Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1900.001.011 |
Object Name |
Painting |
Collection |
Statehouse Artwork Collection/Governors' Portraits |
Title |
Portrait of Jeremiah Morrow |
Artist |
Witt, John Henry, 1840-1901 |
Date |
1871 |
Description |
Portrait of Jeremiah Morrow, Ohio's ninth governor (1822-1826) . He is wearing a dark suit, with a white shirt and a black tie. His face appears sunken and he sports a full head of white hair. |
Notes |
The ninth governor of Ohio, Jeremiah Morrow, was born near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1771, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. In 1794, he settled in the Northwest Territory, where he engaged in surveying, farming and teaching. A few years later he bought land in Deerfield Township, Warren County, where he built his home. He became active in Ohio politics, serving in the second territorial legislature, the constitutional convention of 1802. After Ohio became a state he was elected to the Ohio Senate, and served for a short time before being elected as Ohio's first and only Congressman in the U.S. House. He served in the house until 1813 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Morrow served as governor of Ohio from 1822-1826 and stayed active in politics as a representative and senator until 1843. He died at his home in Lebanon, Ohio, on March 22nd, 1852. |
Provenance |
In 1867, the Ohio General Assembly passed a joint resolution relative to the governors of Ohio. The legislators resolved that "the secretary of state, on the first Monday of January next, whether the portraits of the governors of Ohio, state and territorial, can be procured, and if so, whether original portraits or copies, and the probable expense of procuring such portraits for the governor's office." William Henry Smith, Ohio's sixteenth secretary of state, was tasked with contacting the descendants of all governors to date. He corresponded with families and sometimes traveled the country to meet them. From the Executive Documents, Messages and Annual Report for the 1868, 58th Ohio General Assembly: "The portrait of Jeremiah Morrow, the 10th [sic] Governor of the State, was presented by Robert G. Corwin, Esq. of Dayton on the 28th of July." Mr. Corwin included a letter stating, "I send you. . . the portrait of Governor Morrow. I prize it very highly, not so much as a work of art as because it is an exact likeness of one of our purest and ablest statesmen. I could not be induced to part with it for any pecuniary consideration, and I will not accept any such consideration for it, but I send it to you simply because I desire to aid in perpetuating the memory of a distinguished Christian statesman, who for many years was my neighbor and intimate friend, and whom I regard as one of the finest types of American gentleman." Like many other of the governor's portraits this one was copied by a Columbus artist and returned. In the Executive Documents, Messages and Annual Reports for 1871, page 184, there is a payment from the governor's contingency fund on August 28, 1871 to J.H. Witt for "painting portrait of Gov. Morrow, and frame for same $125.00." The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board took over the care of the Statehouse and its collections in 1988. |
Image size |
30" x 25" |
Frame size |
33-3/4" x 28-3/4" |
Frame desc |
Twentieth century gilt frame with carved beaded liner |
People |
Morrow, Jeremiah, 1771-1852 Smith, William Henry, 1833-1896 Witt, John Henry, 1840-1901 |
Search Terms |
Ohio Governor Ohio Governor's Portraits |
Subjects |
Governors Painting Portrait paintings |