Place:Accomack, Virginia, United States

NameAccomack
Alt namesAccomacksource: Getty Vocabulary Program
TypeCounty
Coordinates37.75°N 75.667°W
Located inVirginia, United States     (1663 - present)
See alsoNorthampton, Virginia, United Statespre-1663 parent county

Contents

General description

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Accomack County is a United States county located in the eastern edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Together, Accomack and Northampton counties make up the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which in turn is part of the Delmarva Peninsula, bordered by the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The Accomack county seat is the town of Accomac.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia was known as "Accomac Shire," until it was renamed Northampton County in 1642. The present Accomack County was created from Northampton County in 1663. The county and the original shire were named for the Accawmack Indians, who resided in the area when the English first explored it in 1603.

As of the 2020 census, the total population was 33,413 people. The population of Accomack has remained relatively stable over the last century, though Accomack is one of the poorest parts of Virginia.[1]

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The county was named for its original residents, the Accomac people, an Eastern Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe.

Members of an English voyage of exploration landed in the area in 1603, four years before the founding of the Jamestown Colony. Captain John Smith visited the region in 1608. The Accomac people at the time numbered around 6,000 and was led by Debedeavon, a paramount chief, whom the English colonists called the "Laughing King." He became a staunch ally of the colonists, granting them several large areas for their own use.

Accomac Shire was established in 1634 as one of the eight original shires of Virginia. The name comes from the native word Accawmacke, which meant "on the other side". In 1642 the name was changed to Northampton by the colonists. Northampton was divided into two counties in 1663. The northern adopted the original name, while the south remained Northampton.

In 1670, the Virginia Colony's Royal Governor William Berkeley abolished Accomac County, but the Virginia General Assembly re-created it in 1671.

In 1940, the General Assembly officially added a "k" to the end of the county's name to arrive at its current spelling. The name of "Accomack County" first appeared in the Decisions of the United States Board on Geographical Names in 1943.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Accomack County, Virginia. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Timeline

Date Event Source
1634 Accomac Shire formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1642 name changed to Northampton Source:Wikipedia
1663 ACCOMACK county created from NORTHAMPTON Source:Wikipedia, Source:Virginia Atlas of Historical County Boundaries
1790 First census Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1790 No significant boundary changes after this year Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
03 Mar 1879 ACCOMACK gained a small portion of the southern end of Smith's Island from SOMERSET (Md.) when the United States approved the Maryland-Virginia boundary down the south side of the Potomac River and across Chesapeake Bay, as settled in 1877 by arbitration Source:Virginia Atlas of Historical County Boundaries

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
Census Year Population
1790 13,959
1800 15,693
1810 15,743
1820 15,966
1830 16,656
1840 17,096
1850 17,890
1860 18,586
1870 20,409
1880 24,408
1890 27,277
1900 32,570
1910 36,650
1920 34,795
1930 35,854
1940 33,030
1950 33,832
1960 30,635
1970 29,004
1980 31,268
1990 31,703

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Accomack County, Virginia, United States

Research Tips

Resources

Accomack County VAGenWeb
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog