Northampton County, Virginia: History
When English colonists first arrived in the area in the early 1600s, the Virginia Eastern Shore region was governed by Debedeavon (aka "The Laughing King"), who was the paramount chief of the Accomac people, which numbered around 2,000 at the time. The former name of the county was Accomac Shire, one of the original eight shires of Virginia created in 1634 after the founding of the first settlement at Jamestown in 1607. In 1642, the name was changed to Northampton County by the colonists. In 1663, Northampton County was split into two counties that still exist today. The northern two-thirds took the original "Accomac" name (Accomack County), while the southern third to the Point Cape Charles remained as Northampton.
Northampton County is notable for a colonial court case involving an indentured servant. The first free negro in North America was Anthony Johnson of Northampton County. Johnson was one of the first black Americans to own land in America. In 1653, Johnson brought suit in Northampton County Court to argue that one of his servants, John Casor, was indentured to him for life. Casor had left him and was working for a neighbor. This was the first instance of a judicial determination in the Thirteen Colonies holding that a person who had committed no crime could be held in servitude for life.
This court ruling decision also gives insight to how owners of indentured servants could easily choose to ignore the expiration of indentured contracts and force their servants into lifetime slavery. Although Casor, an African, had well-known white planters taking his part, he was reduced to lifetime slavery. Some planters sought more profitable methods of labor by taking advantage of Negro indentured servants, who had little recourse in the legal and social system to protect their rights.