Elizabeth City County, Virginia

Last updated December 22, 2023

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 ^[1] 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 1609–1610 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.^[2]

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 in January 1927 the Elizabeth City County town of Kecoughtan was also annexed into 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.

Historical population

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1790	3,450	—
1800	2,778	−19.5%
1810	3,608	29.9%
1820	3,789	5.0%
1830	5,053	33.4%
1840	3,706	−26.7%
1850	4,588	23.8%
1860	5,798	26.4%
1870	8,303	43.2%
1880	10,689	28.7%
1890	16,168	51.3%
1900	19,460	20.4%
1910	15,720	−19.2%
1920	19,111	21.6%
1930	19,835	3.8%
1940	32,283	62.8%
1950	55,028	70.5%
1790-1950 Population as Elizabeth City County

Notable people

Mary Cary Ambler (1732–1781), early American diarist, daughter of Colonel Wilson Cary, owner of the Ceelys on the James plantation in Elizabeth City County, Virginia

Politics

United States presidential election results for Elizabeth City County, Virginia^[3]^[4]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
1948	1,617	33.77%	2,744	57.31%	427	8.92%
1944	1,128	30.45%	2,563	69.20%	13	0.35%
1940	652	21.73%	2,337	77.90%	11	0.37%
1936	597	23.50%	1,925	75.79%	18	0.71%
1932	700	35.73%	1,226	62.58%	33	1.68%
1928	1,122	58.16%	807	41.84%	0	0.00%
1924	312	28.26%	698	63.22%	94	8.51%
1920	439	38.24%	675	58.80%	34	2.96%
1916	132	23.57%	411	73.39%	17	3.04%
1912	43	9.37%	347	75.60%	69	15.03%
1908	251	26.73%	673	71.67%	15	1.60%
1904	211	25.79%	600	73.35%	7	0.86%
1900	697	40.10%	1,027	59.09%	14	0.81%
1896	919	60.07%	572	37.39%	39	2.55%
1892	1,309	57.51%	891	39.15%	76	3.34%
1888	1,316	70.00%	547	29.10%	17	0.90%
1884	1,481	73.83%	525	26.17%	0	0.00%
1880	1,182	71.20%	478	28.80%	0	0.00%

Major communities in Elizabeth City County

Buckroe Beach
Fox Hill
Kecoughtan
Langley Field
Plum Tree Point
Phoebus
Hampton (before it became an independent city)
Wythe
Aberdeen Gardens
Pine Chapel Village

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References

1 2 3 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hampton" . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 906.
↑ "Elizabeth City County". Virginia Places. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
↑ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2018-08-19.
↑ Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote 1896-1932, pp. 354-361, 396-397 ISBN 9780804716963

External links

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[EB1911-1] 1 2 3 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hampton" . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 906.

[2] "Elizabeth City County". Virginia Places. Retrieved 5 April 2022.

[3] Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2018-08-19.

[4] Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote 1896-1932, pp. 354-361, 396-397 ISBN 9780804716963

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