Place:Elizabeth City, Virginia, United States

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NameElizabeth City
Alt namesElizabeth City County
Elizabeth Citysource: WeRelate Agent
TypeFormer county
Located inVirginia, United States     (1634 - 1952)
Contained Places
Independent city
Hampton ( - 1908 )
Neighborhood
Wythe
Parish
Charles Parish


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

Elizabeth City County was a county in southeastern Virginia from 1634 until 1952 when it was merged into the city of Hampton. Originally created in 1634 as Elizabeth River Shire, it was one of eight shires created in the Virginia Colony by order of the King Charles I. In 1636, it was subdivided, and the portion north of the harbor of Hampton Roads became known as Elizabeth City Shire. It was renamed Elizabeth City County a short time later.

Elizabeth City was originally named Kikotan (also spelled Kecoughtan and Kikowtan), presumably a word for the Native Americans living there when the English arrived in 1607. They were friendly to the English, but Sir Thomas Gates either worried about safety (including potential attack by the Spaniards and the Dutch) or coveted their corn fields after the "starving time" of the 1609–10 winter. The English seized their land while the men were out hunting, and for some reason, the natives never attacked the settlement in response.

The shire and county were named for Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of King James I, sister of Princes Henry and Charles.

The town of Hampton, established in 1680, became the largest city in Elizabeth City County, and was the county seat.[1] Hampton became an independent city in 1908, though it remained the seat of Elizabeth City County and continued to share many services with the county. In 1952, Elizabeth City County and the only incorporated town in the county, Phoebus, merged with and into Hampton. This merger was the first in a series of municipal consolidations in Hampton Roads that resulted in most of the area being split into independent cities. With few exceptions, modern-day Hampton encompasses nearly all of what was Elizabeth City County.

The main exceptions are portions of Elizabeth City County that are now part of Newport News. At the time of the Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, part of the western portion of the county became part of Warwick County. This enabled the entire southern end of the extension to be in Warwick County. The City of Newport News was formed out of this portion of Warwick County, and on January 1927 the Elizabeth City County town of Kecoughtan also left the county, being annexed by the City of Newport News.

Since English settlers occupied the former Indian village of Kecoughtan in 1610,[1] and the town at Jamestown was abandoned in 1699, the city of Hampton now claims to be the oldest continuously-settled English-speaking city in North America.

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990

Elizabeth City County is a former county.


Timeline

Date Event Source
1634 County formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1684 Land records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1684 Probate records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1689 Court records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1790 First census Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1865 Marriage records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
Census Year Population
1790 3,450
1800 2,778
1810 3,608
1820 3,789
1830 5,053
1840 3,706
1850 4,586
1860 5,798
1870 8,303
1880 10,689
1890 16,168
1900 19,460
1910 15,720
1920 19,111
1930 19,835
1940 32,283
1950 55,028

Note: Hampton city, formed from Elizabeth City County (1908). The remainder of the county was annexed to the city in 1952; the city/county combination is listed under Hampton.. Newport News city, formed from Warwick County, with some annexations from Elizabeth City County (now Hampton city). The remainder of Warwick County became Warwick city in 1952 and then was annexed to Newport News city in 1958; the city/county combination is listed under Newport News.

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Elizabeth City 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.