Well, it depends on what you mean by “mother,” for one thing. And we probably wouldn’t even be having this discussion if it weren’t for William Henry Harrison. Let me explain.
     Determining which mother had the most children seems simple. Eight presidents were born in Virginia. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Woodrow Wilson.
     Seven were born in Ohio: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding.
     Settled, right? No.
     “Mother” isn’t a word limited to a female who bore a child. There are mothers through adoption, of course. And the word can also refer more generally to the source of something, as in the “mother country” or “necessity is the mother of invention.”  This is where Harrison emerges.
     Ohio counts Harrison, who wasn’t born in the state, among its brood because he was residing there when elected president in 1840—a “favorite son,” who bumps the Ohio total to eight presidents. The problem is that Virginia also claims Harrison as its own. He was born there.
     That’s a lot of fuss over a guy who died exactly 30 days after his inauguration, held March 4, 1841. Shows you how much trouble a president can cause in just one month.
     Do we give Harrison solely to Virginia and declare it the winner? Do we make Virginia share him with Ohio and call it a tie? (It seems cruel to take him away from Virginia.)
     Perhaps we can settle this by counting just the presidents who were born in a state and elected from it. Here are the results: Of the eight presidents born in Virginia, five were still residents when they became president. Of the seven presidents born in Ohio, five were still residents when they became president. OK, that didn’t work.
    One calculation gives Virginia an 8-7 victory, another results in an 8-8 tie and a third in a 5-5 tie. I admit I’m torn. I was born in Ohio and now live in Virginia.
    Here is my suggestion to the fine folks in both states: Ohio cedes “mother of presidents” to Virginia. (I know it hurts.) In return, Virginia agrees not to contest Ohio’s use of a different slogan to trumpet the eight presidents who resided there. One possibility: “Ohio, the home of presidents.”
    By the way, there is one method of allocating presidents to states that makes New York the winner. You can find it in Resources,along with a breakdown of presidents by both birth state and residence when sworn in. See a map of presidents born in Ohio on the same page.

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     Related:

     States of the presidents

     Presidents: Highest office before elected

     Presidents of the United States