John Johns Trigg (1748May 17, 1804) was an American farmer and politician from

Bedford County, Virginia Bedford County is a United States county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is the town of Bedford, which was an independent city from 1968 until rejoining the county in 2013. Bedford County was ...

. He fought with the Virginia militia in the Revolutionary War and represented

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

from 1797 until 1804. He was a slaveholder.

Life

Family life

John was born on his father's farm near New London in Lunenburg County (now Bedford County) in the Colony of Virginia. He was one of the eight children of William Trigg (1716 – 1773) and Mary (Johns) Trigg (1720 – 1773). His father, William served as a judge in Bedford County (which was formed from part of Lunenburg County in 1754) for many years. His brother,

Abram Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

, would serve with him in congress. The Trigg and Johns families both arrived in Virginia from England in the mid-seventeenth century. The Triggs were from

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. John married Dianna Ayers on December 17, 1770, and they settled on their own plantation "Old Liberty" near what became the town of Liberty (now

Bedford, Virginia Bedford is an incorporated town and former independent city located within Bedford County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It serves as the county seat of Bedford County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,657. It is part of the Lynchbur ...

). The family would grow to include seven children: Stephen, William, Nancy, Daniel, Theodosia, John Johns Jr., and Mary (Polly). Dianna survived John, living until some time after 1807.

Military service

Virginia expanded her

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

as the conflict with Great Britain loomed. Trigg raised a new militia company in Bedford County in 1775''Biographical Directory of the US Congress''
Accessed June 11, 2006 and led it as its lieutenant. He remained with this unit throughout the war, and saw several local actions. The state's House of Delegates named him as a captain on March 23, 1778, and a major in 1781. He was a major of artillery at the

Siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

later that year, and was present at the surrender of

Lord Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

. After the war Trigg continued his service in the Virginia militia. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1791, and in 1793 served as a major in the Second Battalion of the Tenth Regiment of the Virginia militia. In 1796 and 1802, he was commander of the 91st Regiment of the Virginia militia.

Political career

Trigg's political service started around 1781 when he became a Justice of the Peace in Bedford County. He was elected to represent the county in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

, and served there from 1784 until 1792. In 1788 he represented Bedford County in the Virginia Convention that ratified the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...

.Swem, Earl G. and Williams, John W., ''A Register of the General Assembly of Virginia 1776-1918 and of the Constitutional Conventions'' (Richmond, Va: 1918), 439. Trigg voted with

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first a ...

and the Antifederalists against ratification. He served in the Virginia Senate from 1792 until 1796. He was elected in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1796 as a

Jeffersonian Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

. Trigg was re-elected three times, and served in the Congress from 1797. He died at home on May 17, 1804, on his farm near Liberty in Bedford County and was buried in a family plot there.

The Fifth Congress

Trigg arrived on the second day the Fifth Congress of the United States convened, Tuesday, May 16, 1797, and was in time to hear the new President's speech to Congress about his position in regards to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. At this time, Trigg, a Democratic-Republican/Anti-Federalist was in the minority party, as the House was majority Federalist, as was John Adams, the President of the United States. After the President's speech, which caused an uproar among Anti-Federalists as not being sympathetic enough to France and too hawkish, the House debated until May 31 on their response to his address. Their response, with an amendment, basically supported the President's speech. Trigg voted against the response, while his brother

voted for it. Other votes during this session: * Yea: June 24 - "An act providing a Naval Armament" * Nay: July 3 - Stamp Duties * Nay: July 5 - Duty on Salt When the second session for this Congress returned in November, Trigg arrived three days late on November 16, 1797. Votes during this session: * Nay: May 18 - Establishing a Provisional ArmyRivers, ''Abridgment Of The Debates Of Congress, From 1789 To 1856'', II, 275-76.

Electoral history

*1797; Trigg was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives unopposed. *1799; Trigg was re-elected with 98.31% of the vote, defeating Federalist George Hancock. *1801; Trigg was re-elected unopposed.

Notes

External links

biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trigg, John 1748 births 1804 deaths Delegates to the Virginia Ratifying Convention 18th-century American politicians Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution American people of Cornish descent Virginia state senators Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia