William Creighton (1778-1851)

William Creighton was born in western Virginia on October 29, 1778. He entered Dickinson College with the class of 1795 and studied under Charles Nisbet. (The College Archives holds two notebooks in his hand from Nisbet's lectures in moral philosophy and logic and metaphysics) He was elected to the Union Philosophical Society in 1792. He graduated with his class on September 30, 1795.

Following this, he studied law in Virginia and then moved west to Chillicothe, Ohio in 1799. On March 3, 1803, at age twenty-five, he became the first Secretary of State of the new state and served until 1808. Known as a conservative Republican, he was appointed to a congressional vacancy in 1813 and elected to the following Congress. After a time in private law, he was again elected in 1824 as a supporter of Adams. He served in Congress until his final retirement in 1833 and his concentration on his legal practice.

He had married Elizabeth Meade in September, 1805 and they had six daughters and three sons. William Creighton died on October 1, 1851 in Chillicothe.