Edward Tiffin (June 19, 1766August 9, 1829) was an American politician from

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. A member of the

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

party, he served as the first

governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and later as a United States Senator.

Biography

Sources indicate that he was born in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

; however he may have been born in or near Workington — also in the then county of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Tiffin attended the Latin school in Carlisle, and became an apprentice to a student of medicine in 1778. Six years later he completed his apprenticeship. His family emigrated to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

in 1783, and he began practicing medicine at the age of seventeen. In 1789, he married Mary Worthington of Berkeley County, sister of future Governor of Ohio Thomas Worthington. She died, childless, in 1808. A year after their marriage, the Tiffins joined the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

church after hearing the preaching of Thomas Scott, who would be their neighbor and friend for many years. Bishop Asbury ordained Tiffin a deacon of the Methodist church November 19, 1792, authorizing him to preach. Tiffin and Worthington inherited sixteen slaves when Worthington's father died. They each decided to

manumit Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

their slaves and move to the Northwest Territory, where slavery was outlawed. Tiffin headed westward, along with Thomas Worthington, in 1798, settling in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Northwest Territory

Tiffin became the first doctor in Chillicothe, traveling on horseback, day and night, to treat the afflicted. He arrived with a letter addressed to the governor of the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...

Arthur St. Clair Arthur St. Clair ( – August 31, 1818) was a Scottish-American soldier and politician. Born in Thurso, Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office. During ...

from

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, 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, where he cast a tie-breaking vote to deny the voting franchise to the new state's 337

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

residents. He was a leader of the

Chillicothe Junto The Chillicothe Junto was a term applied to a group of Chillicothe, Ohio Democratic-Republican politicians who brought about the admission of Ohio as a state (1803) and largely controlled its politics for some years thereafter. The best known were ...

, a group of Chillicothe

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 and

Nathaniel Massie Nathaniel Massie (December 28, 1763 – November 13, 1813) was a frontier surveyor in the Ohio Country (including the Virginia Military District) who became a prominent land owner, politician, and soldier. He founded fourteen early towns in ...

. 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 acted promptly to stop the Burr conspiracy in his second term. 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 was ever faithful to the interests of the West and diligent in seeking the welfare of its inhabitants. He procured an appropriation of public money for the improvement of the Ohio River. He secured better and speedier transportation of the mails; a better and more rapid system for the surveys of western lands; and urged such modifications of the laws regarding sales of western land as would, to use his own words, 'guard the purchasers of them from unnecessary embarrassments and frequent ruin.' " He also voted for the expulsion of the other Ohio Senator, John Smith, who had been implicated in the Burr Conspiracy. 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 remarried April 16, 1809 to Mary Porter, originally from

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...

, and then of Ross County. Tiffin became the first commissioner of the General Land Office, which managed allocations of Federal lands. He quickly helped remove the Federal records from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

before it was sacked during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

. In 1814, he became the Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory, exchanging positions with Josiah Meigs so that he might spend more time near his home in Chillicothe. Tiffin served in the post until his death.

Death

Tiffin was buried in

Grandview Cemetery, Chillicothe Grandview Cemetery is a cemetery in Chillicothe, Ohio. About Grandview Cemetery (originally spelled Grand View as two words) was established around 1841.Ross County, Ohio. His death was reported in the newspapers, such as this notice in the Brattleboro Messenger (Brattleboro, VT), Sep. 18, 1829, p. 3: At Chillicothe, Doct. Edward Tiffin, formerly Governor of Ohio, and late Surveyor General of the United States, aged 64 years.

Legacy

The city of Tiffin in northwestern Ohio was named in honor of Tiffin in 1822.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiffin, Edward 1766 births 1829 deaths Governors of Ohio Speakers of the Ohio House of Representatives Northwest Territory officials United States senators from Ohio Politicians from Chillicothe, Ohio English emigrants to the United States English-American culture in Ohio Ohio Democratic-Republicans Ohio Constitutional Convention (1802) Democratic-Republican Party United States senators Northwest Territory House of Representatives American surveyors General Land Office Commissioners Methodists from Ohio Physicians from Virginia Burials at Grandview Cemetery (Chillicothe, Ohio) Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States Surveyors General of the Northwest Territory 18th-century American politicians 19th-century American politicians