Ambrose Whitlock was born in what is now Virginia in May of 1767. He enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1788 and served in a number of campaigns against the Native Americans in the area of modern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He reached the rank of Major before retiring in 1817, and was known as Major Whitlock for the rest of his life. In 1822, Secretary of the Treasury General William Crawford appointed Whitlock as a receiver of public money for the land office in a location in Indiana that Whitlock later named Crawfordsville after his personal and political friend. Whitlock continued to serve in this capacity until 1829, when he was removed on a false charge of stealing. He died on June 26, 1863 at the age of 96.