Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Declarations of Intent, 1891-1893. Local government records collection, Elizabeth City County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

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 It was first incorporated as a town in 1849, then incorporated again in 1852, but the act of incorporation was repealed in 1860.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.

Declarations of intent were the record by which an applicant for U.S. citizenship declared their intent to become a citizen and renounced their allegiance to a foreign government. A declaration of intention normally preceded proof of residence or a petition to become a citizen by two or more years. Beginning in 1795, a person could declare their intent to become a citizen at any time and in any place after they arrived in the United States.

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.) Declarations of Intent, 1891-1893. The collection contains three declarations of intent to become U.S. citizens. Each declaration records the person's name, age, state of current residence (Virginia, Maryland, and New York), country of previous citizenship, renunciation of allegiance and fidelity to the nation of which the person is currently a citizen, and the date the intention was sworn. Two of the declarations include the person's country of birth.

Related Material

Additional Elizabeth City County court records 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:

• Immigrants--Virginia--Elizabeth City County.
• Naturalization records-Virginia--Elizabeth City County.

Geographical Names:

• Elizabeth City County (Va.)--History--19th century.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Local government records--Virginia--Elizabeth City County.
• Naturalization records--Virginia--Elizabeth City County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Elizabeth City County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data