Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Portsmouth (Va.) Wards, Streets, and Places of Norfolk and Portsmouth, 1919-1925. Local government records collection, Portsmouth (City) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from the city of Portsmouth under the accession number 43522.

Historical Information

Portsmouth was established in 1752 in Norfolk County, a county which is now extinct. Incorporated as a town in 1836, it was incorporated as a city in 1858. The city of Norfolk was established in 1680 and in 1845 was incorporated as an independent city.

Scope and Content

Portsmouth (Va.) Wards, Streets and Places of Norfolk and Portsmouth, 1919-1925, is a volume compiled by Norfolk lawyer and antiquarian Conway Whittle Sams "for the use of the Bars of the two cities." The volume is organized into the following sections: The Wards (pp. 1-33); Some of the Changes in the Names of the Streets: Norfolk (pp. 36-70) and Portsmouth (pp. 70-78); Some Places and Things (pp. 80-100); General Map of Norfolk and Portsmouth (p. 101--missing); and Heirs of Portsmouth Property (p. 100). There is a contents list at the front of the volume.

The Wards section includes a history of each of the wards of Norfolk and Portsmouth including the four old wards of Norfolk; the four old wards of Portsmouth; the Norfolk wards of Brambleton, Atlantic City, Park Place, Berkley, Huntersville, Lamberts' Point, Port Norfolk, Pinner's Point, Prentis Park, and Brighton; and the Portsmouth wards Park View, Scottsville and Prentis Place. Each written history includes citations to deed books, order books, Henings Statutes, and other sources from which the information was gathered. Each ward's section also has a map of the ward cut from some larger map and pasted into the volume following the historical description. Handwritten around the edges of the maps are notations about boundaries and the names of places bordering the ward.

Maps included are titled by the author of the volume. They appear to be cut from a larger map or atlas of Norfolk and Portsmouth. Titles include The Original Four Wards of Norfolk, The Four Original Wards of Portsmouth, Brambleton, Atlantic City Ward, Park View, Park Place, Berkley, Scottsville and Prentis Place, Huntersville, Lamberts' Point, and Port Norfolk, Pinner's Point, etc.

Some of the Changes in the Names of the Streets is divided into Norfolk and Portsmouth sections. Each is an alphabetical listing of street names. Following each entry is information about where that street is located, the name to which it was changed, and the date it was changed. The Norfolk section seems to include changes from the 1800s through 1916 only while the section for Portsmouth includes handwritten updates to the original 1919 list through 1925.

Some Places and Things is an alphabetical listing of various wharves, churches, areas, bridges, banks, theaters and hotels, factories, wards, and other places and things of interest. Following each is a notation about its location, sometimes a blurb of history, and a date it was built or created. Page 80 includes the total water and dry acreage of the wards of the city. Pages 82-86 is a history of the courthouses.

Page 100 is a listing of the Heirs of Portsmouth Property circa the early 1900s. Surnames include Clover, Dunham, Creecy, Shannon, and Glover.

According to the contents list, p. 101 is supposed to be a General Map of Norfolk and Portsmouth. At some point this map was cut from the volume and is no longer present.

Five loose pages were inserted at the back of the volume. They appear to be an earlier draft of the Some Places and Things section regarding the courthouses.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Portsmouth (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Administrative and political divisions -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
• Administrative and political divisions -- Virginia -- Portsmouth.
• Historical geography -- Maps.
• Maps -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
• Maps -- Virginia -- Portsmouth.
• Political geography -- Maps.
• Street names -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
• Street names -- Virginia -- Portsmouth.

Geographical Names:

• Norfolk (Va.) -- History.
• Portsmouth (Va.) -- History.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Historical maps -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
• Historical maps -- Virginia -- Portsmouth.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Portsmouth.
• Local histories -- Virginia -- Norfolk.
• Local histories -- Virginia -- Portsmouth.