Thomas Worthington (governor)

Early life

Worthington was born in Berkeley County near Charles Town in the Colony of Virginia. In 1796, he married a Virginia woman, Eleanor Swearingen, who joined him in emigrating to Ross County, Ohio, where they emancipated their slaves. Worthington was of English descent, and his ancestors were loyalists during the reign of King Charles. The home they eventually built just outside Chillicothe was called Adena and is the namesake of the Adena culture. The first of their ten children, daughter Mary, married David Macomb, a future leader of the Texas Revolution. A son, also Thomas, graduated from West Point in 1827, held the rank of Brigadier General in the Ohio Militia, and later fought in the Mexican-American War and Civil War.

Career

He served in the Territorial House of Representatives from 1799 to 1803 and served as a Ross county delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1802.{{cite journal|last1=Ryan|first1=Daniel Joseph|year=1896|title=First Constitutional Convention, Convened November 1, 1802

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. On June 17, 1812, he voted "No" on the resolution to declare war on Britain, but the vote in favor of war was 19 to 13. He won re-election as governor two years later, moving the state capital from Chillicothe to Columbus. Worthington did not seek re-election in 1818.

He platted what would become the city of Logan, Ohio in 1816.

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. 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.

After being the runner-up in the 1808 and 1810 gubernatorial elections, he won the 1814 and 1816 elections by landslide margins. Both times he nearly reached three-quarters of the vote. After two terms he stepped down as governor.

Death

Worthington was initially buried at his estate in Adena, and was later interred at Grandview Cemetery, Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio.

Legacy

Worthington is a member of the Ohio Hall Of Fame. The city of Worthington, Ohio, was named in Worthington's honor, as was Thomas Worthington High School.

Worthington is known as the "Father of the Ohio statehood".

References

Sources

• A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787–1825
• Sears, Alfred Byron, Thomas Worthington, father of Ohio statehood, Ohio State University Press for the Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, OH [1958] Full text here

References

1. Sears, Alfred Byron. (1998). "Thomas Worthington: Father of Ohio Statehood". Ohio State University Press.
2. Charles Burleigh. "History of Ohio".
3. Cullum, George Washington. (March 10, 2013). "Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy, Volume I". Bill Thayer.
4. "Thomas Worthington." Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936. Biography in Context. Web. January 13, 2016.
5. "Hocking County / 1-37 Thomas Worthington Founder of Logan - Remarkable Ohio".
6. The "Old Northwest" Genealogical Quarterly. April 1903. Page 34.
7. "Our Campaigns - OH Governor Race - Oct 11, 1808".
8. "Our Campaigns - OH Governor Race - Oct 09, 1810".
9. "Our Campaigns - OH Governor Race - Oct 11, 1814".
10. "Our Campaigns - OH Governor Race - Oct 08, 1816".
11. "Grandview Cemetery". Grandview Cemetery.