
Recollections of Early Governors
reprinted by 
Darlene E. Kelley. 
Article 1--
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Article 1--

The importance of these articles are to refresh our memories of our
early governors who did so much in the history 
of our State of Ohio. Much can be written about these men who
unselfishly gave their time to create the political development of the
State. In the following articles, I will try to show some of their
accomplishments. 

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EDWARD TIFFIN.
1803 -- 1807.

The State of Ohio was organized in 1803 from the Northwest Territory
after a bitter struggle between the governor of the territory, Arthur
St. Clair, and the Chillicothe Junto which favored immediate Statehood
for the section east of the mouth of the Great Miami River. The leader
of the latter group was Edward Tiffin, who was elected the first
Governor of the State.

Edward Tiffin was born in Carlisle, England, on June 10, 1766, and
attended school in that city. He apprenticed as a student of medicine at
the age of 12 and completed this apprenticeship in 1783 and came with
his parents, Henry and Mary Parker Tiffin, and four brothers and sisters
to America, where they settled in Charlestown, Virginia. [ Now in
Jefferson County, West Virginia. ]  Here he began the practice of
medicine while he was still only seventeen years of age. He soon
acquired a sizable practice.

He soon became a respected member of the community and his name appears
on the lists of Gentlemen Justices that was appointed by the Governor of
Virginia. In the late 1780"s, he married Mary Worthington, daughter of a
wealthy landowner, Robert Worthington, and sister of Thomas Worthington,
who was to become Ohio's sixth Governor. 

He was reared in the Episcopal Church, and in the Methodist revivials in
1790, he and his wife joined the Methodist church. Two years later
Edward Tiffin was ordained as deacon and throughout his life, he
continued to serve the Church as a lay preacher.

Like so many other Virginians, Tiffin felt the appeal of the West, and
in 1798, emigrated with his family and the family of Thomas Worthington,
and settled in the wilderness village of Chillicothe on the banks of the
Scioto River. He was thirty two years old at the time. He continued to
practice his profession in the new frontier.

When he came from Virginia, a recommendation for public office addressed
to Governor St. Clair and signed by George Washington came with him. A
few months later the Governor appointed him Prothonatary of the
territorial Court of Common Pleas. This began a long beginning of public
career for him in Ohio.In 1799-1801 he served as speaker of the
territorial house of representatives, and in 1802 as president of the
Constitutional convention, where his authorty to determine the
membership of committees was an important factor in policy making in
that body.

In 1803, Tiffin was elected Governor of the newly organized State of
Ohio and almost without opposition again in 1805 for a second term. It
was during his second term that he received a commendatory letter from
President Jefferson for his efficiency in foiling 
Aaron Burr's expedition. Before the close of his second term, he was
elected by the general assembly to the United States Senate. 

He took his seal in 1807 but resigned in March 1809. After the death of
his wife in 1808, he expressed his desire to return to his home near
Chillicothe to resume his medical practice and farming. He did not long
remain a private citizen, however, as for a few months after his return
home, he was elected to the Ohio House of representatives, where he
served two terms as speaker, in 1809 to 1811. In the fall of 1812, he
was appointed by President Madison, commissioner of the general land
office, an office newly created. He successively organized the land
records, and his foresight saved them from destruction when the British
invaded Washington in 1814. In the same year, he secured the approval of
the president to exchange offices with Josiah Meigs, then surveyor
general of the Northwest, in order to be able to reside at home. Tiffen
by this time had remarried and had four daughters and a son.

He continued in the office of surveyor general for fifteen years under
the administrations of James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy
Adams, of all who praised his work.

During the last four or five years of his life, Tiffin suffered severe
nervous headaches. In spite of this, he continued to work and supervise
the work of his office and farm and to give his professional services to
the poor of the community who called on him. 

The city of Tiffin, Ohio is named in his honor. The State may well take
pride in their first governor.

Edward Tiffin died on August 9, 1829, and was buried in Grandview
Cemetery at Chillicothe, Ohio. He was a skillful public servant, and
able lay preacher, whom we shall always find repect and pride in his
high integerity, and dedication to the people of Ohio.

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Continued in part 2 --