Benjamin Tappan

Benjamin Tappan (May 25, 1773 – April 20, 1857) was an Ohio judge and Democratic politician who served in the Ohio State Senate and the United States Senate. He was an early settler of the Connecticut Western Reserve in northeastern Ohio and was one of the first settlers in Portage County and the founder of the city of Ravenna, Ohio.

Early life, education, and career

Tappan was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, the second child and oldest son of Benjamin Tappan and Sarah (Homes) Tappan, who was a grandniece of Benjamin Franklin. Two of his younger brothers were abolitionists Arthur and Lewis Tappan. He attended the public schools in Northampton and traveled to the West Indies in his youth. He apprenticed as a printer and engraver, also studying painting with Gilbert Stuart. He read law to be admitted to the bar in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1799. Later that year, he moved to the Connecticut Western Reserve and founded what is now Ravenna, Ohio, laying out the original village in 1808.