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For Immediate Release
Strickland to Speak to History Advocates at Statehood Day Event
Rare, Recovered Tiffin Document Centerpiece of State Archives Display
COLUMBUS, Ohio February 27, 2008 – Ohio’s history and preservation advocates will gather at the Ohio Statehouse Wednesday, March 5 in recognition of Ohio’s statehood and to promote the state’s rich heritage. Gov. Ted Strickland will address the group at lunch.
The Statehood Day event, sponsored by the Ohio Historical Society and other statewide history organizations, is expected to attract more than 200 Ohioans. Following lunch, participants will then meet with state legislators.
"We're pleased that Gov. Strickland will be the keynote speaker this year," says William K. Laidlaw, Jr., executive director and CEO of the Ohio Historical Society. "As the first Ohio governor with a college degree in history, he has a unique perspective and is particularly well suited to make connections between state officials and members of the history and preservation community."
Historic Records on Display
The Ohio Historical Society’s State Archives will feature a display of 19th-century local government documents in the Statehouse Atrium from 2 to 6 p.m., including a recently recovered, rare public record concerning two future Ohio governors. The purpose of the display is to highlight the need to establish a dedicated, sustainable source of funding for the management and preservation of local government records.
"It's been said time and again that all history is local," says State Archivist Jelain Chubb. "Today, the State Archives is highlighting select examples that illustrate how the records created by local governments connect us to the past. Our goal is to bring attention to the need to provide adequate resources to ensure that these records are preserved and available for use by future generations."
According to Chubb, much of Ohio's historical record lies in the documents that detail the most fundamental events in our personal lives and establish many of our legal rights and obligations – evidence of births, education, marriage, property, taxation and legal proceedings. These documents are created and maintained at the local level; however, the majority of Ohio's local governments have very few resources dedicated to the management and preservation of documents.
Given adequate resources, local governments can provide essential services to the people of Ohio by preserving and making available public records that document governmental activity and its impact on Ohioans and by training office holders to manage records and information more efficiently. Doing so can save taxpayer dollars, protect citizens' personal information and facilitate compliance with Ohio's Sunshine Laws.
Recovery of an Important Piece of Ohio History
An e-mail to a staff member of the Ohio Historical Society has led to the recovery of a unique bit of Ohio's early history. On Jan.7, 2008, an Ohio Historical Society member alerted staff to the sale of a document on eBay that involved both Ohio's first governor, Edward Tiffin, and Ohio's sixth governor, Thomas Worthington.
Chubb was quickly able to identify the document as an order of replevin-an action to recover personal property said or claimed to be unlawfully taken-issued in 1800 by the territorial court located in Ross County. The order, signed by Tiffin who served as prothonotary, or clerk, of the Ross County Common Pleas Court at the time, is unique because the plaintiff is identified as "Jenny, a negro woman" and the replevin order applies to three "negro" children "in the possession of Ewell Williams" of Ross County.
Given the document's origin as a government record and its significant historical value, the Society authorized Chubb to bid on the document up to a ceiling of $250 dollars. She placed the winning bid of $224.50 moments before the auction ended. The document is now archived, cataloged and available for research use at the Ohio Historical Center.
How the document left government custody and came into private hands is a mystery. Chubb explains that unlike some states, Ohio has no law specifically prohibiting the sale of public records-documents created or received in the course of carrying out the functions of government.
"Unfortunately, records that should be in the care of state or local government sometimes end up with private collectors and governments or archives are rarely able to recover them," Chubb says. She also stresses that the purchase of this document was a special circumstance and not typical of how records enter the State Archives' custody.
Significance of Tiffin Document
Replevin orders are generally issued by courts when the party having the right of property cannot simply invoke self-help and take the property back. This one-page document, which includes a notation that it was witnessed by the presiding justice Thomas Worthington, who would be called "The Father of Ohio Statehood" and serve as its sixth governor, was issued to the Sheriff of Ross County during the September term of court in 1800.
Labeled simply "Jenny, a Negro vs. Williams," the order commands the sheriff of Ross County to take custody of three children then in the possession of Ewell Williams and deliver them to Jenny. The three children are identified as: Denah, about 8 years old; Hannah, about 6 years old; and Jenny, about 4 years old. The order states that Jenny will file a claim for the children at the next court session to be held in December 1800.
"The order is significant because by allowing an African-American woman the opportunity to file the complaint Tiffin and Worthington were clearly demonstrating their opposition to slavery and their commitment to keep slavery banned from what would become Ohio," Chubb says.
Many of the early settlers of Ross County were Virginians who had freed their slaves before traveling to Ohio and many of the former slaves also settled in Ross County as a result of the protection they enjoyed under the Northwest Ordinance.
Both Tiffin and Worthington had lived in Virginia before immigrating to Ohio and while in Virginia had owned slaves. They both then freed their slaves before leaving for Ohio and many of their former slaves traveled with Tiffin and Worthington to Ross County where they could live as free people. However, while the Northwest Ordinance did ban slavery from the territory, there was no guarantee that slavery would continue to be banned from states formed from the territory. Even while Ohio was still a territory there were bills introduced in the territorial legislature seeking the allowance of slavery into the territory.
According to Chubb, the document also is a significant artifact from the early political careers of Tiffin and Worthington. "Tiffin's service as prothonotary of the Ross County Common Pleas Court and Worthington's term as justice were the first political offices held by each of them in Ohio but wouldn’t be the last," she points out.
Following Ohio's admission to statehood in 1803 Tiffin was elected Ohio’s first governor and served two terms from 1803-1807. He then represented Ohio in the United States Senate from 1807-1809. Tiffin died in Chillicothe in 1829.
Worthington later served in the territorial and state legislatures, the U.S. Senate, and two terms as governor. Worthington died while traveling in New York in 1827 and was buried in Chillicothe.
Established in 1885, the Ohio Historical Society is a nonprofit organization that serves as the state’s partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, archaeology and natural history. For more information about programs and events, call 614.295.2300/800.686.6124 or go online at www.ohiohistory.org.
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Media contact: Kim Schuette: 614.297.2314 or kschuette@ohiohistory.org
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