Background
William Fitzhugh was the son of Henry Fitzhugh of the town of Bedford, England, barrister-at-law. He was born at Bedford and was baptized January 10, 1651, according to parish records, though the exact date of his birth is not known.
William Fitzhugh was the son of Henry Fitzhugh of the town of Bedford, England, barrister-at-law. He was born at Bedford and was baptized January 10, 1651, according to parish records, though the exact date of his birth is not known.
He undoubtedly received an excellent education, including a thorough training in law, probably in his father’s chambers.
He emigrated to Virginia about 1670 and established himself on the Potomac in what was then Stafford County, Virginia. There he purchased a large estate and settled down to the life of a planter and exporter, at the same time practising law.
Adapting himself quickly to his new environment, he soon acquired a leading place as a lawyer, and his agricultural and mercantile ventures proved extremely successful.
In 1682 and 1683 he came to the fore as counsel for the accused in the celebrated Beverley case. Major Robert Beverley, clerk of the House of Burgesses, had declined to supply the governor and council with copies of the legislative journals without permission of the House and thus incurred the enmity of the governor.
The latter had him arrested on a variety of charges and an application for a writ of habeas corpus was refused. Fresh charges were preferred upon which he was found guilty, though he was finally released after begging pardon on his bended knees. Fitzhugh’s letter to Beverley relative to his rights is extant and displays deep knowledge on some extremely intricate legal questions (Virginia Magazine, post, October 1893).
He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses for some years and found himself on two occasions involved in legal entanglements in which he was charged with misrepresenting his claims for emolument, but apparently he was never brought to trial.
In 1687 as lieutenant-colonel of the county militia, he commanded the force which was collected to oppose the raids of the Seneca Indians. In 1692 he prepared a digest of the laws of Virginia, with a preface reviewing their development, which he sent to England with a view to publication, but apparently no steps were taken to implement his wishes, and the manuscript has disappeared.
Almost all the information we possess as to the details of his life after 1679 is derived from the remarkable series of letters—213 in number—addressed by him to his relatives and intimates in England, as well as to business men there, the originals of which are in the Harvard Library. They cover the period between May 15,
He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses.