Abram Trigg (1750 – unknown) was an American planter, lawyer and politician who represented

Montgomery County, Virginia Montgomery County is a county located in the Valley and Ridge area of the U.S. state of Virginia. As population in the area increased, Montgomery County was formed in 1777 from Fincastle County, which in turn had been taken from Botetourt Cou ...

in the

Virginia Ratifying Convention The Virginia Ratifying Convention (also historically referred to as the "Virginia Federal Convention") was a Convention (meeting), convention of 168 delegates from Virginia who met in 1788 to ratify or reject the United States Constitution, whic ...

and U.S. House of Representatives (1797-1809) after fighting with the

Virginia militia The Virginia militia is an armed force composed of all citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia capable of bearing arms. The Virginia militia was established in 1607 as part of the English militia system. Militia service in Virginia was compulso ...

in the Revolutionary War. available at hathitrust.org

Early life and education

Abram Trigg was born on his father's farm near New London in then vast Lunenberg County in what was then the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

. That particular area became Bedford County in 1754. His grandfather of the same name had emigrated from Cornwall, England about 1710, and his father, William Trigg (1716–1773), served as a judge in Bedford County for many years. His mother, the former Mary Johns Trigg (1720–1773), bore eight children during that marriage. His brother,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, would serve with him in Congress. Another brother, Stephen Trigg, had been a member of a land commission in Kentucky in 1779, and died commanding a regiment at the

Battle of Blue Licks The Battle of Blue Licks, fought on August 19, 1782, was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War. The battle occurred ten months after Lord Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, which had effectively ended the war in the east. O ...

. Another brother, William Trigg, had descendants including Congressman

Connally Findlay Trigg Connally Findlay Trigg may refer to: *Connally Findlay Trigg (judge) (1810-1880), American district judge *Connally Findlay Trigg (congressman) Connally Findlay Trigg (September 18, 1847 – April 23, 1907) was a Virginia lawyer and former Confe ...

and Richmond shipbuilder William Robertson Trigg.

Career

Trigg was admitted to the bar and began his legal career in then-vast

. He lived on his estate, "Buchanan's Bottom", on the New River and held local offices, such as clerk and judge, and various other offices in Montgomery County..Hale, John P. ''Trans-Allegheny Pioneers (West Virginia and Ohio): Historical Sketches of the First White Settlers West of the Alleghenies, 1748 and After.'' (1886) Heritage Books, reprint, 2009.
/ref> He served in the Revolutionary War as lieutenant colonel of militia in 1782 and later as general of militia in Virginia. Trigg was a delegate to the

Virginia ratification convention The Virginia Ratifying Convention (also historically referred to as the "Virginia Federal Convention") was a Convention (meeting), convention of 168 delegates from Virginia who met in 1788 to ratify or reject the United States Constitution, whic ...

of 1788, and voted with

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. May 18, 1736une 6, 1799) was an American politician, planter and orator who declared to the Virginia Conventions, Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty or give m ...

and the

Anti-federalists The Anti-Federalists were a late-18th-century political movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed History of the United States Constitution#1788 ratification, the ratification of the 1787 Uni ...

against ratification of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

. He was elected as a Republican to the Fifth and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1797 – March 3, 1809). He died and was buried on the family estate, death date unknown. Like his father, brothers and others of his class, Trigg farmed using enslaved labor. According to the 1787 Virginia Tax census, he owned five slaves, six horses and 20 cattle in Montgomery County, slightly fewer than did Daniel Trigg, possibly a relative and who served several terms in the Virginia House of Delegates.Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The 1787 Census of Virginia (Springfield, Genealogical Books in Print 1987) pp. 451

Personal life

In 1779 Abram married Susannah Ingles, daughter of

William Ingles William Ingles (1729 – September, 1782), also spelled Inglis, Ingliss, Engels, or English, was a colonist and soldier in colonial Virginia. He participated in the Sandy Creek Expedition and was a signatory of the Fincastle Resolutions. He was ...

and

Mary Draper Ingles Mary Draper Ingles (1732 – February 1815), also known in records as Mary Inglis or Mary English, was an American pioneer and early settler of western Virginia. In the summer of 1755, she and her two young sons were among several captives taken ...

, who escaped from Indian captivity and walked 800 miles to return to her home in 1755. The couple had ten children.

Electoral history

*1797; Trigg was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives unopposed. *1799; Trigg was re-elected with 88.47% of the vote, defeating Federalist William Preston. *1801; Trigg was re-elected unopposed. *1803; Trigg was re-elected unopposed. *1805; Trigg was re-elected unopposed. *1807; Trigg was re-elected defeating Federalist Daniel Sheffey.

References

Retrieved on 2009-02-26 {{DEFAULTSORT:Trigg, Abram 1750 births Year of death unknown People from Bedford, Virginia Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution Virginia lawyers Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 18th-century members of the United States House of Representatives