Henry Fitzhugh (August 7, 1801 "The Hive",

Washington County, Maryland Washington County is located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 154,705. Its county seat is Hagerstown. Washington County was the first county in the United States to be named for the ...

– August 11, 1866) was an American merchant, businessman and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Life

He was the son of Col.

William Fitzhugh William Fitzhugh (August 24, 1741June 6, 1809) was an American planter, legislator and patriot during the American Revolutionary War who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress for Virginia in 1779, as well as many terms in the House o ...

, Jr. (1761–1839, one of the founders of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

) and Ann (Hughes) Fitzhugh (1771–1829). Baptised and raised in Saint John's Parish, Henry removed with the Fitzhugh family at the age of 15 to a tract of the

Phelps and Gorham Purchase The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the purchase in 1788 of of land in what is now western New York State from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $1,000,000 ( £300,000), to be paid in three annual installments, and the pre-emptive right to th ...

in 1816. On December 11, 1827, Henry married Elizabeth Barbara Carroll (1806–1866, sister of

Charles H. Carroll Charles Holker Carroll (May 4, 1794 – June 8, 1865) was an American farmer and politician from New York who was a descendant of the Carrolls of Carrollton and married into the Van Rensselaer family. Early life Carroll was born on May 4, 179 ...

) at

Groveland, New York Groveland is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 3,249 at the 2010 census. The town is centrally located in the county, south of Geneseo. History The Sullivan Expedition (1779) reached its farthest extent ...

. He was a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

(Oswego Co.) in 1849. He was a

Canal Commissioner The Commission to Explore a Route for a Canal to Lake Erie and Report, known as the Erie Canal Commission, was a body created by the New York State Legislature in 1810 to plan the Erie Canal. In 1817 a ''Canal Fund'' led by ''Commissioners of the C ...

from 1852 to 1857, elected on the Whig ticket in the New York state election, 1851 and

New York state election, 1854 The 1854 New York state election was held on November 7, 1854, to elect the governor, the lieutenant governor, a Canal Commissioner and an Inspector of State Prisons, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly. History The National ...

. He was buried at the Williamsburg Cemetery in Groveland, NY. U.S. presidential candidates James G. Birney and

Gerrit Smith Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), also spelled Gerritt Smith, was a leading American social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist. Married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith was a candidat ...

, and State Senator Frederick F. Backus (1794–1858), were his brothers-in-law.

Sources

''Official State Canvass''
in NYT on January 1, 1852
''The Charges against Henry Fitzhugh''
in NYT on April 4, 1853
''Whig Convention''
in NYT on September 21, 1854, nominating Fitzhugh for re-election
''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 42, 237 and 273; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) *Fitzhugh genealogy i
''Upstate Arcadia: Landscape, Aesthetics, and the Triumph of Social Differentiation in America''
by Peter J. Hugill (Rowman & Littlefield, 1995, , ; page 50)

Political Graveyard

Transcriptions from Gravestones, at RootsWeb

Fitzhugh genealogy {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzhugh, Henry 1801 births 1866 deaths People from Groveland, New York Erie Canal Commissioners Members of the New York State Assembly People from Washington County, Maryland New York (state) Whigs 19th-century American politicians Carroll family