Born January 4, 1752, in Caroline County, Virginia, Harry Innes was the son of Rev. Robert Innes, an Episcopal clergyman, and a native of Scotland, and Catharine (Richards) Innes, a native Virginian. Innes was educated at Donald Robertson's school and at William and Mary College. He read law with George Wythe of Virginia and was a schoolmate of the future president, James Madison.1

Innes was admitted to the bar in 1773, and practiced law in Bedford County, Virginia. In 1776-1777, he was employed by the Virginia Committee of Safety to superintend the working of the Chiswell lead mines on the New River, in what was then Fincastle (now Wythe) County and to procure the necessary army supplies for the Continental Army. In 1778, he was appointed deputy attorney for Bedford County by Governor Patrick Henry.2 In 1779, the Virginia legislature appointed Innes as commissioner to settle claims to the unpatented lands around Abingdon. In that same year, he was appointed escheator for Bedford County by Governor Thomas Jefferson. Since he was so successful in collecting taxes, he was appointed, on March 27, 1782, to be the superintendent over the commissioners of six counties.

In the fall of 1782, Innes was elected by the Virginian Legislature as an assistant judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature for the Kentucky District of Virginia. On November 3, 1782, Innes entered upon the duties of his commission at Crow's Station (near present day Danville) in conjunction with the Hon. Caleb Wallace and Samuel McDowell, but he did not move to Kentucky until 1783.3

Since Innes's court duties did not fill his days, he did as other Kentuckians did: he practiced law, farmed, speculated in land and raised a family. 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.5 Innes resigned as presiding judge in the fall of 1784 after being elected attorney-general for the western district of Virginia by the state legislature.

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. There was no executive authority in Kentucky nor any authority to call out the militia to protect the citizens from Indian attacks.6 Innes joined the movement for immediate and unconditional separation from Virginia. It took eight years and ten conventions before the parties (United States, Virginia, and Kentucky) could agree upon terms of separation. A constitution was finally written and approved before Kentucky attained statehood. 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.7

Even though Innes and Patrick Henry disagreed over Kentucky independence, they both were opposed to the ratification of the constitution. Considered Antifederalists and later 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. Opposed to their politics was the Marshall family,8 headed by Colonel Thomas Marshall and included the future chief justice, John Marshall. The Marshall family became the nucleus of the Federalist party in Kentucky and provided the core for other groups who opposed Jeffersonian politics.9

Innes served as attorney-general until September 26, 1789, when President George Washington appointed him as the first judge of the United States Court for the District of Kentucky, which at that time was still part of Virginia.10 Evidently, Innes found no inconsistency between his antifederalism and his appointment as a federal judge because he promptly took office. He conscientiously interpreted the Constitution, and continued to practice law as well as participating in political activities.11

Judge Innes was kept well informed about national and international events from his correspondence with Jefferson and Brown but his involvement in politics was limited the local concerns of Kentuckians. He was first a Kentuckian and secondly, an American. Even though he and Jefferson shared a "common interest in grape culture, moldboard plows, merino sheep, shepherd dogs, and Indian artifacts,"12 Innes had little of Jefferson's optimism or faith in the virtue and wisdom of the people. Grand jury addresses provided Innes an opportunity to express his philosophy and he sometimes sounded like a "seventeenth-century Puritan magistrate in his concern with private behavior."13

Innes's attitudes did not diminish his reputation or responsibilities. In April, 1790, he was authorized by the Secretary of War, to organize the defense of the frontier. He had discretionary power to employ and equip scouts--who were more expensive and more effective than the militia--and shared the responsibility for planning strategy; and, the following year, he was selected as a member of the local board of war for the western country.14

After the first constitutional convention was completed and the new state government went into operation, Judge Innes was selected as chief judge of the state court of appeals, but he declined the appointment, preferring the federal judgeship. He was the only federal judge in Kentucky for almost twelve years when the Judiciary Act of 180115 abolished the Kentucky District Court and he was reassigned as a district judge in the new Sixth Circuit Court, comprised of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Joining him on the new court were William McClung, the newly appointed circuit judge and Judge John McNairy, the district judge of Tennessee, whose district court was also abolished.16 On March 8, 1802, the Judiciary Act of 1801 was repealed; thereby restoring the judicial organization of the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky in effect before 1801. Judge Innes held his judgeship for 27 years until his death on September 20, 1816.

Innes was married twice. His first wife was Elizabeth Calloway, daughter of Colonel James Calloway, of Bedford County, Virginia. She died in 1791. They had four daughters: Sarah (Mrs. Francis Thornton), Katherine (Mrs. Samuel G. Adams), Elizabeth (Mrs. Thomas C. Alexander), and Ann (Mrs. John Morris). He later married Mrs. Ann Shield, widow of Dr. Hugh Shield, and they had one child, Maria, who married John H. Todd and after his death, John J. Crittenden. They also raised a daughter from Ann's first marriage.17