Hampton (Va.)and Elizabeth City County (Va.) Organization Records, 1883-1953

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Hampton (Va.) and Elizabeth city County (Va.) Organization Records, 1883-1953, [series or volume title]. Local government records collection, Hampton (Va.) Organization Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
4.1 cubic feet (6 boxes)
Creator:
Hampton (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Hampton (Va.) and Elizabeth city County (Va.) Organization Records, 1883-1953, [series or volume title]. Local government records collection, Hampton (Va.) Organization Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Hampton (Va.) and Elizabeth City County (Va.) Organization Records, 1883-1953 is comprised of various records created by groups in Hampton/Elizabeth City County. Represented records largely consist of unprocessed loose records.

Includes boxes containing material identified as organization records. These records may be flat filed or foldered but not fully processed.

Historical Information:The Junior Order of United American Mechanics was founded in 1853 as a fraternal and political secret society. The full title of the governing body was the National Council of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics of the United States of North America, Inc. Founded as the Union of Workers in Philadelphia in 1845 by a group of working men, their aims were to stop immigration, especially Catholic immigration, and to provide the usual mid-19th-century benefits of a sick fund and a funeral fund. Members were required to undertake efforts to publicize and campaign against the hiring of cheap foreign labor and to patronize only "American" businesses. It changed its name to the Order of United American Mechanics shortly after its foundation. Membership was open only to native-born white American men who professed belief in a supreme being, supported the separation of church and state, and were not engaged in the liquor trade. In 1853, the O.U.A.M. authorized a junior lodge, to be called the J.O.U.A.M. The J.O.U.A.M. soon outgrew the parent organization, which it absorbed some time after declaring its independence from them in 1885. Eventually the organization also admitted women in their own right, though there was also a short-lived women's auxiliary, which was founded in 1875. After the 1840s and 1850s, which were the high point of xenophobic nativist parties in the United States, the J.O.U.A.M. settled down more and more into a conventional fraternal benefit society. In addition to very modest fraternal benefits and dues, the J.O.U.A.M. also operated a legal reserve insurance department, which had been in operation since 1899.

Includes boxes containing material identified as organization records. These records may be flat filed or foldered but not fully processed.

Includes boxes containing material identified as organization records. These records may be flat filed or foldered but not fully processed.

Contains organization records, 1893-1900.

Contains organization records (motions to substitute trustees), 1887.

Contains organization records (petitions to appoint new trustees), 1885-1910.

Biographical / historical:

Context for Record Type: Organization Records, both volumes and loose records, are in some cases transferred to the Library of Virginia as components of court record transfers. These organization records in some cases were simply stored in the local court building for safe keeping by business owners. In other cases, organization records (particularly ledgers, account books, etc.) may have been filed in a court case as an exhibit. These organization record exhibits appeared both in chancery causes and in judgments, these records serving as exhibits for business dissolution cases, debut suits, and contract disputes.

Locality History:Elizabeth City County (extinct) was named for Elizabeth, daughter of King James I, and was one of the original shires, or counties, first enumerated in 1634. It became extinct on 1 July 1952 when it was incorporated into the city of Hampton, which was the county seat.

Hampton was located in Elizabeth City County, which is now extinct. It 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 town stood on the site in 1607, when Captain John Smith visited the area. The colonists 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 of entry in 1705. It was first incorporated as a town in March 1849, but the act was repealed the following December. It was incorporated again in 1852, but the act of incorporation was repealed in 1860. The General Assembly incorporated the town of Hampton in 1887 for a third time, and it became a city by court order on 4 March 1908. It was greatly enlarged on 1 July 1952 by a merger with Elizabeth City County and the town of Phoebus; the county and town thereby became extinct.

Lost Locality Notes:Recognized in 1634 as an original shire. Records were burned and/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.

Acquisition information:
These records came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Hampton (Va.) Circuit Court in 2012 under accession number 50572 as well as additional transfers under an undated accession.
Processing information:

Prior to 2025, the various organization records in this collection were originally described as individual records, but they have been consolidated into one large organization record for the locality. Since 2025, these records additionally include identified but not processed records.

Encoded by J. Taylor: September 2025.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into three series:

  • Series I: Democratic Executive Committee of Elizabeth City County Records, 1943-1953 circa
  • Series II: Junior Order of United American Mechanics Records, 1912-1920
  • Series III: Hampton (Va.) and Elizabeth City County (Va.) Organization Records, 1883-1918 circa [UNPROCESSED]

Physical location:
Library of Virginia