Harry Innes
Harry Innes | |
---|---|
United States District Court for the District of Kentucky | |
In office September 26, 1789 – September 20, 1816 | |
Appointed by | George Washington |
Preceded by | Seat established by 1 Stat. 73 |
Succeeded by | Robert Trimble |
Personal details | |
Born | Harry Innes January 4, 1752 read law |
Harry Innes (January 4, 1752 – September 20, 1816) was a Virginia lawyer and patriot during the American Revolutionary War who became a local judge and prosecutor as well as helped establish the state of
Early and family life
Born on January 4, 1752, in
Career
Admitted to the Virginia bar when he reached legal age in 1773,
In 1778, when James Innes became a navy commissioner, Virginia Governor Patrick Henry appointed Harry Innes deputy attorney for Bedford County.[4] In 1779, the Virginia legislature appointed Harry Innes as commissioner to settle claims to unpatented lands around Abingdon.[4] In that same year, Governor Thomas Jefferson appointed Harry Innes escheator for Bedford County, and he began liquidating properties of Loyalists who had left the colony.[4] His success in those endeavors (and perhaps James Innes' election to the Virginia House of Delegates representing James City County) led on March 27, 1782, to Harry Innes' being appointed as superintendent over the commissioners of six southwestern Virginia counties: Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Halifax, Henry and Pittsylvania.[4][6]
Harry Innes would soon travel the
Agitation for independence of Kentucky from Virginia and anti-federalism
Innes was convinced that Kentucky's destiny lay in separation from Virginia. Decisions of the Kentucky courts were not final, and appeals had to be carried over the mountains to Richmond.[4] There was no executive authority in Kentucky nor any authority to call out the militia to protect the citizens from Indian attacks.[4] Innes joined the movement for immediate and unconditional separation from Virginia.[4] It took eight years and ten conventions before the parties (United States, Virginia, and Kentucky) could agree upon terms of separation.[4] A constitution was finally written and approved before Kentucky attained statehood.[4] Innes was a member of eight of these conventions and president of the first electoral college for the choice of governor and lieutenant governor under the first state constitution.[4]
Even though Innes and Patrick Henry disagreed over Kentucky independence, both opposed the ratification of the Constitution.[4] Considered Anti-federalists and later Democratic-Republicans, Innes, and fellow Kentuckians: John Brown, Thomas Todd, George Nicholas, John Breckinridge and Henry Clay looked to Thomas Jefferson for leadership in the emerging national party structure.[4] Opposed to their politics was the Marshall family, headed by Colonel Thomas Marshall and included the future chief justice, John Marshall.[4] The Marshall family became the nucleus of the Federalist Party in Kentucky and provided the core for other groups who opposed Jeffersonian politics.[4]
Other activities
Concurrent with his service as a Judge and later as Attorney General, Innes practiced law, farmed, speculated in land and raised a family.[4] He became a trustee of Transylvania University and an honored charter member of the Political Club of Danville.[4] A scholar and lover of books, he built a distinguished library.[4]
Federal judicial service
President
The Judiciary Act of 1801 (2 Stat. 89) abolished the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky on February 13, 1801, and assigned Innes to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit.[2] The Act was repealed on March 8, 1802, reestablishing the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky as of July 1, 1802.[2]
Personal life
Innes married twice. His first wife was Elizabeth Calloway, daughter of Colonel James Callaway, of Bedford County, Virginia.[4] She died in 1791, after giving birth to four daughters.[4] He later married Mrs. Ann Harris Shiell, widow of Dr. Hugh Shiell.[7] They had one child, Maria, who married John Todd, and after his death, John J. Crittenden.[4] They also raised a daughter from Ann's first marriage.[4]
Death and legacy
On September 20, 1816, Judge Innes died in Frankfort, Kentucky, survived by his widow and several children and a stepdaughter.[2]
References
- ^ "Henry Innes" in Lyon Gardinar Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company 1915) Vol.1, p. 263
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harry Innes at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- ^ Allen, William B. (1872). A History of Kentucky: Embracing Gleanings, Reminiscences, Antiquities, Natural Curiosities, Statistics, and Biographical Sketches of Pioneers, Soldiers, Jurists, Lawyers, Statesmen, Divines, Mechanics, Farmers, Merchants, and Other Leading Men, of All Occupations and Pursuits. Bradley & Gilbert. pp. 260–261. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z "Harry Innes biography". United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Archived from the original on 2006-09-25.
- ^ "James Innes" in Tyler vol. 2, p. 149
- ^ Tyler
- ^ Davis, William Watts Hart (1905). History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time. Lewis Publishing Company. p. 209.