Francis Dunlavy was a teacher, judge and Ohio Senator.

Born in Virginia, he moved to Columbia, near Cincinnati in 1792. In 1800, he was elected to the Northwest Territorial Legislature as an Anti-Federalist. Two years later, he was chosen as a delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention

Ohio Constitutional Convention (1802)

The Enabling Act of 1802 was passed on April 30, 1802 by the Seventh Congress of the United States. This act authorized the residents of the eastern portion of the Northwest Territory to form the state of Ohio and join the U.S. on an equal footing with the other states...

, representing Hamilton county

Hamilton County, Ohio

As of 2000, there were 845,303 people, 346,790 households, and 212,582 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,075 people per square mile . There were 373,393 housing units at an average density of 917 per square mile...

. Dunlavy took an active role in writing the Ohio Constitution but was unable to include any sort of provision guaranteeing suffrage to African-Americans. In 1803, he was elected to the first Ohio State Senate but was soon appointed a president judge for the Court of Common Pleas for Southwest Ohio even though had never been called to the bar. This position he occupied for the next 14 years, after which he commenced private law practice for about 10 years.

He died November 6, 1839 and is interred in Lebanon, OH. His tombstone reads-

He was one of the first white men who entered the Territory now forming Ohio; was a member of the Territorial Legislature, and of the convention which formed the Constitution of Ohio

Sources

Historical Lebanon Ohio

Pic of tombstone