Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Commonwealth Causes Ended, 1826-1930. Local government records collection, Elizabeth City County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Hampton.

Historical Information

Elizabeth City County (extinct) was named for Elizabeth, daughter of James I, and was one of the eight shires established in 1634. It became extinct in 1952, when it was incorporated into the city of Hampton, which was the county seat.

Hampton takes its name from Hampton Creek, earlier called Southampton River in honor of the earl of Southampton, an important figure in the Virginia Company of London. An Indian village stood on the site in 1607, when John Smith visited the area. The English established a village there in 1610 and a trading post in 1630. Hampton was established by an act of assembly in 1680 and was designated as a port in 1708. It was first incorporated as a town in 1849, then incorporated again in 1852, but the act of incorporation was repealed in 1860. The General Assembly again incorporated the town of Hampton in 1887, and it became a city by court order in 1908. It was greatly enlarged in 1952 by a merger with Elizabeth City County and the town of Phoebus; the county and town thereby became extinct.

Records were burned or destroyed during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Additional records were burned in Richmond on 3 April 1865, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War. A few pre-Civil War volumes such as deed books, will books, and order books exist.

Scope and Content

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Commonwealth Causes Ended, 1826-1930, are criminal court cases and consist primarily of warrants, summons, indictments, and verdicts handed down by grand juries and other legal authorities in order to prosecute individuals who violated the penal code. These offenses ranged in severity from murder, rape, assault and battery, to fornication, adultery, selling spirits without a license, larceny, and tax evasion. Criminal offenders and victims who appear in cases prior to the abolition of slavery in Virginia in 1865 included both free and enslaved persons.

Warrants were issued by grand juries, judges, and justices of the peace directing law enforcement officials to either arrest and imprison a person suspected of having committed a crime or to cause an individual to appear in court to answer accusations made against them. Peace warrants directing an offender to "keep the peace of the Commonwealth" or to restrain from any violent acts are commonly found in assault and battery cases.

Summonses were used to call a suspected person to appear in court. A summons could also be issued to direct witnesses or victims to come before the court in order to provide evidence or information deemed pertinent to a case.

An indictment is the official, written description of the crime that an accused individual is suspected of committing, which is approved by a grand jury and presented to a court in order to begin legal proceedings. Due to this process, indictments are often referred to as "presentments."

Verdicts are the formal pronouncements made by juries on issues submitted to them by a judge or other law enforcement official. In the case of a guilty verdict, a judge will sentence the offender. Sentences may include a fine, corporal punishment, and/or imprisonment. Coroners also submitted verdicts such as "death by suicide," "death by natural causes," etc. when determining the cause of a suspicious or sudden death.

Arrangement

Chronological

Related Material

Additional court records for Hampton and Elizabeth City County can be found on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. Consult A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm .

See the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available at Virginia Memory.

For more information and a listing of lost records localities see Lost Records research note .

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Hampton (Va.) Circuit Court

Subjects:

• African Americans -- History.
• Assault and battery -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Assault and battery -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Crime -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Crime -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Criminals -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Criminals -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Larceny -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Larceny -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Murder -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Murder -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Rape -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Rape -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Slaveholders -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Slaveholders -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Slavery -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Slavery -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Slaves -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Slaves -- Virginia -- Hampton.

Geographical Names:

• Elizabeth City County (Va.) -- History
• Hampton (Va.) -- History
• Phoebus (Va.) -- History

Genre and Form Terms:

• Indictments -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Indictments -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Pardons -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Pardons -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Parolings -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Parolings -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Summons -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Summons -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Verdicts -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Verdicts -- Virginia -- Hampton.
• Warrants (Law) -- Virginia -- Elizabeth City County.
• Warrants (Law) -- Virginia -- Hampton.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Elizabeth City County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data