William Ingles

William Ingles was born in Dublin, Ireland (some sources say London, England) in 1729, to Thomas Inglis.Reuben Gold Thwaites, Louise Phelps Kellogg, eds. [https://books.google.com/books?id=RnVLAAAAMAAJ Documentary History of Dunmore's War, 1774: Compiled from the Draper Manuscripts in the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society and Published at the Charge of the Wisconsin Society of the Sons of the American Revolution]. Wisconsin Historical Society, 1905.{{rp|101}} Historian John P. Hale, a descendant, reports that William had two brothers, Matthew and John. John was killed by Indians at Fort Vause in 1756. One source says that Matthew eventually became a sailor, never married and died at sea,Chalkley, L., Lockwood, M. S., Chalkley, L., [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101076208097&view=1up&seq=7&skin=2021 Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia: extracted from the original court records of Augusta County, 1745-1800]. Vol. 2. Rosslyn, VA: The Commonwealth Printing Co.{{rp|87}} while Matthew's nephew John Ingles wrote that, after escaping from Indian captivity, he died at Ingles Ferry.{{cite book |url=http://bcplfusion.bcpl.org/Repository/MI_MS_trans.pdf |author=Ingles, John |title=The Narrative of Col. John Ingles Relating to Mary Ingles and the Escape from Big Bone Lick |date=1824 |access-date=2023-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313022726/http://bcplfusion.bcpl.org/Repository/MI_MS_trans.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-13 |url-status=dead }}

William's father Thomas was a wealthy merchant who owned a large, importing wholesale business and traded abroad with his own ships.{{rp|11}} He was born and raised in London and lived in Dublin between 1730 and 1740.[https://books.google.com/books?id=KGwBOiLj5HwC Connelley, William Elsey., Coulter, Ellis Merton. History of Kentucky], American Historical Society, 1922. Records show that Thomas and his sons were apparently imprisoned after a political dispute, but by the fall of 1744 all of them had crossed the Atlantic and journeyed to Augusta County, Virginia. Thomas's brothers John and William came with him to Virginia.[http://www.vahistoryexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/About-the-Ingles-Family.pdf "About the Ingles Family"], Virginia History Exchange

In November, 1746, "Thomas English" and "William English" are listed as members of a road construction crew in Augusta County, on the road "from the Ridge above Tobias Bright’s that parts the waters of New River from the branches of Roan Oak to the lower ford of Catabo Creek."{{rp|131}}Nathaniel Mason Pawlett, Ann Brush Miller, Kenneth Madison Clark, and Thomas Llewellyn Samuel, [https://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/99-r17.pdf Augusta County Road Orders, 1745-1769, Virginia Transportation Research Council, Virginia Department of Transportation and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, June 1998]{{rp|6}} In 1749, William Ingles went to Burke's Garden to build a house with his uncle, John Ingles.{{rp|87}} On 16 March 1750, Ingles' home was visited by Dr. Thomas Walker at the very start of Walker's trip west into what is now Kentucky. Walker wrote in his journal: "16th March 1750. We kept up...to William Englishes (Ingles). He lives on a small Branch and was not much hurt by the Fresh (spring floods)."[http://jeffersonswest.unl.edu/archive/view_doc.php?id=jef.00073 "Doctor Thomas Walker's Journal 1750," in Lewis Preston, Annals of Southwest Virginia 1769-1800, vol. 1, Abingdon, Virginia, 1929: 8-26.] In March, 1753, Thomas Ingles and his son William were listed in the Augusta County court records as workers on a road construction crew.[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn4xqt&view=1up&seq=445&skin=2021&q1= Chalkley, L., Lockwood, M. S., Chalkley, L. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia: extracted from the original court records of Augusta County, 1745-1800]. Vol. 1. Rosslyn, VA: The Commonwealth Printing Co.{{rp|441}}

William Ingles was among the founders of Draper's Meadow (present day Blacksburg, Virginia) in 1748. The Ingles and the Draper families established the settlement with Colonel James Patton.Ryan S. Mays, [https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/88235/SR_v19_mays.pdf?sequence "The Draper's Meadows Settlement (1746-1756)"], Part II, The Smithfield Review, Volume 19, 2015.{{rp|13}} William built and operated Ingles Mill, one of the first mills in western Virginia, at Draper's Meadow in 1750, when he was only 21 years old.[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/MY-057_Montgomery_Co_Recon_Survey_1986_CRMI_report_Vol_I.pdf "Montgomery County Reconnaissance Level Survey"], Vol. 1, July 1986, Historic Sites Survey: Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks.{{rp|44}} He married Mary Draper in 1750,{{rp|16}} and their two sons Thomas and George were born in 1751 and 1753. In February, 1754, William purchased 255 acres from James Patton.{{rp|13}}Ryan S. Mays, [https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/88222/SR_v18_mays.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y "The Draper's Meadows Settlement (1746-1756)"], Part I, The Smithfield Review, Volume 18, 2014.{{rp|25}}

On 30 July (or 8 July, according to John P. Hale and Letitia Preston FloydFloyd, Letitia Preston, [https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/89475/SR_v20_glanville_2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y "Memoirs of Letitia Preston Floyd, written Feb. 22, 1843 to her son Benjamin Rush Floyd"], transcribed from the original by Jim Glanville and Ryan Mays; in Smithfield Review, vol. 20, 2016.{{rp|79–109}}{{#tag:ref|Evidence supports the July 30 date, as documents confirm that Colonel James Patton, who was killed in the massacre, was in Williamsburg on July 8.Richard Osborn, [http://152.13.18.25/index.php/jbc/article/view/33 "William Preston and the American Revolution"], Journal of Backcountry Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, July 2010.{{rp|89}} An article in the Virginia Gazette published on 8 August 1755, announced Colonel James Patton's death at Draper's Meadow on "the last day of July."Ryan S. Mays, [https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/88235/SR_v19_mays.pdf?sequence "The Draper's Meadows Settlement (1746-1756)"], Part II, The Smithfield Review, Volume 19, 2015.{{rp|19}} Preston's Register gives the date unequivocally as 30 July.[https://books.google.com/books?id=38ojK5-vXMYC "A Register of the Persons Who Have Been Either Killed, Wounded, or Taken Prisoners by the Enemy, in Augusta County, as also such as Have Made Their Escape"], in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. II, June 1895, published by the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia.{{rp|154–55}}|group="Note"}}) 1755, Shawnee warriors attacked Drapers Meadow, killing Eleanor Draper and her granddaughter, as well as Colonel James Patton and another neighbor, Caspar Barger. Shawnee warriors captured Mary as well as her two sons, Betty Draper, and a neighbor, Henry Leonard. William Ingles and John Draper were harvesting wheat in the fields until they saw the smoke from the burning cabins, but they arrived too late to help.[https://books.google.com/books?id=0kZ5AAAAMAAJ Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography]. A.H. Clark Company, 1988.{{rp|249–250}} William was pursued by Indians, but tripped and fell in the forest, and the Shawnee warriors ran past him without seeing him.

William and John Ingles traveled to Williamsburg to try and persuade the government to launch an attack on Shawnee villages in southern Ohio, where they believed that Mary Draper Ingles was being held prisoner. They returned unsuccessful in late November, when they learned that Mary had escaped and had walked 500 to 600 miles, crossing numerous rivers, creeks, and the Appalachian Mountains to return home. William Ingles then went back to Williamsburg to try to convince Governor Robert Dinwiddie to order an attack on the Shawnee.Johnston, David Emmons. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HT4VAAAAYAAJ A History of Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory], Huntington, WV: Standard Ptg. & Publishing Company, 1906.{{rp|21}} Dinwiddie and Colonel George Washington, then commander of the Virginia Regiment, used information provided by Mary Ingles to plan an attack on Lower Shawneetown, a community where Mary Ingles was held captive for about two weeks. It was hoped that this would intimidate the Shawnee and prevent further attacks on English settlements.[https://books.google.com/books?id=KiQSAAAAYAAJ Pendleton, William Cecil. History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia: 1748-1920], W. C. Hill Printing Company, 1920; pp 443-447.{{rp|86–88}}

In February, 1756, William Ingles joined a force of 220 militia and 130 Cherokee warriors as a lieutenant on the Sandy Creek Expedition to attack Lower Shawneetown in Ohio.{{rp|101}}{{rp|69}} On 13 March they were forced to turn back due to bad weather and lack of food. The expedition was a total failure, but it provided valuable experience for William and launched his military career.

William and Mary left their homestead in Draper's Meadow and moved to Fort Vause in June 1756, but Mary persuaded her husband to move again, this time to Robert Ewing's Fort near the Peaks of Otter, close to present day Montvale, Virginia.[https://www.northamericanforts.com/East/vasowest.html Pete Payette, "Robert Ewing's Fort," in North American Forts, Southwestern Virginia, American Forts Network, 2009][https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=42851 Bernard Fisher, "Colonial Fort Marker," Historical Marker Database, May 30, 2011] On 25 June, the same day that William and Mary left Fort Vause, 25 French soldiers and 205 Miami, Ottawa and Shawnee warriors under the command of François-Marie Picoté de Belestre attacked the fort.{{rp|511}} William's brother John Ingles is credited with shooting a scout from a tree, and then sounding the alarm that the fort was about to be attacked. He was killed and his wife Mary and their children were taken prisoner.[https://books.google.com/books?id=8QQ1AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA401 Joseph A. Waddell, "Indian Wars in Augusta County," in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 2, Philip Alexander Bruce, William Glover Stanard, editors. Virginia Historical Society, 1894]{{rp|401}} William's brother Matthew Ingles fought hand-to-hand until his rifle broke, then with a frying pan handle, killing two of his attackers. He was taken prisoner by the Shawnee, but years later was released or escaped. He died at Ingles Ferry, "a few months after his return."{{rp|115}}{{rp|443–447}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=wSpGQcJPLp4C&dq=vass+fort&pg=PA93 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, reprinted 2002.]{{rp|93–94}}

William and Mary lived briefly in Bedford County, Virginia, before moving to a site on the New River where in 1756, William purchased 900 acres of land that had been part of the German Schwarzenau Brethren community known as Dunkard's Bottom, Virginia.[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=41457 Bernard Fisher, "Dunkard's Bottom" Historical Marker near Dublin, Virginia, in Pulaski County. Historical Marker database, April 5 2011] He and Mary established a farm and assisted in the construction of a small fort there, probably no more than a blockhouse, which was later named Fort Frederick.[https://danielboonetrail.com/history-perspectives/fort-frederick/ Lawrence J. Fleenor, Jr. "Ford, Fort and Bridge at the Wilderness Trail Crossing of the New River: Fort Frederick / Dunkard's Bottom." Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association, November 13, 2014] They had four more children: Mary, Susanna (b. 1759), Rhoda (b. 1762), and John (1766-1836).{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eFSK4o--M0C&q=%22mary+draper+ingles%22&pg=PA452 |title=Mary Draper Ingles|work=The Kentucky Encyclopedia|isbn=0813128838|last1=Kleber|first1=John E.|year=1992 }} In 1773 they sold their Draper's Meadow property to William Preston.{{rp|51, 70}}

William made several trips to Ohio to negotiate for the release of his sons George and Thomas, still in captivity among the Shawnee.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150621131847/http://www.nps.gov/blue/learn/historyculture/thomas-ingles.htm "Thomas Ingles," Bluestone National Park Service, US National Park Service, February 8, 2021] George's whereabouts were never determined, and he is believed to have died in captivity.Ian K. Steele, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sbDoAQAAQBAJ Setting All the Captives Free: Capture, Adjustment, and Recollection in Allegheny Country], Vol. 71 of McGill-Queen's Native and Northern Series; McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2013. {{ISBN|0773589899}}{{rp|360–1}} One source reports that William met a man named Baker who had been held captive by the Shawnee at Lower Shawneetown, and had known Thomas and his adoptive father.{{rp|86–88}} William hired Baker to find Thomas (now living on the upper Scioto River) and bring him back to Ingles Ferry. Baker was able to pay a ransom of $150 and bring Thomas back to Bedford County, but Thomas ran away and returned to his Shawnee family. In 1768, William Ingles and Baker traveled together to Lower Shawneetown and persuaded Thomas, now 17, to return with them to Virginia. After thirteen years among the Shawnee, Thomas had become fully acculturated and spoke only Shawnee, so William sent him for several years of "rehabilitation" and education under Dr. Thomas Walker at Castle Hill, Virginia.

Thomas Ingles later served as a lieutenant under Colonel William Christian in Lord Dunmore's War (1773-1774) against the Shawnee.Woods, Edgar. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XzMTAAAAYAAJ Albemarle County in Virginia: Giving Some Account of what it was by Nature, of what it was Made by Man, and of Some of the Men who Made it]. Michie Company, printers, 1901.{{rp|51–52}} He married Eleanore Grills in 1775 and settled in Burke's Garden, Virginia. In 1782, his wife and three children were kidnapped by Indians. Thomas came to rescue them and in the ensuing altercation, the two older children were killed. Eleanore was tomahawked but survived.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyaugustac00peytgoog |author=Peyton, John Lewis |title=History of Augusta County, Virginia|publisher= Samuel M. Yost & Son|date=1882|pages= [https://archive.org/details/historyaugustac00peytgoog/page/n226 212]–14}} Thomas rescued her and their youngest daughter.{{cite book|url=http://bcplfusion.bcpl.org/Repository/ThomasIngles.pdf |title=Data for a Memoir of Thomas Ingles of Augusta Kentucky|date= 1854|author=Inglis, Thomas Jr.}} Manuscript held at the Boone County Public Library.{{rp|446}}File:Ingles Ferry Tavern 01.jpg

As early as 1760, William Ingles was making money ferrying troops across the New River during the Anglo-Cherokee War.Jim Page and Sherry Joines Wyatt, [https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/89453/SR_v21_page.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y "The Nigh and Best Way": The Early Development of Roads in Montgomery County"], The Smithfield Review, Volume 21, 2017.{{rp|74}} In 1762 he established Ingles Ferry,[http://www.ingelshistory.com/ingels-ingles--english.html Ingels History] and, realizing the value of the ferry, purchased the land from Dr. Thomas Walker.{{rp|109}} During the first few years of its existence, Indians frequently attacked the farm and ferry,[https://books.google.com/books?id=P14ttFn7D9oC&dq=ingles+ferry+virginia&pg=PA84 History of the Great Kanawha Valley (West Virginia): With Family History and Biographical Sketches: a Statement of Its Natural Resources, Industrial Growth and Commercial Advantages. Westminster, Md: Heritage Books, 2007]{{rp|84–93}}{{rp|7–8}} and Ingles constructed a small stockaded blockhouse, which he named Fort Hope, to protect his family and neighbors.[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/126-0004_Nomination_REDACTED.pdf Junius R. Fishburne, "Nomination form, Ingles Bottom Archaeological Sites," Virginia Department of Historic Resources, June 15, 1976]{{rp|3}} In 1766 he applied for a license to operate an ordinary (tavern) there.[https://books.google.com/books?id=3zYSAAAAYAAJ Smith, Conway Howard. Colonial Days in the Land that Became Pulaski County. Pulaski County Library Board, 1975.]{{rp|99–101}} Construction of the Ingles Ferry Hill Tavern and blacksmith shop on the Pulaski County side of the river was completed in 1772.[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/077-0013/ Ingles Ferry], Virginia Department of Historic Resources, June 2, 2022. Ingles was in charge of improving and maintaining the road leading to and from Ingles Ferry,[http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/07-r32.pdf Ann Brush Miller, Betty E. Spillman and Shirley P. Thomas, "Historic Roads of Virginia: FincastleCounty Road Orders, 1773-1776"], New River Historical Society, 2007. known at the time as Ingles Ferry Road or English Ferry Road.{{rp|36}} It later became a main thoroughfare and was part of as the Great Wagon Road and the Wilderness Road. By 1780, William Ingles owned 907 acres, 67 cattle,Richard Osborn, [http://libjournal.uncg.edu/jbc/article/view/27 "William Preston and the Revolutionary Settlement"], Journal of Backcountry Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, July, 2010. and ten slaves, who ran his ferry, worked in his mills or in domestic capacities.{{rp|69}} The 1782 Montgomery County, Virginia Personal Property Tax List shows that he was assessed for taxes on 10 slaves, 51 horses and 67 cattle.[https://www.newrivernotes.com/montgomery-county-personal-property-tax-list-1782/ 1782 Montgomery County, Virginia Personal Property Tax List]

File:Mary Draper Ingles cabin New River Gorge Virginia.jpg, where William Ingles and his wife Mary lived out their lives. Photo c.1890]]On 8 May 1779, Lord Henry Hamilton, a British prisoner of war, was being escorted under guard to Williamsburg and spent the night at the home of William and Mary Ingles. In his journal, Hamilton described the Ingles' home:

:8th. In the Evening crossed over in a ferry the new river or great Canhawa, and were kindly and hospitably received at the house of Colonel Ingles-- here we rested for an entire day...The Scenery about this house was romantic to a degree, the river very beautyfull, the hills well wooded, the low grounds well improved & well stocked, I thought...Mrs. Ingles had in her early years been carryed off with another young Woman by the Savages...however terror and distress had left so deep an impression on her mind that she appear'd absorbed in a deep melancholy, and left the management of household concerns, & the reception of Strangers to her lovely daughter.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080621150230/http://www.in.gov/history/4727.htm "Henry Hamilton's Journal: A Prisoner of War, March 8 to June 16, 1779"], Indiana Historical Bureau website.

Following William Ingles' death in 1782, his son Thomas Ingles took over the operation of Ingles Ferry.{{rp|75}}Kegley, Frederick Bittle., Kegley, Mary B. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eu4RAQAAIAAJ Early Adventurers on the Western Waters: The New River of Virginia in pioneer days, 1745-1800]. Green Publishers, 1980.{{rp|51}}

William Ingles was appointed constable in 1750{{rp|436}} and judge for Augusta County in 1769.{{rp|158}} He was a county sheriff in 1773,{{rp|361}} and served as a judge for Fincastle County, Virginia, in 1777. He presided over the first Fincastle County court, held at the Lead Mines (now Austinville, Virginia) on 6 January, 1778.{{rp|225}}

File:Thrilling adventures among the Indians- comprising the most remarkable personal narratives of events in the early Indian Wars, as well as of incidents in the recent Indian hostilities in Mexico and (14763496504).jpg In 1760, Ingles was at Ingles Ferry when he was informed that a party of eight or ten Indians who had raided settlements in Bedford and Halifax were camped six miles away, with several women and children prisoners and horses loaded with stolen goods. Ingles assembled a group of sixteen or eighteen men and attacked the Indians' camp at dawn, killing seven of them, retrieving the goods and rescuing the captives.[https://books.google.com/books?id=rZbEC1kEdpcC Waddell, Joseph Addison. Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871]. Virginia Historical Society, Staunton VA: C. R. Caldwell, 1902.{{rp|163}}

Ingles served in the Virginia Militia and commanded a unit of Virginia Rangers in 1763. On 13 September he reported to his commanding officer, William Preston, about a skirmish between Indians and his militiamen, who "all behaved like good soldiers." Several Indians were killed and the colonists captured thirty horses. Ingles sent Preston a shot pouch taken from one of the Indians as a "small trophee of our Victory." Ingles requested permission to continue serving at Fort Hope, even though powder and shot were in short supply.[https://archive.org/stream/prestonvirginiap00stat/prestonvirginiap00stat_djvu.txt The Preston and Virginia Papers Draper Collection of Manuscripts, Publications of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Calendar Series, Volume I; Madison, WI, 1915]{{rp|56}}Richard Osborn,[http://152.13.18.25/index.php/jbc/article/view/33 R "William Preston and the American Revolution"]. Journal of Backcountry Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, July 2010.{{rp|15}} In October 1763, Ingles was called to pursue a group of fifty (probably Shawnee) warriors who had attacked settlements at Roanoke and Catawba and were heading back to Ohio with three prisoners. Ingles' company of twenty men attacked them and killed several of the warriors before the Indians fled, abandoning their captives.{{rp|34–35}}{{rp|17–18}}

On 10 October 1774, Ingles and his son Thomas participated in the Battle of Point Pleasant,[https://www.sar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Proving-Point-Pleasant-Service.pdf John D. Sinks, "Proving Service at the Battle of Point Pleasant for Sons of the American Revolution"], National Society, Sons of the American Revolution, 28 July 2015. William as a major and commissary{{rp|69}} under Colonel William Fleming,[https://books.google.com/books?id=vrCdCwAAQBAJ Winkler, John F. Point Pleasant 1774: Prelude to the American Revolution. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.]{{rp|22}} Thomas as a lieutenant under Colonel William Christian. On 6 October, William Ingles was setting up camp, and wrote jokingly to Preston that, as they had not seen any of the enemy, "we encamped on the forks of the river and looked on our Selves in Safe Possession of a fine Encampment and thought our Selves a terror to all the Indian Tribes on the Ohio and thus Luld in safety." On the battlefield, Ingles admired the courage of the Indians who "disputed the Ground with the Greatest Obstinancy, often Runing up to the Very Muzels of our Guns." He recalled seeing "many a brave fellow Waltirring in his Gore,"{{rp|257–58}} and reported after the battle that they scalped twenty Indians on the field.{{rp|84–85}} In 1777 he was made colonel of the militia in Montgomery County, Virginia,Simpson-Poffenbarger, Livia Nye. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XORKAAAAYAAJ The Battle of Point Pleasant: A Battle of the Revolution, October 10th 1774: Biographical Sketches of the Men who Participated]. State Gazette, 1909.

On January 20, 1775, William Ingles was one of the 15 signatories of the Fincastle Resolutions, addressed to Virginia's delegation at the First Continental Congress, which expressed support for Congress's resistance to the Intolerable Acts, issued in 1774 by the British Parliament.Hannah Austin, [https://fincastleherald.com/roots-of-declaration-of-independence-in-the-1775-fincastle-resolutions/ "Roots of Declaration of Independence in the 1775 Fincastle Resolutions"], The Fincastle Herald & Botetourt County News, April 3, 2018.[https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/88172 Glanville, Jim. "The Fincastle Resolutions"]. The Smithfield Review, XIV:80 2010, pp 69-119. File:Ingles Ferry Reproduction Cabin.jpg, built on the foundations of his original home]]

For many years Ingles attempted to patent his claim to his lands along the New River, the Holston River in Burke's Garden, Virginia,{{rp|86, 120}} and along the Bluestone River, but he had great difficulty obtaining ownership rights. He did obtain patents for 1000 acres in Abbs Valley in 1774[https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990007751840205756&context=L&vid=01LVA_INST:01LVA&lang=en Land grant 5 July 1774. "1000 acres in Abbs Valley on the waters of Blue Stone Creek." Ingles, William, grantee; Virginia Colonial Land Office], Library of Virginia, Digital Archives & Manuscript Collections. and for 1000 acres on the Elkhorn Creek in 1780.[https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990007751880205756&context=L&vid=01LVA_INST:01LVA&lang=en Land grant 25 June 1780. "1000 acres on the waters of Elkhorn Creek"]. Ingles, William, grantee; Virginia Land Office Registry, Library of Virginia, Digital Archives & Manuscript Collections.

In 1781, Ingles filed a lawsuit claiming that surveys conducted by Patton's son-in-law John Buchanan were illegal, as Buchanan was not licensed by the College of William and Mary, which conducted licensing examinations to certify surveyors. Buchanan's surveys of Ingles' lands would have been rendered null and void if it was revealed that he was unlicensed. Comparisons of Buchanan's and Preston's survey measurements with modern-day measurements show that both Preston and Buchanan underreported the acreage that they surveyed for James Patton, in order to reduce the amount of quitrent Patton owed.Ryan S. Mays, [https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/88235/SR_v19_mays.pdf?sequence "The Draper's Meadows Settlement (1746-1756) Part II"], Smithfield Review, vol 19, 2015.{{rp|18}} It seems likely that Buchanan and Preston used a fraudulent Gunter's chain that was forty percent longer than the legally standardized chain, in order to complete their surveys.W. Dale Carter, [https://www.historicsullivan.com/archives_manuscripts_0062_box002_item007.htm "Wolf Hill Patent: Was Thomas Walker a Crook?"], Sullivan County Department of Archives and Tourism, 2004. The same year, Ingles submitted a petition to the state legislature complaining about the surveying and land speculation practices of his former friend and military comrade William Preston.George A. Rawlyk, Robert McCluer Calhoon, Timothy M. Barnes, eds, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NkB3AAAAMAAJ Loyalists and Community in North America], Greenwood Press, 1994.{{rp|48}} The lawsuit was as yet unsettled by the date of Ingles' death in 1782.

Other patents were approved in the months following Ingles' death.[https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990007751890205756&context=L&vid=01LVA_INST:01LVA&lang=en Land grant 10 November 1782. "400 acres on the east side of Woods River below the mouth of Middle River"], Ingles, William, grantee; Virginia Land Office Registry, Library of Virginia, Digital Archives & Manuscript Collections. His son-in-law, Abram Trigg,{{rp|147}} supported Ingles' claims and fought a lengthy legal battle on his behalf.[https://books.google.com/books?id=1oIwEAAAQBAJ Tillson, Albert H. Gentry and Common Folk: Political Culture on a Virginia Frontier 1740–1789], Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2021 (1991).

File:A new map of Virginia with Maryland, Delaware & v. LOC 2008621667.jpgIn August and September, 1780, 55 men were brought to trial over their alleged Loyalist activities. William Ingles was accused of being one of the leaders of a Tory plot.Albert H. Tillson, Jr., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2208995 "The Localist Roots of Backcountry Loyalism: An Examination of Popular Political Culture in Virginia's New River Valley"]. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 54, No. 3, August 1988, pp. 387–404.{{rp|69}} A committee headed by Ingles' friend William Preston found most of the accused men guilty. Some were imprisoned in the Augusta County Jail or had their property confiscated, and a few were whipped.David George Malgee, [https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2309&context=masters-theses "A Frontier Biography: William Campbell of King's Mountain"], Master's thesis, History Department, University of Richmond, August, 1983.{{rp|109–110}} Preston ordered many of them to pay fines of £100 or join the Continental Army.Richard Osborne, [https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/88150/SR_v12_osborn.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y "William Preston - Revolutionary (1779-1780)"], The Smithfield Review, XII:2008, pp 5–33. William Ingles was charged with treason and ordered to put up a bond of £100,000,{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NN87AAAAIAAJ&q=Ingles |title=Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin |date=1917 |publisher=HardPress |isbn=978-0-461-55231-7 |language=en}}{{rp|257–58}} a massive sum of money for that time. It is unknown if Ingles actually put up a bond or not, but he was not convicted. Soon after this, he resigned from the military, citing "physical infirmity".Wilson, Howard McKnight. [https://books.google.com/books?id=019CAAAAIAAJ Great Valley Patriots: Western Virginia in the Struggle for Liberty]. Augusta County Historical Society, Staunton, Virginia. McClure Press, 1976.{{rp|129–133}}

William Ingles died in 1782 (after the date of his will, 5 September) at age 53. Records indicate that he bequeathed some of his land to his youngest daughter, Rhoda,{{rp|120}} some to his daughter Susanna and her husband, Abram Trigg, and some to Abram's brother Daniel Trigg. Another portion went to Colonel William Christian, executor of Ingles' estate.{{rp|144}} A copy of his will found at the Virginia Probate Archives dictates: "Son Thomas a tract of land 1000 [acres] on the Blue Stone, known by the name of Absolem's Valley, and a slave.""William Inglis", Montgomery County, Virginia, November 1782; Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1900 Ingles willed the Ingles Ferry, including land on both sides of the New River, to his son John Ingles.{{rp|3}}

William Ingles is buried in the Westview Cemetery, Radford, Virginia.

Ingles Ferry was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and the Ingles Bottom Archeological Sites in 1978.{{NRISref|version=2010a}} The original Ingles Ferry Tavern and a reconstruction of the Ingles home where William ingles died, with a stable and a family cemetery, can be seen at the Ingles Ferry historic Site in Pulaski County, Virginia.[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/077-0013/ Ingles Ferry Historic Landmark], Virginia Department of Historic Resources.Jason McGarvey, [https://www.vof.org/2009/08/29/historic-ingles-ferry-farm-permanently-protected/ "Historic Ingles Ferry Farm Permanently Protected"]. The Virginia Outdoors Foundation. August 29, 2009.

{{Portal|Biography}}

• Ingles Ferry
• Mary Draper Ingles
• Thomas Ingles
• Draper's Meadow massacre
• Battle of Point Pleasant
• Sandy Creek Expedition
• William Preston (Virginia soldier)

{{Reflist|group="Note"}}

• [https://texags.com/forums/49/topics/2917694 Images of William Ingles' last will and testament], dated 5 September 1782, and signed by his son Thomas Ingles, his son-in-law Abram Trigg, and his son-in-law Bird Bowker Smith.
• [https://www.visitradford.com/170/Ingles-Farm Ingles Farm] in Radford, Virginia

{{Reflist}}

Category:1729 births

Category:1782 deaths

Category:Irish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies

Category:American slave owners

Category:People from Blacksburg, Virginia

Category:Colonial people of the French and Indian War

Category:People from colonial Virginia

Category:American colonels

Category:Signers of the Fincastle Resolutions

Category:Military personnel from Dublin (city)

Category:American judges

Category:Constables

Category:Virginia sheriffs