Norfolk County Virginia History and Genealogy

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Iberian Publishing Company's On-Line Catalog:
Norfolk County Virginia

In 1636 Elizabeth City County, one of the original eight shires formed in 1634, was divided and the portion south of the James River was designated as New Norfolk County. The following year, 1637, New Norfolk County was also subdivided into Upper Norfolk and Lower Norfolk counties. Upper Norfolk became Nansemond in 1646. In 1691 Lower Norfolk was divided into Princess Anne and Norfolk counties. From Norfolk County came the independent cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and the county was finally extinguished in 1963 by being consolidated with the city of South Norfolk to form the City of Chesapeake.

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NORFOLK CO., VA 1810 CENSUS transcribed, with an index by John Vogt. 10 1/2 x 8 1/2, x, 45 pages, illustrations, maps, index. This is the first surviving census for Hanover, since both the 1790 and 1800 censuses have been lost. A complete index is included for easy access. Norfolk County has been occupied since the early seventeenth century, and it has formed the basis for numerous population center which have been subdivided from it [see description at top of this page]. In 1810 the county alone [not including the borough of Norfolk, which was enumerated separately] possessed more than 1,500 families with a total population exceeding 16,000, This document should be a fine complement to the abstract of Roger Ward (below) on land taxes in the county. When compared one to another, these two sources can be utilized to find the general residence area of many of the landowning families within the census.
[NORF10] $16.95 (printed version)

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[ENORF10] $12.00 (electronic version)

NORFOLK CO., VA WILL BOOK I, 1755-1772 compiled by Mrs. William B. Wingo. 8" x 11, 155 pages. Abstracts of Will Book I; contains the names of all legatees, executors, executrixes and witnesses that are included in these wills. References to land, etc., are given when such is feasible. Though brief, these abstracts are sufficiently full to convey an understanding of the economic status of many of the testators living in Norfolk County, the Borough of Norfolk and the Town of Portsmouth. A complete name index includes the variations of spellings of the surnames. A map identifies many locations in colonial Norfolk County.
To view a digital copy (pdf) of the index to this book, visit Index-Ncw1
(Close the pdf file with the left arrow to return to Iberian's catalog) [Ncw1] $30.00

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[ENCW1] $20.00 (electronic version)

GUARDIAN BONDS OF NORFOLK COUNTY, VIRGINIA, 1750-1800 compiled by Mrs. William B. Wingo. 1993, 8" x 11, viii, 105 pages, index. This compilation contains abstracts of orphan bonds; contains the names of all orphans, their parent(s), guardian, additional security and the amount of the bond.
To view a digital copy (pdf) of the index to this book, visit Index-Ncob
(Close the pdf file with the left arrow to return to Iberian's catalog) [Ncob] $24.50

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[ENCOB] $15.00 (electronic version)

Norfolk Co. 1815 Directory of Landowners by Roger G. Ward. 2005. 44 pages, map, 5 1/2X8 1/2.
For a full description of the 1815 LAND DIRECTORY Records and a listing of available counties, see combined volume below

[Vd73] $9.00

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[EVd73] $6.00 (electronic version)

1815 DIRECTORY OF VIRGINIA LANDOWNERS & GAZETTEER, vol. 3 Eastern Region (Includes the counties of Accomack, Caroline, Elizabeth City, Essex, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, King and Queen, King George, King William, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Nansemond, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland, Princess Anne, Richmond, Surry, Warwick, Westmoreland, York, and the independent city of Norfolk. ) abstracted by Roger G. Ward. 1997, vi, 252 pages, indices, maps.
In 1782 the General Assembly of Virginia enacted new tax laws which created within each county an enumeration of land and certain personal property. These early land tax laws required a tax commissioner in each district of a county to record a list of the names of persons owning land or town lots, the quantity of land owned and its value, and the amount of tax owed. By 1813, a brief geographic description (usually citing an adjacent stream, road, or other landmark) was required; in 1814, the distance and direction from the courthouse for each parcel was also added to the tax rolls.
The present work is an alphabetical listing of all 1815 landowners found in each county, as well as the accompanying description of the location of the said property. We have not included the number of acres, taxes assessed, or any transactions between landowners which may have been noted on the tax rolls; also, in many cases the geographic location was provided as "adjacent to John Smith", etc. and, while useful many times to a genealogist, was considered to be beyond the objectives of this project. The reader is encouraged to consider the information here-in as an "outline" of early landowners in Virginia rather than a "text" due to the year-to-year variation in information provided to the clerk (or recorded by the clerk), omissions, lack of "identifiers" to determine if "same name" was also "same person" within a district or across districts, marginal quality/clarity (in a few cases) of the microfilm copy, and, not least, errors on the part of either the original clerks or the current author while transcribing.
Some of the approaches to utilizing the 1815 landowner information include:
observe distinct clusters of the same surname within a county in order to clarify the common surnames such as "Smith", "Anderson", etc;
identify non-resident landowners and their county (or state) of residence (these people often being former residents of the current county);
determine neighbors with different surnames (often being relatives);
use the 1815 information as a "bridge" from the 18th and 19th century deed/will books to the 17th and 18th century land grants/patents in the county;
evaluate the 1810 to 1840 census information which generally grouped neighbors;
substitute this information for missing deed/will books in the "burned" counties; and, clarify/enhance vague deed/will information in the counties with more complete records.
FORMAT OF PRESENTATION: Each entry is listed as: Surname, name, personal identifiers (if any); location/place-name of land; miles/direction from the 1815 courthouse. If multiple owners are listed for a property, the listing is duplicated under each of the owner's surnames (i.e "Smith and Brown" is also listed as "Brown, --see Smith"); when multiple owners share a common surname, the property is only listed once. When a landowner had land at more than one location/place-name, the miles/direction listing for each parcel is in the same sequence as the location listing (i.e. James RV, Slate CK; 12N, 5SW.). In the few cases where a landowner had "many" parcels, the miles/direction notation is attached to the location listing (i.e. Sandy RV- 5NE, Willow CK-7S, etc.)

[Vdl3] $32.00 (paper version)

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[EVDL-3] $20.00 (electronic version)

Norfolk Co. Revolutionary Public Claims transcribed by Janice L. Abercrombie and Richard Slatten.. 2005. 33 pages, 5 1/2X8 1/2.
For a full description of the Virginia Revolutionary Public Claims and a listing of available counties, see: Revolutionary "Publick" Claims series

To view a digital copy (pdf) of the index to this book, visit Index-Norfolk
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[Pc49] $6.00 (printed version)

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[EPc49] $3.50 (electronic version)

For more records pertaining to NORFOLK COUNTY, VIRGINIA see also:

Independent City of Chesapeake
Guide to Virginia Militia Units in the War of 1812
Chart on the Formation of Virginia Counties
Atlas of County Boundary Changes in Virginia, 1634-1895
Index to the 1810 Virginia Census

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Iberian Publishing Company's On-Line Catalog: Norfolk County Virginia

Iberian Publishing Company's On-Line Catalog:
Norfolk County Virginia