King William, VA 23086 - U.S. Post Offices on Waymarking.com

King William County, Virginia was named for William III, King of England (1689-1702). Also known as William of Orange, he was born on November 14, 1650 in The Hague, Netherlands, son of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England. William married his English first cousin Mary Stuart, protestant daughter of the Roman Catholic King James II, in 1677.

Important dates in the history of King William:

* Early 1600s The county was under the domain of the Tsenacommaco or the Powhatan Confederacy. The confederacy, which encompassed 6,000 square miles of eastern Virginia, bound together approximately thirty Algonquian tribes of 13,000 people in 200 villages. It included the Mattaponi and Pamunkey tribes; the Upper Mattaponi tribe is a non-reservated descendent of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey. The paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, Wahunsonacock or Powhatan as the English called him, died in April 1618. He had ceded power to Opitchapan or Itopan about a year earlier in 1617. Opechancanough, Powhatan's younger brother, succeeded Opitchapan in 1619. (The marriage of Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas, to John Rolfe in 1614 ensured peace with the English colonists.)

* 1608 Captain John Smith, who was a member and later president of the Jamestown settlement's governing council, explored the site of the present-day Town of West Point. This area was the location of the Indian town of Cinquoteck, or Paumunkee Town as Smith referred to it.

* 1634 Charles River County was created. It was one of the eight original shires, similar to those in England. The new county, which was named after the reigning English King Charles I, encompassed the lands lying to the north and west of the York River. The new county presumably included Pamunkey Neck, which is the land laying between the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers. The names of the county and river were changed to York in 1643 to honor James, the second son of Charles I, who that year was made Duke of York. (In 1664 the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, which was captured by the English during the Dutch War of 1664-1667, was renamed New York after James, the Duke of York. He became James II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1685 and abdicated the throne to William III and Mary II during the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689.)

* 1646 Under Governor Sir William Berkeley the English imposed a peace treaty on the new chief of the Powhatan, Necotowance. The treaty restricted habitation and hunting by the Indians to north side of York River, presumably including Pamunkey Neck, ceded to the English all peninsular lands between the James and York Rivers as far inland as the falls at present-day Richmond, and made the tribes dominions of the crown. The treaty followed the defeat of the Powhatan Indians during their last great uprising that began on April 18, 1644 and the slaying of their captured leader, Opechancanough, in October 1644.

* 1653 Colonel William Claiborne was granted a patent of 5,000 acres, including Romancoke.

o March 6 - Governor John West patented 3,000 acres of land at the confluence of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers. West named his tract West Point in honor of his family.

* 1654 New Kent County was created from York County. The new county, which was probably named after the English shire of Kent, encompassed lands lying to the heads of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers including Pamunkey Neck.

* 1658 The Virginia General Assembly enacted the legislation creating the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Indian Reservations.

* 1677 May 29 - A peace treaty between the remnants of six Indian tribes and English King Charles II, acting through Governor Herbert Jeffreys and the Council of State, required the tribes to avow allegiance to the queen of the Pamunkey and the English crown. The treaty effectively reaffirmed the existence of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Indian lands, later called reservations, and stipulated payment each March of an annual quitrent to the governor. The Mattaponi and Pamunkey Indian reservations are the only reservations in Virginia and two of the oldest reservations in the United States.

* 1691 King & Queen County was created from New Kent County. The new county, which was named after the ruling English monarchs, King William III and Queen Mary II, encompassed lands lying north of the Pamunkey and York Rivers including Pamunkey Neck. The legislative enabling act that created the new county contained the first official reference to English town lands at West Point in Pamunkey Neck

* 1692 The House of Burgesses, the lower house of the General Assembly, rejected a petition from inhabitants of King & Queen County requesting legalization of titles and possession of lands that they acquired from the Indians in the Pamunkey Neck section of the county.

* 1693 King William III and Queen Mary II granted the College of William & Mary its royal charter, which included an endowment of 10,000 acres in the upper part of Pamunkey Neck. The land was sold to lessees by 1830.

* 1695 May 4 - William Leigh and Joshua Story, burgesses for King & Queen County, introduced the first legislative petition to divide King & Queen County and to create a new county. The bill was passed by the House of Burgesses but was defeated by the Council, which was the upper chamber of the legislature.

* 1699 June 21 - The Council-appointed a commission to meet at King & Queen County Court House in September and to examine the validity of private land claims in the Pamunkey Neck section of the county.

* 1701 August - The General Assembly passed the act that established a regional port town called Delaware (or Del la War), the predecessor of the Town of West Point. The new town was situated on land conveyed by John West III and three siblings to King & Queen County for establishment of a regional port.

o September 4 - The Council-appointed commission submitted its report to the General Assembly. The legislature adopted the report's recommendations, approving patents for 50 settlers and denying patents for 16 other settlers.

o September 5 - The bill to establish a distinct county from King & Queen County was introduced in the legislature by Robert Beverley, a burgess from Jamestown who held the clerkship for King & Queen County.

o October 2 - The General Assembly passed and Governor Frances Nicholson assented to the enabling act creating a distinct county from the Pamunkey Neck section of King & Queen County. The new county was named for the reigning English monarch, King William III. Queen Mary II had died in 1694.

*1702 March - Governor Nicholson commissioned thirteen justices of the peace who collectively served as the local governing body, the county court, for the new County of King William.

o April 11 - The legislative act, which established King William County, became effective on the thirteenth anniversary of William and Mary's coronation. King William County became the 24th county in existence at that time in Virginia. King William County's royal namesake died on March 19th, only twenty-three days prior to the establishment of the county.

o June 20 - The King William County conducted its first election. John and Nathaniel West, brothers, were elected to represent the county in the lower house in the state legislature.

* 1704 The General Assembly enacted a general law establishing 15 towns, which reestablished Delaware Town.

* 1707 June - The first lots in Delaware Town were sold.

* 1721 Spotsylvania County was formed from King William, King & Queen and Essex Counties. The new county was named after Alexander Spotswood, the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 1710-1722 under the nominal governorship of George Hamilton, 1st earl of Orkney. In 1716 Spotswood led an expedition of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe from Chelsea plantation in King William County to the Shenandoah Valley in order to advance its settlement.

* 1728 Caroline County was formed from King William, King & Queen and Essex Counties. The new county was named after Caroline of Anspach, the queen consort of the reigning English King George II.

* 1870 July 11 - The state legislative act, which established the present-day incorporated Town of West Point, became effective.

o September 11 - The Town of West Point conducted its first council election.

* 1926 Port Richmond incorporated as a town pursuant to an act of the General Assembly.

* 1928 Port Richmond unincorporated as a town following the repeal of its municipal charter by the General Assembly.

* 1964 January 1 - The Town of West Point annexed the adjacent unincorporated Port Richmond area of the county. The annexation followed voter approval in an advisory referendum held on May 7, 1963.


SOURCES:

King William Historical Society (http://kingwilliamhistory.org/about_history.html)

King William County Government (http://www.kingwilliamcounty.us/history_tourism.htm)

Type of structure:: Stand alone re-enter Zip Code here:: 23086 Current Status:: Still in Use

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