YOUNGSTOWN — Because the office of the sheriff is an institution older than Ohio and even older than the United States of America, it is something to be celebrated.

In Mahoning County, as in many of other counties in the state, that pride is seen on the bumpers of many of the black vehicles with gold striping driven by its personnel.

“First to Serve Since 1788” is the wording on a sticker on the back of a Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office vehicle.

But how can that be so, some might wonder.

Mahoning County was established in 1848, and Trumbull County was created in 1800. Youngstown was founded in 1797 and Warren in 1798.

Bill Lawson, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, said the reason sheriff’s offices across the state identify 1788 as the year they began is because that is the year the Ohio Territory got its first sheriff.

It is not the date when the Mahoning or Trumbull county sheriffs’ offices began, but it is the beginning of sheriff’s offices in this region of the country.

“That date is very important to the early history and organization of the Ohio Territory,” Lawson stated in an email.

“On April 7, 1788, Col. Ebenezer Sproat, a shareholder in the Ohio Company of Associates, arrived with a party of pioneer settlers at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers and founded Marietta, the first permanent American settlement in what is now the state of Ohio,” Lawson said.

“That same year, Sproat was appointed the first sheriff in the Northwest Territory, and his jurisdiction included roughly the entire eastern half of what is now the state of Ohio, from the Ohio River to Lake Erie.”

Bob Cornwell, executive director of Buckeye Sheriffs’ Association, said all of the 88 sheriff’s departments in the state are members of the Buckeye Sheriffs’ Association, and most of them display First To Serve Since 1788 stickers on their vehicles.

The designation also frequently is included on letterheads and websites, Cornwell said.

“The office of the sheriff is steeped in history, as it came from England back in the early 1400s when it came over to the United States,” Cornwell said.

“The office of sheriff was established on the East Coast in Jamestown,” he said.

“And as the population moved west, the office of sheriff moved west as well. So there was always a sheriff in colonies and in the westward bound states as they were populated and became states.”

When Sproat became sheriff, Ohio wasn’t a state yet. He remained sheriff until 1803, when Ohio became a state, Cornwell said. That line of sheriffs has continued to this day.

At the time, the region was still in the exploration phase. “They were still trying to get some outposts from the East Coast moving west. They were still setting up trade routes, so there were not many settlers.”

Sproat is buried in a Marietta cemetery.

As a side note, Lawson said Sproat “probably was the real inspiration for Ohio’s nickname. He was well respected among the native population in and around Marietta, who dubbed him ‘Hetuch,’ which meant ‘Eye of the Buck Deer,’ and they affectionately referred to Sproat as ‘Big Buckeye.'”

Trumbull County was organized by Territorial Gov. Arthur St. Clair on July 10, 1800, Lawson said.

Youngstown was the first organized settlement in the Mahoning Valley, starting in 1797. James Hillman, among the first settlers in John Young’s Town, was the first constable of Youngstown Township when its government was organized in 1802.

Hillman was elected sheriff of Trumbull County in 1806. Youngstown was the largest of the 10 former Trumbull County townships and five former Columbiana County townships when the Ohio Legislature formed Mahoning County on March 1, 1846. It was soon afterward that the first Mahoning County sheriff was appointed or elected, Lawson said.

The Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Association, which was founded in 1931, provides a forum for sheriffs to address lawmakers and push for changes in the criminal justice system. The organization also provides sheriffs offices with training programs.