Southampton County was formed in 1749 from Isle of Wight County, and part of Nansemond County was added later. It was either named for the English borough of Southampton or for Henry Wriothesley, third earl of Southampton. In Aug. 1831, a slave rebellion led by preacher and slave Nat Turner took place there. Confederate general and Virginia U.S. senator William Mahone (1826-1895) lived part of his life there. The county seat is Courtland, formerly called Jerusalem. Sussex County was formed from Surry County in 1753 and named for the English county. The county seat is Sussex. This Jeffersonian Roman revival courthouse was completed by 1828 by brick mason Dabney Cosby Sr., who is best known for constructing a series of Jeffersonian courthouses in the style he mastered while employed as a mason in the construction of the Thomas Jefferson-designed University of Virginia.