Hugh Innes (burgess)
 | This article or section is in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article or section has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use.
This article was last edited by Jweaver28 (talk | contribs) 0 seconds ago. (Update timer) |
Hugh Innes | |
|---|---|
| Member of the House of Burgesses for Pittsylvania County | |
| In office 1769–1774 Serving with John Donelson | |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Succeeded by | Peter Perkins |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hugh Innes August 12, 1729 Scotland |
| Died | March 22, 1797 (aged 67) Franklin County, Virginia, U.S. |
| Spouse | Hannah Eggleston |
| Relations | Harry Innes, James Innes |
Hugh Innes (August 12, 1729 – March 22, 1797) was a American patriot, attorney, real estate investor and politician who represented Pittsylvania County, Virginia in the House of Burgesses and first Virginia Revolutionary Convention.[1]
Early and family life[edit]
Sources disagree as to whether this man's father was William Innes or James Innes, which affects the precise relationship between this man and two orphaned brothers, the sons of Scottish immigrant Rev. Robert Innes of Caroline County: future U.S. District Judge Harry Innes of Kentucky and Virginia attorney general James Innes of Williamsburg, although all agree that they were related. Their father was either this man's uncle, cousin or half-brother. This man's last will named that Harry Innes (as well as Samuel Callend) as administrators of the estate and charged them to educate this man's youngest children. During Innes' legislative visits to Williamsburg, the colonial capital, as described below, Innes met Hannah Eggleston, whom he married there (technically in James City County in 1772), and whom he survived.[2] His sons were Robert, Hugh, (another) James and (another) Harry and his surviving daughters were Mrs. Turley and Elizabeth Eggleston Innes.[3][4]
Career[edit]
Trained as a lawyer, Innes settled near the Pigg River in an area which at the end of his life became Franklin County. It was about 30 or 40 miles from the earliest Pittsylvania county seat at Peytonsburg. Innes was one of the eight landowners who established Pittsylvania County from then-vast Halifax County in 1769, and served as a justice of the peace in that county, as well as on the Antrim Parish vestry.[5] Henry County, Virginia was established from Pittsylvania County in 1777; Franklin County would be created in 1785 and Patrick County, Virginia in 1791. Innes would also acquire land in Kentucky before his death.
Meanwhile, Pittsylvania County voters elected Innes and John Donelson (who had moved there from eastern Maryland and would move to Tennessee), as their first representatives to the House of Burgesses in 1769, and re-elected both men until what turned out to be the last session of the House of Burgesses in 1774, in which both were replaced, although then all four former burgesses represented Pittsylvaniacounty at the first Virginia Revolutionary Convention.[6][7] However, due to the duplication of names within this family, it is unclear whether this man represented Henry County in the Virginia House of Delegates after the creation of that county and before the creation of Franklin County.
Death and legacy[edit]
Innes died in Franklin County, Virginia in 1797, and the probate of his will was one of the first acts of the circuit court for the new county.
References[edit]
- ^ Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915), vol. 1 p. 263
- ^ marriage record on ancestry.com
- ^ Maud Carter Clement (1952) at https://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/local/clement/mc/ap/01.htm
- ^ DAR records indicate a daughter named Margaret as well, who married James Patterson and had descendants
- ^ Maud Carter Clement (1952) at https://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/local/clement/mc/ap/01.htm
- ^ Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 98, 100, 104, 110
- ^ https://history.house.virginia.gov/members/3489