Northampton County, Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; Virginia &gt; Northampton County

Parent County
1634--Northampton County was created in 1634 as an original shire. County seat: Eastville

Neighboring County

 * Accomack

Court
General


 * Surname index to Northampton/Accomack Book I, 1632-1640, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

Chancery Court


 * Indexed images of Northampton County, Virginia Chancery Records 1721-1816 are available online through Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index. These records, often concerned with inheritance disputes, contain a wealth of genealogical information.
 * Surname index to Northampton Chancery Court Causes, 1721-1800, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

County Court


 * Houston, William Robert Montgomery and Jean M. Mihalyka. Colonial Residents of Virginia's Eastern Shore: Whose Ages Were Proved Before Court Officials of Accomack and Northampton Counties. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985. Three copies available at FHL. [Ages taken from court, land, and probate records.]
 * Surname index to Northampton County VA Wills Deeds &amp; Orders 1651-1654, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.
 * Surname index to Northampton County Orders &amp; Wills 1678-1710, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.
 * Surname index to Northampton County Orders 1748-1758, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

Eastern Shore District Court


 * Surname index to Eastern Shore District Court 1789-1816, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

Minute Books


 * Surname index to Northampton County Minute Books 1754-1765, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

Orphan's Court


 * Surname index to Northampton County Orphans Accounts 1731-1813, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

Family Histories

 * [Barecraft] Russell, George Ely. "John and Jane Barcroft of Boston, Mass., and Virginia," The American Genealogist, Vol. 67, No. 2 (Apr. 1992):112-113. Available at FHL.
 * [Delaymos] Russell, George Ely. "Portuguese and Spanish Colonists in Seventeenth-Century Maryland," The American Genealogist, Vol. 76, No. 1 (January 2001):50-60; Vol. 77, No. 1 (Apr. 2001):138-147.
 * [Selleck] Kaufmann, Paulette Clark. "David Selleck, of Somerset, England, and of Massachusetts and Virginia," The Genealogist, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring 2005):3-40.
 * [Selleck] Stott, Clifford L. and Paulette Clark Kaufmann. "The Selleck Family of Gaulden Manor, Tolland, Somerset: Ancestors of David Selleck of Boston, Massachusetts, and Virginia," The American Genealogist, Vol. 81, No. 1 (Jan. 2006):36-47.

Immigration

 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes wills of residents of Hog Island and Northampton County proved in London. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.]
 * [http://www.immigrantservants.com/search/advancedResults.php?surname=&givenName=&varientSurnameSpellings=&gender=&dateOfBirthDay=&dateOfBirthMonth=&dateOfBirthQuantifier=&dateOfBirthYear=&placeOfBirthParish=&placeOfBirthTown=&placeOfBirthCity=&placeOfBirthCounty=&placeOfBirthColony=&placeOfBirthNation=&occupations=&religions=&orphan=&familyPosition=&immigrationYearQualifier=&immigrationYear=&portOfDepartureTown=&portOfDepartureCity=&portOfDepartureCounty=&portOfDepartureNation=&placeOfArrivalTown=&placeOfArrivalCounty=&placeOfArrivalColony=&shipName=&convict=&yearOfIndentureQualifier=&yearOfIndenture=&lengthOfIndentureYears=&lengthOfIndentureMonths=&yearOfFreedomQualifier=&yearOfFreedom=&placeOfIndentureTown=&placeOfIndentureCity=&placeOfIndentureCounty=Northampton&placeOfIndentureColony=Virginia&agentSurname=&agentGivenName=&agentTitle=&masterSurname=&masterGivenName=&masterTitle=&residenceParish=&residenceTown=&residenceCity=&residenceCounty=&residenceColony=&residenceNation=&landowner=&literate=&spouseSurname=&spouseGivenName=&spouseMarriageDateDay=&spouseMarriageDateMonth=&spouseMarriageDateQualifier=&spouseMarriageDateYear=&spouseMarriageLocationParish=&spouseMarriageLocationCounty=&spouseMarriageLocationColony=&spouseMarriageLocationNation=&deathDateDay=&deathDateMonth=&deathDateQualifier=&deathDateYear=&deathLocality=&deathCounty=&deathColony=&deathState=&testate=&proofServantStatus=&proofConvictStatus=&headright=&preServitudeSources=&postServitudeSources=&comments=&family=&sourceCitations=&interestedResearchers= List of imported servants and transported convicts from Europe] who served labor terms in Colonial Northampton County, Virginia (work in progress), courtesy: Immigrant Servants Database.

Land
Deeds


 * Houston, William Robert Montgomery and Jean M. Mihalyka. Colonial Residents of Virginia's Eastern Shore: Whose Ages Were Proved Before Court Officials of Accomack and Northampton Counties. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985. Three copies available at FHL. [Ages taken from court, land, and probate records.]

Processioner's Returns


 * Surname index to Northampton County Processioner's Returns 1796-1828, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

Migration

 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1976):269-274; Vol. 22, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1978):121-130. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records often identify migrants who left the county and their intended destinations. Northampton County's 1787-1790 Delinquent Lists appear on 20:269-70; 1786 Delinquent Lists appear on 22:122-123.]

Military
Colonial Militia


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Northampton County militia officers and/or soldiers; see place name index.]
 * Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Colonial Militia 1651-1776. Baltimore: Southern Book Co., 1954. Available at FHL; digital book at Ancestry ($). [Identifies some Northampton County militia officers; see place name index.]

French and Indian War


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. [Identifies some Northampton County militia officers, soldier enlistments, and veterans; see place name index.]
 * Crozier, William Armstrong. Virginia Colonial Militia 1651-1776. Baltimore: Southern Book Co., 1954. Available at FHL; digital book at Ancestry ($). [Identifies some Northampton County militia officers; see place name index.]

Civil War


 * Surname index to The Eleventh Census of the United States 1890 - Special Schedule - Union Veterans and Widows Bundle 180, which includes Northampton County, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

Newspapers
Indexed images of the Virginia Gazette(1736-1780) are available online through the Colonial Williamsburgwebsite. In addition, Professor Tom Costa and The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia have created a database of all runaway advertisements for slaves, indentured servants, transported convicts, and ship deserters listed in this source and other Virginia newspapers (1736-1803), see: The Geography of Slavery in Virginia. These newspapers are valuable resources for all regions of Virginia.

Occupations

 * Surname index to Northampton County, VA Cattlemarks 1665-1742, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

Probate
Local Court


 * Houston, William Robert Montgomery and Jean M. Mihalyka. Colonial Residents of Virginia's Eastern Shore: Whose Ages Were Proved Before Court Officials of Accomack and Northampton Counties. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985. Three copies available at FHL. [Ages taken from court, land, and probate records.]
 * Surname index to Northampton County VA Wills Deeds &amp; Orders 1651-1654, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.
 * Surname index to Northampton County Orders &amp; Wills 1678-1710, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

District Court


 * Surname index to Eastern Shore District Court Wills &amp; Deeds 1800-1806, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

London Courts


 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes wills of residents of Hog Island and Northampton County proved in London. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.]

Taxation
At first glance, researchers might conclude that Virginia tax lists contain very little family history data, though one soon learns that valuable genealogical conclusions can be drawn from these records, nicknamed "annual censuses," such as: relationships, approximate years of birth, socio-economic status, identification of neighbors, the ability to distinguish between persons of the same name, evidence of land inheritance, years of migration, and years of death.

Virginia began enumerating residents' payments of personal property and land taxes in 1782. These two types of taxation were recorded in separate registers. Personal property tax lists include more names than land tax lists, because they caught more of the population. The Family History Library has an excellent microfilm collection of personal property tax lists from 1782 (or the year the county was organized) well into the late nineteenth century for most counties, but only scattered land tax lists. Microfilm collections at The Library of Virginia include land tax lists for all counties and independent cities for the years 1782 through 1978, as well as personal property tax lists for the years 1782 through 1930 (and every fifth year thereafter). Taxes were not collected in 1808.

Some tax records are available online or in print, though published abstracts often omit useful details found only in the original sources. Statewide indexes can help genealogists identify specific counties where surnames occurred in the past, providing starting points for research.


 * Wise, Jennings Cropper. Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke or the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. 1911; reprint, Baltimore, 1968. [Includes 1666 tithables list for Northampton County.]
 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1976):269-274; Vol. 22, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1978):121-130. Available at FHL; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records often identify migrants who left the county and their intended destinations. Northampton County's 1787-1790 Delinquent Lists appear on 20:269-70; 1786 Delinquent Lists appear on 22:122-123.]*Indexed images of the 1788 and 1800 Personal Property Tax Lists of Northampton County, Virginia are available online at Binns Genealogy.
 * Schreiner-Yates, Netti. A Supplement to the 1810 Census of Virginia: Tax Lists of the Counties for which the Census is Missing. Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1971. Available at FHL. [The source for this publication is the 1810 personal property tax list. Northampton County is included because the 1810 Census for that county has been destroyed.]
 * Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. Available at FHL. [The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Northampton County is included in Vol. 3.]

Vital Records
Marriages


 * Surname index to Northampton County VA Marriages 1854-1922, courtesy: Petersrow Publishers.

Websites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Family History Library Catalog