The presidents Ohio sent to the White House, and the one born elsewhere
Seven presidents were born in Ohio. An eighth is counted as an Ohio president but was born in Virginia — which is why the totals you see disagree.
Ohio has long been called the Mother of Presidents, and the phrase is old enough to appear in political cartoons: a 1912 Clifford K. Berryman drawing held by the National Archives shows William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt competing for Ohio’s support, with Ohio cast as the mother of presidents.
Seven presidents were born in Ohio: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding.
The count you see elsewhere is often eight. The difference is William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, who died a month into his term. Harrison was born in Virginia but built his political career in Ohio and ran for the presidency from there, so lists of “Ohio presidents” frequently include him while lists of presidents born in Ohio do not. Benjamin Harrison, who was born in Ohio, was his grandson.
If you see the figure eight, it is counting presidents associated with Ohio. If you see seven, it is counting births. Neither is wrong; they answer different questions.
Ohio History Connection maintains an Ohio Presidential Trail linking the sites connected with these presidencies — birthplaces, homes, libraries and tombs across the state.
See the Ohio Presidential Trail: https://www.ohiohistory.org/visit/special-attractions/ohio-presidential-trail/