USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > History of Norfolk County, Virginia : and representative citizens, 1637-1900 > Part 55
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On January 4, 1803, the trustees were em- powered to lease for 99 years renewable for- ever a part of the lot given by Col. William Craford for a market, and on the 7th of Jan- uary of the same year they were authorized to extend the limits of the town to Chestnut street and to make rules for regulating the building on lots and to settled disputed lines. On the 25th of January, 1805, they were empowered to lease part of the land given by Craford i a Court House, the rents to be appropriated toward paving streets.
On the 18th day of January, 1811, an Act of the legislature was passed providing that the limits of the town were not to be extended from Effingham street to Chestnut street for 15 years unless the consent of the owners of the land affected thereby should be sooner obtained.
On the 21st of January, 1811, the trustees were granted additional powers and author- ized to regulate weights and measures, to re- move nuisances and obstructions in town and streets, to appoint one or more measurers of wood, salt, coal and grain, to make regulations for protecting property against fire, to prevent and punish fast driving, to prohibit hogs from running at large ; to pass by-laws, rules and regulations for the good order and government of the town, to appoint constables or town sergeants.
The number of trustees was reduced to ser-
1
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I
Williams, James.
Whidlee. Wilham.
5
Wilson. Willis
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
en by an Act passed on the 19th of February, 1819. The sheriff of Norfolk County was di- rected to hold annually at the Market House on the third Tuesday in April an election for trustees. This Act also made the trustees a body corporate and politic by the name of "The Trustees of Portsmouth." They were further empowered to pass by-laws for pre- venting goats and hogs running at large.
The Act incorporating the trustees of Ports- mouth Academy and directing the overseers of the poor to convey to said trustees money produced by the sale of Glebe lands became a law on January 28, 1825, and there was an Act passed on the 14th of February, 1829, to revive and amend "an Act to authorize a lottery and the sale of certain lots in the town of Ports- mouth."
On the 4th of April, 1831, Water street was established and the trustees were authorized to levy a tax to pay damages assessed to individ- tials. On March 10, 1832, the former location of Water street was changed. The trustees were authorized on the 13th of March, 1833, to prohibit the burial of dead persons within the limits of the town and to hold land for a burying ground. The trustees were empow- ered on the 4th of March, 1834, to prohibit the erection of any building east of Dinwiddie street and Second street. Gosport, unless the outer walls were to be of brick or stone.
On the first day of February, 1836, the trustees were empowered to cause the streets to be graded and paved, to employ a superintend- ent to audit expenses of paving and apportion expenses between property owners, to appoint watchmen and regulate their duties, to erect lamps, to direct surveyor to run limit of wharves, to regulate manner of constructing wharves, to remove infected persons to hospital, to hold land for a Market House, to rent out stalls and make rules regulating same, to hold land and erect a magazine thereon and appoint a keeper, to erect a Town Hall when required by a majority of the voters, to purchase land for public squares when freeholders desired it, to borrow money and issue scrip therefor and to
levy taxes. On March 21, 1836, there was another Act amending the Act to establish Water street,-damages to be ascertained by a writ of ad quod damnum, and on the 2nd of April, 1838, firemen were exempted from jury service. On the 22nd of March, 1839. the law provided that the trustees should consist of nine persons to be elected on the first Saturday in April, and on the 24th of February, 1840, the sale of the Portsmouth Academy was directed and the proceeds divided according to the rela- tive population of the town and county. On the 28th of March, 1848, a law was enacted to incorporate the commissioners of the public schools of Portsmouth. As will be observed, Portsmouth had a corporate existence by which she was authorized to issue bonds and to exer- cise certain other functions of a municipality, but she was not separate as to her government from Norfolk County until 1852. Previous to the incorporation of Portsmouth with all + habiliments of a town it was, of course, under the jurisdiction of Norfolk County. A board of trustees constituted its legislature and a board of magistrates the judicial authority of the town. Of the latter, three justices of he peace composed a quorum for the adjudication of civil cases. five for the trial of criminal of- fenses.
An Act of the 15th of May, 1852, in its 6th section directed that : "Until otherwise pro- vided, the Town of Portsmouth shall for the purposes of this Act, be laid off into two wards. as follows, to-wit: All of Portsmouth and Gosport east of Court and Fourth streets shall be called Jackson Ward : all of Portsmouth and Gosport west of Court and Fourth streets shall be called Jefferson Ward ; and there shall be a separate place of voting in each ward as fol- lows, to-wit : The place of voting in Jackson Ward shall be the Town Hall: in Jefferson Ward, it shall be the Court House."
INCORPORATED AS A TOWN.
The Act of separation was passed on the 17th of February, 1852, as follows :
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Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly. That the voters resident within the Town of Port -- mouth, who, by virtue of their residence within the said town, would be entitled under the present consti- tution of the State. to vote for members of the General Assembly. he and they are hereby authorized to elect. in lieu of the board of trustees now provided by law for said town, and in the same manner and at the same time now prescribed for electing such trustees, a Com- mon Council of said town. consisting of thirteen coun- cilmen, who shall possess all the powers and authority of the said board of trustees; and shall succeed to all the rights, and be subject to all the obligations of said brard, and all snits pending or right- of action exist- ing for or against the said town of Portsmouth or the trustees thereof, at the time of the adoption of this Act by the voters of said town, shall continue in full force and effect, to all intents and purposes, for or against the Town of Portsmouth, or the Common Council thereof, as if this Act had not been passed.
Section 2. That the said voters of Portsmouth are also hereby authorized. at the time or times and in the manner aforesaid, annually to elect a mayor of said town, who shall possess an the powers and authority of a justice of the peace, except that he shall not. by virtue of his office as mayor. sit as a member of the County Court of Norfolk County. It shall be the duty of the said mayor to enforce the by-laws and ordinances of said town as well as the laws of the Commonwealth within the same, and he shall have concurrent jurisdic- tion with justices of the peace within said town, except as above prohibited. The compensation and fees of office of said mayor shall be prescribed by the Common Council who are hereby authorized to provide that proper charge- and compensation shall be made for any and all services rendered by the said mayor, and may provide for payment of such fees to him by such par- ties as they may prescribe, or the payment of such fees or charges into the town treasury, and the payment to the said mayor of such salary from the treasury of said town as they may think proper. or may combine both moles of compensation as to said Council may seem advisable.
Section 3. Vacancies happening in the office either of the mayor or councilmen aforesaid may be supplied for the remainder of the term for which they were elected by the Council. if there be a quorum of the same: but if there be no quorum, then such vacancy or vacancies may be filled by a new election by the voters of said town, in accor lance with the provisions of the Code of Virginia. Chapter 54.
Section 1. On Saturday. the sixth day of March next. a poll of those hereby authorized to vote for mayor and Common Council of the Town of Ports- mouth shall be opened and conducted, and the result returned in accordance with the present laws for hold- ing elections of trustees in said town: and the officer conducting the said poll shall propound to the voters the question following: "Are you in favor of the law authorizing yon to elect a mayor and Common Council." to which each voter -hall answer "Aye" or "No." If a majority of votes given be in favor of this Act. then it -hall hy the officer conducting such poll be declared adopted. But if a majority of the votes given as above
be against the adoption of this Act. then said officer shall declare the same rejected.
Section ; If this Act be adopted a- aforesaid. notice shall be given, and an election of a mayor and thirteen councilmen of said town shall be had on the first Saturday in April next, under and by virtue of this Act: but if this Act be rejected as aforesaid by the people of Portsmouth, then notice shall be given, and an election shall be had, on the said first Saturday in April next. of nine trustees of said town, in accord- ance with the present law; and this Act. if rejected as aforesaid. shall thereafter be null and void.
Section 6. This Act shall be in force from its passage.
Under the above Act incorporating Ports- month as a full grown town, John S. White was the first mayor and the following wer members of the first Council : John L. Porter, president; C. S. Cocke. W. H. H. Hodges, Calvin Reynolds, H. Ferebee. W. R. Woodard, R. A. J. Thompson. Thomas Moran, H. J. Phillips, John Lash. Caleb Nash: John Ver- million and W. N. Schoolfield. William M. Levy was clerk.
NAMES OF SQUARES.
Everybody knows that the streets of Ports- month have names, but not many know that the squares of the older parts of the city are also named. Beginning north of North street, between Crawford and Middle streets, they are Norfolk Row. Norfolk, Red Lion. London. Golden, Bloomber. Edinburg, Cavendish, Crab and Buckingham: between Middle and Court streets are Elizabeth Row. Elizabeth. Glasgow. Hanover. Court House, Market. St. James, Bristol. Hill. Ferry and Kent : between Court and Dinwiddie are Hampton Row. Hampton. Back Creek, Queen. Prison, Church. King. Portsmouth. Lincoln. Essex, Middleton and Argyle. Between Dinwiddie and Washington are Marsh. Greenwich. Williamsburg. Cam- bridge. Oxford. Dinwiddie, Princess, County. Virginia. Salisbury, Lancaster and Newcastle. Between Washington and Green are Orange. Cornwall. Essex, Bon. Devonshire, Cheshire, Hertford. Leicester. Dover. Soho, Governor, Berkley. Temple, Green. Dunn and Marlow. Between Green and Clifford. beginning south
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of North street, are Chatham, Boush, Miffling, Washington, Montgomery, Proctor, Clerson, Hampshire, Derby, Portland, Exeter, Norwich, Grantham and Lamarso, Between Effingham and Chestnut are Boston, Ashburn. Carlisle, Arlington, Preston, Allborough, Bur- lington, Granby, Holborn, Hambury, Gas- goyne, Pall-Mall, Parke, Drake and Drum- mond ; west of Chestnut are Ludlow. Saville, Hatton, Hemmino, Mulberry, Eden, Tay- istock, Beverly. Anoon, Ambler. Bentick and Westburg. Effingham street is one of the most beautiful in Portsmouth and is supposed to have been named for the greatest Earl of Effinghanı.
The tragic cruelties of Dunmore and Tarle- ton not only united the American colonists for resistance, but aroused the sympathy of liberty- loving Englishmen, across the ocean, to open declarations against the coercion policy of King George's government.
Among them were army officers, who ten- dered their resignations rather than fight Amer- icans, and some members of the Parliament strenuously opposed, with their voices and votes. the war measures of the crown.
The Earl of Effingham, a brilliant states- man and dashing soldier, was a fearless friend of America. He made some of the ablest and most eloquent arguments in Parliament for the rights of the Colonies.
Thomas Howard. third Earl of Effingham, was born January 13, 1747. When a boy he had strong military tastes and his youthful in- clinations carried him into the British Army at the age of 15 years, as an ensign in the cele- brated Coldstream Guards. He was not prompted to the profession of arms by a desire for gaudy display in an officer's glittering uni- form, but he craved to test his manhood on the firing line. So he volunteered for service in a war between the Russians and Turks to add experience to the theory of martial life.
He was promoted to captain of the First Regiment of Foot Guards on Aug. 1, 1766 When the American Revolution began, he was fully equipped for a brilliant military career,
but he could not consent to enforce with his sword measures which he had opposed as a leg- islator. His regiment was ordered to Amer- ica, but not desiring to leave the military ser- vice, he requested to be relieved from service against the Colonies. He wrote a letter to the Secretary of War, in which, having declared the willingness with which he would sacrifice his life and fortune in support of the safety, honor and dignity of His Majesty's crown and person, he said that the same principles which had inspired him with these unalterable senti- ments of duty and affection to the King, would not suffer him to be instrumental in depriving any part of his people of those liberties which form the best security for their fidelity and obedience to his government. He expressed the deepest regret and greatest mortification at being obliged to quit a profession which had been that of his ancestors for many ages, to the study and practice of which from child- hood his past life had been applied and his future intentionally dedicated, and that as he waived the advantage to which the custom of the service entitled him, the right of selling what he had bought, he requested that he might . be allowed to retain his rank in the army; that whenever envy or ambition of foreign powers should require it, he might be enabled to serve his king and his country in that way in which of all others he thought himself best calculated to do it with effect.
The Earl of Effingham herein displayed a manhood which required more courage than to stand up in the line of battle where bullets whiz and thundering shells explode.
At a great public meeting in London, held in the common hall on Midsummer's Day, reso- lutions of public thanks were ordered to be given to the Right Honorable the Earl of Ef- fingham, for having consistently, with the prin- ciples of a true Englishman, refused to draw his sword, which had been employed to the honor of his country, against the lives and lib- erties of his fellow subjects in America.
Soon after, a similar resolution of thanks in fuller terms was presented to him from the
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guild of merchants in Dublin. His govern- ment respected his petition and honored him with its confidence until his death. He was made Deputy Earl Marshal. October 21, 1777; Treasurer of the Household. April 10, 1782: Master of the Mint, February 10, 1784; Vice Admiral of Jamaica, July 21, 1780; and Gov- ernor of Jamaica. October 14, 1789. He had been in bad health, and hoped that it would be benefited by the climate of Jamaica, but it con- tinued to decline, and he died there on the 19th day of November. 1791. He was then a colonel in the army and Governor General of the isl- and. He married on the 14th of October, 1765. Catharine, eldest daughter of Metcalf Proctor. Esq., of Thorpe-on-the-Hill, near Leeds. She died in the same year, 1791, on board His Majesty's ship "Diana," in her passage from Jamaica to New York, whither her ladyship was going for the recovery of her health.
The third Earl of Effingham was a grand Englishman. He was true to the spirit of free- dom, which ever inspires patriotic hearts. He was a friend of liberty and justice. Americans should honor his name. Men should study a character which subordinated military ambition and glory to a conscientious conviction of right.
INCORPORATED AS A CITY.
A meeting of the citizens, to consider the propriety of incorporating Portsmouth as a city, was held in Oxford Hall on Wednesday evening, December 9, 1857. On the motion of Gerard Henderson. George W. Grice, presi- dent of the Council, was elected chairman and Cladius W. Murdaugh, secretary. The chair- man stated the object of the meeting and then Stephen Cowley, Esq., who had been appointed chairman of a committee on resolutions at a previous meeting. reported the following :
"Whereas. the population and commerce of our town have reached a point in numbers and importance which require a more perfect municipal organization : and whereas our pres- ent relations with the county are complicated in character and unequal in operation; there-
fore. Resolved, That our Town Council be and they are hereby instructed to bring the subject fully incorporating our town, through our Sen- atorial and County delegates in the Legisla- ture, to the notice of the present General As- sembly of Virginia. at the earliest practicable period.
"Resolved, That said Council prepare, or cause to be prepared, in one Act, a charter of incorporation, embracing the usual forms, privi- leges and restrictions for our town, with the name and style of the City of Portsmouth."
The Act incorporating the town of Ports- mouth as a city was passed March 1, 1858, and is in part as follows :
Section 1. Be it cnacted by the General Assembly, that the territory contained within the limits of the Town of Portsmouth, prescribed by sundry Acts of the Assembly heretofore passed, shall be deemed and taken as the City of Portsmouth. and the freeholders, house- keepers and inhabitants within the said limits, and their successors, shall be and they are hereby made a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the City of Portsmouth: and as such, and by that name may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto; and may purchase. take, receive, hold and use goods and chattels, lands and tenements, and choses in action, or any interest. right or estate therein, either for the proper use of the said city, or in trust for the benefit of any persons or associations therein: and the same may grant, sell, convey, transfer and assign. let. pledge, mortgage, charge and encumber. in any case and in any manner in which it would be lawful for a private in- dividual so to do: and may have and use a common seal. and alter and renew the same at pleasure; and generally shail have all the rights, franchises, capacities and powers appertaining to municipal corporations in this Commonwealth. Said city and its inhabitants shall henceforth be exempt from all assessments or levies in the way of taxes by the County Court of Norfolk for any purpose whatsoever.
Section 2. There shall be for the said corporation a court, which shall be called "the Court of Hustings for the City of Portsmouth:" and the same shall be held by the aldermen of said city, or any three or more of them, except where it is otherwise provided. The said court shall be held on the first Tuesday of every month, or on such other days as may be hereafter pre- scribed by law. The quarterly courts of said city shall be held on the first Tuesday in January. April, July and October: and the sergeant of said city shall attend said courts with his deputies and summon grand juries ; and said sergeant and grand juries shall proceed in like manner as the sheriff's and grand juries of the County Courts.
Section 3 The said court shall have jurisdiction, and the mayor and aldermen shall each have the power
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of a justice of the peace within the said corporate limits. and every part thereof. for matters arising within the same, according to the laws of the Commonwealth, in the same manner and to the same extent and under the same laws, rules and regulations that the County Courts of this Commonwealth now have, and are now subject to or as they may hereafter have or be sub- jected to by law ; and any presentment made in said court by a grand jury, for an offense against said laws committed within the jurisdiction thereof, may be pros- ecuted in said court in like manner, and the like pro- ceedings be had thercon as in the County Courts of the Commonwealth. The members of the said Court of Hustings shall consist of 12 other than the mayor, of whom, until the Council shall otherwise prescribe, there shall be six for cach ward.
Section 4. There shall be a board called "the Council of the City of Portsmouth," which shall be composed of 12 members, of whom, until the Council shall otherwise prescribe, six shall be for each ward. Section 5. The Council may grant compensation out of the funds of the city to the mayor of the city. and the members of the Court of Hustings.
Section 6. All bonds and writings obligatory, or contracts with, and all rights, claims and demands for or against the said City of Portsmouth, shall be good in law the same as they would have been for or against the said Town of Portsmouth if this Act had not been passed ; and all personal and real estate here- tofore conveyed to the authorities of the Town of Portsmouth, in trust or for the use, benefit or ad- vantage of any persons or associations, shall be and the same is hereby transferred to and vested in the City of Portmouth, to be held subject to all the trusts, con- ditions and qualifications to which it would have been subject in the possession of said authorities prior to the passage of this Act.
Section 7. At all elections which shall be held by the voters of said city for the corporate authorities thereof, the following persons shall be entitled to vote, viz .: All free white male inhabitants, being citizens of the United States, and qualified by law to vote for members of the General Assembly of Virginia, who are freeholders of lots or real estate in said city. whether improved or not, and such other inhabitants not free- holders, being citizens, and qualified as above, who shall have paid, before offering to vote, the city taxes assessed against them for the year preceeding that in which they offer to vote.
Section 8. There shall be an election in cach ward at the first election held under this Act, and an- nually on the first Saturday in April, or in case of failure to hold the election on that day then such day afterwards as the Council may direct; which election in a ward shall be for members of the Common Council to represent said ward, and for a mayor of the city, and for such other officers of the corporation as the ordinances of the said Council may require to be elected annually by the voters thereof. At the first election for city officers under this Act, there shall be held in like manner an election in each ward for six aldermen or members of the Court of Hustings for said city, whose term of service shall be four years; a city sergeant, whose term of service shall be for two years; a clerk of the Hustings. Court, whose term of service
shall be six years ; a city surveyor, whose term of service shall be six years; a commissioner of the revenue, whose term of service shall be two years; and two constables for each ward, whose term of service shall be two years; and there shall be an election on the first Saturday in April in each and every year con- cluding the terms hereinbefore specified, to-wit: For members of the Court of Hustings, every fourth year ; city sergeant, every two years; clerk of the Hustings Court and clerk of the Circuit Court, every sixth year ; surveyor, every sixth year ; commissioner of the revenue and constables, every second year after the said first election. And the terms of all officers herein above specified shall commence on the first Monday in the month of May, immediately succeeding their election. And every vacancy, occurring in either of the offices enumerated in this section, shall be filled by an elec- tion for so much of the said term as remains unex- pired. to be held at such time as shall be directed by the Council, and in the manner prescribed in this Act ; and in case the vacancy be in the office of clerk of either court, the said Hustings Court may appoint a clerk pro tempore. who shall discharge all the duties of the office thus vacated until a clerk shall be elected and qualified. These shall also be elected at the time hereinbefore named, and every fourth year thereafter, an attorney for the Commonwealth for said courts, who shall perform the same duties as attorneys for the Commonwealth in the County and Circuit courts.
Section 9. Any white male citizen, who is qualified to vote for city officers under this Act, shall be eligible as a member of the Council or of the Court of Hust- ings, or to any other office created or contained in this Act. But no keeper of an ordinary shall be so eligible.
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