Edward Tiffin

Notable people · Governor · Physician

Edward Tiffin

Chillicothe physician and Methodist preacher who presided over the 1802 constitutional convention and became Ohio's first governor.

Born June 19, 1766, Carlisle, England (Wikipedia says probably)
Died August 9, 1829, Chillicothe

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: June 19, 1766, Carlisle, England (Wikipedia says probably) source
Died: August 9, 1829, Chillicothe (Ross County) source
Buried: Grandview Cemetery, Chillicothe (Ross County) source
Also known as: Dr. Edward Tiffin
Education: Latin school, Carlisle, England
: Medical apprenticeship, England, 1778-1784, physician
Known as: Governor, Physician

Life story

Edward Tiffin was born in Carlisle, England, in 1766. He studied at the Latin school there and apprenticed to a medical student in 1778. His family emigrated to Virginia in 1783.

In 1789 he married Mary Worthington, sister of Thomas Worthington, and was ordained a Methodist deacon in 1792. In 1798 he settled in Chillicothe with Worthington.

He was Speaker of the Territorial House (1799-1801), president of the 1802 constitutional convention, and Ohio's first governor from 1803 to 1807. He then served in the US Senate (1807-1809).

He was the first commissioner of the General Land Office (1812-1814) and Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory (1815-1829). He died on August 9, 1829, in Chillicothe. The city of Tiffin, named for him in 1822, is in Seneca County.

Ohio ties

Chillicothe (1798-1829)
home (stone house at Water and High streets), medical practice, preaching, territorial and state politics Ross County · source
Union Township (early 1800s)
farm where he lived for brief periods Ross County · source
Chillicothe (1803-1807)
first governor of Ohio, at the first state capital Ross County · source
Tiffin (1821-1822)
namesake city founded by his friend Josiah Hedges Seneca County · source

Timeline

1783 His family emigrated from England to Virginia; he had practised medicine from about age 17. source
1789 Married Mary Worthington, sister of Thomas Worthington. source
1792 Ordained a Methodist deacon by Bishop Francis Asbury on November 19. source
1798 Arrived in Chillicothe in April with several people he had freed, and built a stone house at the northeast corner of Water and High streets. source
1799 Entered the territorial House of Representatives, where he became Speaker. source
1802 Presided over the Ohio Constitutional Convention in Chillicothe. source
1803 Took office March 3 as Ohio's first governor; re-elected in 1805. source
1806 Seized fifteen boats and provisions of Aaron Burr's expedition under a law the Assembly passed on December 6 at his request. source
1807 Left the governorship for the U.S. Senate, where he served until March 1809. source
1808 His wife Mary Worthington Tiffin died childless. source
1809 Married Mary Porter on April 16 and became Speaker of the Ohio House, serving to 1811. source
1812 Appointed by President Madison as the first Commissioner of the General Land Office. source
1814 Moved the Land Office records to safety in Loudoun County, Virginia, as the British took Washington on August 24. source
1815 Became Surveyor General of the Northwest and moved its office to Chillicothe. source
1822 The new Seneca County town of Tiffin, platted by James Hedges for his brother Josiah, was named for him. source
1829 Replaced as surveyor general by Andrew Jackson's appointee William Lytle on July 1, and died in Chillicothe on August 9. source

What Edward is known for

First governor of Ohio (March 1803 - March 1807)

Stories

The governor who stopped Burr's boats

In the summer and fall of 1806 Aaron Burr was gathering barges and supplies at Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio River. Tiffin had been watching him, and on the first day of the legislative session he sent the General Assembly a confidential message asking for power to act. On December 6, 1806 the Assembly passed a law against armed expeditions, with fines, prison terms, forfeiture of boats and the use of the militia. Under it Tiffin seized fifteen boats and the provisions within reach. Jefferson's January 22, 1807 message to Congress credited Ohio with the first blow against the scheme, and he wrote to thank Tiffin on February 2.

Source

Freed people on the road to Chillicothe

Tiffin and his brother-in-law Thomas Worthington each inherited sixteen enslaved people in Virginia. Both decided to free them and move to the Northwest Territory, where the Ordinance of 1787 barred slavery. Several of the freed people travelled with the Tiffin party and reached Chillicothe in April 1798. Wikipedia notes a harder side of the record: at the 1802 convention Tiffin, as presiding officer, cast the tie-breaking vote that kept Black men from voting under Ohio's first constitution.

Source

Chillicothe's only doctor

When Tiffin arrived in 1798 he was, by his kinsman-biographer's account, the only physician in the growing town. He rode horseback through malarial country and across flooded creeks, and set aside days each week to treat poor patients without charge. His son-in-law Dr. C. G. Comegys told of a call in Union Township where Tiffin, without his surgical case, improvised instruments and amputated a farmer's leg, saving the man's life. He also preached, and when the Episcopal congregation had no rector he often read its service.

Source

Saving the Land Office from the British

Tiffin spent about eighteen months pulling together the scattered records of the new General Land Office after Congress created it in 1812. When the British captured Washington on August 24, 1814, he moved the whole archive to a hidden spot in Loudoun County, Virginia, about ten miles from the city. His clerk Samuel Williams later said these were the only government records saved in their entirety. Tiffin then traded posts with Josiah Meigs and brought the surveyor general's office home to Chillicothe.

Source

Honors and things named for them

City of Tiffin, OH (named 1822)
First governor of Ohio

Named for Edward Tiffin

City of Tiffin (Tiffin, Seneca County) source

Family

wife: Mary Worthington Tiffin
second wife: Mary Porter Tiffin
brother-in-law: Thomas Worthington

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1 Grandview Cemetery (grave under a marble monument)
Chillicothe Ross County · source
Tiffin house site, northeast corner of Water and High streets (unknown)
Chillicothe Ross County · source
2 Ohio Historical Marker 12-74, Founding of Tiffin
Tiffin (3 Riverside Drive) Seneca County · source

Places in Ohio to see

Grandview Cemetery (Tiffin grave) (grave)
240 S Walnut St, Chillicothe, Ross County ZIP 45601 (approximate) · Chillicothe · Ross County · official page

Ohio places

Where Edward Tiffin was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Lived: Chillicothe, Ross County ZIP 45601 · Chillicothe · Ross County
Buried: Chillicothe, Ross County ZIP 45601 · Chillicothe · Ross County

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Edward Tiffin, first Governor of Ohio
Public domain
Portrait of Senator Edward Tiffin of Ohio
Public domain
Ohio politician Edward Tiffin
Public domain
Edward Tiffin was a senator from Ohio. He is sketched in a 1900 book.
Public domain
Former Ohio Governor Edward Tiffin, portrait from 1808-09.
Public domain
Built in 1826 by Edward Tiffin, first governor of Ohio, as a wedding gift to his daughter, the Greek Revival s...
Don O'Brien from Piketon, Ohio, United States / CC BY 2.0
The Deercreek Frontier Ohio Ohio Historical Marker
Aesopposea / CC BY-SA 3.0