Collections : [Library of Virginia]

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.

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Commonwealth versus Virginia Christian, 1912 Apr.-1912 Aug. 16, contains the Commonwealth Cause against Virginia Christian. Christian was convicted 1912 May 15 of murdering her employer, Ida V. Belote, 1912 Mar. 18 and sentenced to death by electrocution. According to evidence submitted by the Commonwealth, Christian was 17 years old at the time of the murder. She petitioned the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals for a writ of error, requesting that she be committed to a reformatory because she was a child under the age of seventeen years when the crime was committed. The motion was denied 1912 Jun 12, and Christian was executed 1912 Aug. 16.

Materials in the Library of Virginia's collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Coroner's Report related to the death of Ida V. Belote, 1912 Mar. 30, contains the report submitted by Elizabeth City County Coroner, Dr. G.K. Vanderslice, on the death of Belote in her home 1912 Mar. 18. The report contains the Coroner's examination of the body and the room where the victim was found, his postmortem examination of the victim, and testimony taken at the sheriff's office 1912 Mar. 18 and submitted as evidence to the coroner's jury.

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.

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Deeds, 1817-1945 (bulk 1942-1945) consist of deeds of bargain and sale, deeds of gift, mortgages, deeds of trust, and deeds of emancipation. On presentation to the court, deeds were proved and recorded. If the deed was not witnessed, the grantor acknowledged the deed in open court. A few of the deeds include plats. Except for a few years early in the eighteenth century, slaves in Virginia were considered personal property and consequently were not usually sold by deed. However, they were often transferred in deeds of gift or were the property listed in mortgages and deeds of trust.

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Deeds of Trust, 1820 Apr.-1945 Dec. (bulk 1898 Dec.-1945 Dec.) consist of deeds where one party is indebted to another and transfers or mortgages property to a third party to secure the debt.

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Judgments, 1779-1929, contain civil cases in which justice was administered on the strictly formulated rules of common law. The majority of cases in this record series relate to matters of debt. The collection also contains cases concerning the taking of land by the Buckroe, Phoebus, and Hampton Railroad Company in 1896 for an electric railroad, and by the White Land Company in 1914.

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Land Records, 1867-1948. The collection contains deeds, lists of conveyances, a marriage contract, 1871; an income mortgage taken by the Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News Co, 1902; and improvements mortgages taken by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, 1907 and 1909.

Elizabeth City County (Va.) Marriage Licenses and Consent, 1866, document the marriages of James Nisser and Mary E. Lancaster, and John Williams, Sr., and Mrs. Mary Frances Heath. The marriage licenses record the time and place of the marriage, the full name, age, place of birth, and names of parents of the parties married, and the occupation of the husband. The licenses also include a minister's return signed by the minister performing the marriage and documenting the date and place of the marriage. The consent is a handwritten letter from George Nisser to his son James granting permission to marry, for registration with the court.