He got our state off to a good start after her birth in 1802. He was elected first governor in 1803 and reelected two years later.

Tiffin was born in Carlisle, England, in 1766 and came to America in 1783. He moved from Virginia to Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1798, where he became known as a gentleman of diversified attainments.

He was an attorney who also practiced medicine, served as a Methodist lay preacher and became prothonotary (chief clerk) of the Northwest Territory Court of Common Pleas.

Before clasping the reins as governor of Ohio, he was a member of the territorial legislature and president of the convention that formed the Ohio constitution.

Tiffin resigned as governor in 1807 to become United States senator. Two years later he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, filling the post for two terms. President Madison then appointed him commissioner of the General Land Office in 1812 and surveyor general in 1814.