- Edward Tiffin
Edward Tiffin (
June 19 ,1766 ndashAugust 9 ,1829 ) was a Democratic-Republican politician fromOhio , and the first Governor of the state.Sources indicate that he was born in
Carlisle, England ; however he may have been born in or near Workington, England. He emigrated with his parents and siblings to Charles Town,Virginia (nowWest Virginia ) in 1791, and opened a medical practice. Tiffin headed westward, along with Thomas Worthington, in 1798, settling inChillicothe, Ohio .He arrived with a letter addressed to the governor of the
Northwest Territory ,Arthur St. Clair fromGeorge Washington , recommending him for public office. Tiffin served as the Speaker of the Territorial House of Representatives from 1799–1801 and as president of the 1802 Constitutional Convention. He was a leader of theChillicothe 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 Thomas Worthington andNathaniel Massie .Tiffin was the obvious choice for the governorship when Ohio was admitted to the Union. He was elected almost without opposition to a first term and re-elected by similarly overwhelming numbers two years later.
Tiffin was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1806 and resigned the governorship in March 1807 to take his seat. He served only two years, however, resigning after the death of his wife. He spent only a few months at home, however, before being elected to the
Ohio House of Representatives , where he served as speaker from 1809–11. Tiffin became the first commissioner of theGeneral Land Office , which managed allocations of Federal lands.He quickly helped remove the Federal records from Washington before it was sacked during the
War of 1812 . In 1814, he became the Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory, exchanging positions withJosiah Meigs so that he might spend more time near his home in Chillicothe. Tiffin served in the post until a few weeks before his death.The city of Tiffin in northwestern Ohio is named after him.
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