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Elizabeth City County, Virginia

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1903 Map depicting Elizabeth City County and other "lost counties" of Virginia

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 1609–10 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.[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

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Historical population
CensusPop.Note
17903,450
18002,778−19.5%
18103,60829.9%
18203,7895.0%
18305,05333.4%
18403,706−26.7%
18504,58823.8%
18605,79826.4%
18708,30343.2%
188010,68928.7%
189016,16851.3%
190019,46020.4%
191015,720−19.2%
192019,11121.6%
193019,8353.8%
194032,28362.8%
195055,02870.5%
1790-1950 Population as Elizabeth City County

Notable people

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Politics

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United States presidential election results for Elizabeth City County, Virginia[3][4]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
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

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References

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  1. ^ a b c 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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