What is "wicocomico"

The Wicocomico, Wiccocomoco, Wighcocomoco, or Wicomico were an Algonquian-speaking tribe who lived in Northumberland County, Virginia, at the head and slightly north of the Little Wicomico River. They were a fringe group in Powhatan’s Confederacy. In the mid-seventeenth century, the colonial court of Virginia ordered them to merge with a smaller tribe; the group was known as Wicocomico when assigned a reservation of near Dividing Creek, south of the Great Wicomico River.

After losing the last of their reservation land in the early 1700s, the tribe disappeared from the historical record and was considered extinct. Since the late twentieth century, descendants have organized, documented history and genealogy, and are seeking recognition.