Joseph Whitehill | |
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6th Ohio State Treasurer | |
In office February 17, 1835 – February 24, 1847 |
|
Preceded by | Henry Brown |
Succeeded by | Albert A. Bliss |
Personal details | |
Born |
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania |
December 30, 1786
Died | November 1, 1861 Columbus, Ohio |
(aged 74)
Resting place | Green Lawn Cemetery |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Battles/wars | War of 1812 |
Joseph Whitehill, Jr. (December 30, 1786 – November 4, 1861) was a nineteenth-century Ohio farmer who was elected to a series of local offices in Warren County, Ohio, before his election as Ohio State Treasurer.
He was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the son of Joseph Whitehill. In 1800, at age fourteen, his family moved to Botetourt County, Virginia, near Fincastle. In 1808, his father died and Whitehill assumed responsibility for his family: six sisters and a brother. In the War of 1812, he was lieutenant in the militia company from Botetourt County, and served in the defense of Norfolk, Virginia from the British. Upon the death of the captain of his company, Whitehill was in command.
After the war, the family moved to Warren County, Ohio, north of Cincinnati. They arrived in the county in 1815, initially settling near the town of Waynesville but relocating closer to Lebanon, the county seat. He was forced to abandon farming because of his rheumatism. Moving into the town of Lebanon, he hauled freight between Lebanon and Cincinnati. He also owned a grist mill on the Warren County Canal's Lock 3, southwest of Lebanon.
In 1826, he was elected sheriff of Warren County and served 1826 to 1830, two two-year terms. Whitehill was briefly out of office in 1830, during which time he bought a farm three miles north of Lebanon in Turtlecreek Township. In 1830, he was elected to the Ohio General Assembly as a representative. He was re-elected three times, serving four one-year terms. In 1834, as he was completing his final term in the legislature, he was elected Ohio State Treasurer. He was re-elected three times, serving four three-year terms. When his service expired, he remained in the state capital, Columbus. Whitehill, who never married, lived there with his spinster sister Jane.