Nathaniel Massie Nathaniel Massie ( December 28 , 1763 – November 13 , 1813 ) was a frontier surveyor in the Ohio Country who became a prominent land owner , politician , and soldier . He founded fourteen early towns in what became the State of Ohio , including its first capital , Chillicothe . In 1807 , the Ohio General Assembly declared him the winner of the election for governor , but he refused the office . Early life . A native of the colony of Virginia , Massie served briefly in the Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War . After becoming a surveyor , he established the first town in the Virginia Military District at what is now Manchester . He platted the town of Chillicothe on his own land . Massie was one of the largest landowners in early Ohio , and served as a major general in the Ohio militia . Political career . Massie served as a Ross county delegate to the 1802 Ohio Constitutional Convention and was a leader of the Jeffersonian faction that supported statehood . He was a leader of the Chillicothe Junto , a group of Chillicothe Democratic - Republican politicians who brought about the admission of Ohio as a state in 1803 , and largely controlled its politics for some years thereafter . Among his colleagues in the faction were Thomas Worthington and Edward Tiffin . He was a Presidential elector for Thomas Jefferson in 1804 and James Madison in 1808 . He was a Trustee of Ohio University from 1804 to 1808 . Massie served in the General Assembly and was the first president of the Ohio Senate . Death . Massie led troops in the War of 1812 , but died of pneumonia in the late autumn of 1813 at the age of 50 . He is interred in Grandview Cemetery , Chillicothe in Ross County , Ohio . Legacy . The Nathaniel Massie Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution ( DAR ) in Chillicothe is named in the general ' s honor , as is Massie Township in Warren County , Ohio and the Clinton - Massie Local School District that serves the area . Massie is a member of the Ohio Hall of Fame . A monument to Massie stands along U . S . Route 50 , just west of Bainbridge , a town he founded . It commemorates his life , as well as marking the approximate location of his home in the Paint Valley . The memorial was dedicated in September 1938 . The inscription on the monument reads : " Home Of General Nathaniel Massie . Built 1800 , One Fourth Mile South . Nathaniel Massie , Born Goochland County , Virginia , December 28 , 1763 , 1800 Married Sarah Everard Mead , Died November 13 , 1813 . Revolutionary Soldier ; Surveyor Of Wilderness Then Known As Northwest Territory And Locator Of Revolutionary War Land Grants . 1786 - 87 Cut Road Lexington , Kentucky To Great Kanawha River . 1791 Founded Manchester , Ohio . 1790 - 94 Explored Little Miami And Scioto Rivers To Their Sources . April 1796 Founded Chillicothe , Ohio . Massie Was Member Of Convention Framing First Ohio Constitution . Was First Speaker Of State Legislature . 1799 Organized First Militia Northwest Territory . Commissioned Major General . 1805 Founded Bainbridge , Ohio , One Of Fourteen Towns Founded By Him . Erected By The Ohio Society Daughters Of The American Colonists - Sept . 21 , 1938 . "