1870 Census for Northampton County

Transcribed and Indexed by Frances Bibbins Latimer, 198 pages, indexed Transcribed from microfilm of the federal census records of 1870, this is the first census following the Civil War and is therefore the first census to count all of the people who lived within each state and community in the United States. Those researchers who are familiar with the surnames of the residents in Northampton County, Virginia, prior to this census will recognize the additions of many new surnames and people who were counted in 1870. This census bears witness to the phenomena of newly freed slaves changing their names, migrating and creating new lives. Many white citizens having lost their “fortunes” during the Civil War also migrated. On the negative side it has been said that throughout Virginia the 1870 Census was thought of as being a “disgracefully unreliable” document.