Thomas Worthington (governor)

[
Benson J. Lossing.]

Thomas Worthington (July 16, 1773 – June 20, 1827) was a Democratic-Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the sixth Governor of Ohio.

Born in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia), Worthington moved to Ross County, Ohio in 1796. The home he eventually built just outside of Chillicothe was called Adena and happens to be the namesake of the Adena culture. He served in the Territorial House of Representatives from 1799 to 1803 and served as a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1803. He was a leader of the Chillicothe Junto, a group of Chillicothe Democratic-Republican politicians who brought about the admission of Ohio as a state in 1803 and largely controlled its politics for some years thereafter. Among his colleagues in the faction were Nathaniel Massie and Edward Tiffin.

Worthington was elected one of Ohio's first Senators in 1803, serving until 1807. He was returned to the Senate in December 1810 upon the resignation of Return J. Meigs, Jr. and served until December 1814, when he resigned after winning election to the governorship. He won re-election two years later, moving the state capital from Chillicothe to Columbus. Worthington did not seek re-election in 1818. In January, 1819, when the election was held to replace the retiring Jeremiah Morrow in the Senate, he held the lead through the first three ballots, only losing when factions aligned behind William A. Trimble on the fourth and final ballot [The "Old Northwest" Genealogical Quarterly. April, 1903. Page 34.] . He narrowly lost a bid for a partial term in the Senate in 1821, losing to the incumbent governor, Ethan Allen Brown, and so he instead returned to the Ohio House of Representatives.

The city of Worthington, Ohio, was named in his honor, as was Thomas Worthington High School.

ources

* [http://elections.lib.tufts.edu/aas_portal/candidate-browse.xq?candidate-id=WT0156 A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825]

References