Harrison County, West Virginia Genealogy

United States West Virginia  Harrison County

Guide to Harrison County West Virginia genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
County Clerk has birth and death records from 1853 Marriage Records from 1784

Parent County
1784--Harrison County was created 3 May 1784 from Monongalia County. County seat: Clarksburg

Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Harrison County boundary changes.

Neighboring Counties

 * Barbour
 * Doddridge
 * Lewis
 * Marion
 * Taylor
 * Upshur
 * Wetzel

Cemeteries
Oddfellows Cemetery

Census
1785 Enumeration


 * Harrison County Heads of Families - 1785 at U.S. Census Bureau - free. County begins on page 90.

Baptist
Early Baptist churches (with years constituted):


 * 1) Simpson's Creek (1775)
 * 2) Buchannon (1786)
 * 3) Good Hope (1806)
 * 4) Olive Branch (1803)
 * 5) Salem (1801)
 * 6) Union (1802)
 * 7) West Fork

Harrison County fell within the bounds of the Union Association.

LDS
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Clarksburg

Genealogy

 * [Criss] Johnston, Aaron Montgomery. Ancestors and Descendants of James and Althea (Loose) Johnston and Allied Families: Bennett, Criss, Gay, Loose, Maitland, Montgomery, Palm and Round. Knoxville, Tenn., 1983..
 * [Cunningham] Newman, Betty Cunningham. Adam and 500 More Cunninghams of the Valley of Virginia, c.1734-c.1800. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, Inc., 2000..
 * [Deakins] Ganley, Gladys Dickens. "Some Speculations on a Dickens/Washington Connection," Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, Vol. 27, No. 2 (May 1989):75-81. Digital version at Ancestry ($);.
 * [Dennison] Dennison, Edmund and Karl C. Priest. Baptized on the 4th of July: The Elder Edmund Dennison Story. South Charleston, W. Va.: K.C. Priest, 1995..
 * [Hacker] “A Noted Mason Dead: The Demise of William Hacker at a Ripe Old Age,” [Newspaper obituary] (Shelbyville, Ohio), 29 July 1891, reprinted in Hacker’s Creek Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Fall 1987):31-32 - free digital version at Hacker's Creek website.
 * [Mills] Hackett, John Davis and Kathryn Dickerson Shannon. "Mills Families of Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1991):215-228; Vol. 35, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1991):284-296; Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1992):34-48; Vol. 36, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1992):109-119. Digital version at American Ancestors ($)..
 * [Prunty] Wassenaar, Ardyth. Memoirs and Geneology of the Prunty Family. Seattle, Wash.: A. Wassenaar, 1984?.
 * [Shore] Dennis, Barbara. The Shore Family: Michael Shore and His Descendants. 1971; reprint, Spokane, Wash.: M.B. Shore, 1992..
 * [Swisher] Swisher, Robert Edward. The Swisher Family of Harrison and Lewis Counties, West Virginia. Richmond, Va.: Whittet and Shepperson, 1974..

Maps
Map of 1850 Virginia and West Virginia

Revolutionary War

 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census]. 1841. Digital versions at U.S. Census Bureau and Google Books et. al. 1967 reprint: 973 X2pc 1840. [See Virginia, Western District, Harrison County on page 134.]
 * Rejected or Suspended Applications for Revolutionary War Pensions. Washington, D.C., 1852. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1969, and 1991. Reprints include "an Added Index to States." 973 M24ur; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes veterans from this county; Virginia section begins on page 238.]

War of 1812
Harrison County men served in the 11th and 119th Regiments.

Civil War
Union


 * - 1st Regiment, West Virginia Cavalry

Confederate


 * - 3rd Regiment, Virginia State Line (Cavalry and Infantry) (Confederate). Company C.
 * - 20th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate). Companies E and F.
 * - 31st Regiment, Virginia Infantry (Confederate). Company C (Harrison Rifles) presumably was recruited in Harrison County.

Records and histories are available, including:


 * West Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865

Naturalization
West Virginia, Naturalization Records, 1814-1991

Occupations

 * Cutten, George Barton. The Silversmiths of Virginia (together with Watchmakers and Jewelers) from 1694 to 1850. Richmond, Va.: The Dietz Press, Incorporated, 1952. . [Includes a section on Clarksburg silversmiths.]

Estates and Wills
Harrison County, West Virginia Will Books 1788 - 1970

The earliest Harrison County Will Books also include estate inventories and some accountings and settlements of both testate and intestate estates.

There are mistakes in the titles of some of the Will Books listed at the above list of links and in the Family Search Library Catalog's listing of microfilms.

a) The volume entitled Will book, v. 001 1822-1880 is actually Record of Wills 1822-80. It includes disputed or otherwise unrecorded wills and District Court wills.  It appears to have been compiled from loose wills, but when it was created is unknown.  It is not Will Book 1.

b) The volume entitled Will book, v. 002 1788-1794 is actually Will Book 1 (1788-1814) and with it, as microfilmed, Will Book 2 (1814-1818), which begins with image 254 of 497 uploaded images.

Tax List
How can West Virginia tax list help me?


 * [1784-1800] Harrison County, [West] Virginia Lands: 1784-1800. Extracts in the West Virginia Collection at the West Virginia University Library, Morgantown, West Virginia; also available on microfilm at.
 * [1784-1824] Harrison County, [West] Virginia Tithables Lists, 1784-1824. Original records, Harrison County Courthouse; also available on microfilm at.
 * [1787] Schreiner-Yantis, Netti and Florene Speakman Love. The 1787 Census of Virginia: An Accounting of the Name of Every White Male Tithable Over 21 Years, the Number of White Males Between 16 and 21 Years, the Number of Slaves over 16 and Those Under 16 Years, Together with a Listing of Their Horses, Cattle and Carriages, and Also the Names of All Persons to Whom Ordinary Licenses and Physician's Licenses Were Issued. 3 vols. Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987. Available at . [The source of this publication is the 1787 personal property tax list. Harrison County is included in Vol. 1.]
 * [1789] Indexed images of the 1789 Personal Property Tax List of Harrison County, Virginia (now West Virginia) is indexed online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1801] Images of the 1801 Personal Property Tax List of Harrison County, Virginia (now West Virginia) are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * [1815] Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. Available at . [The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Harrison County is included in Vol. 6.]

Online West Virginia Tax site
West Virginia real and personal property tax records are managed by the County Assessor in each county. Land and land improvements are considered real property while mobile property is classified as personal property.

Many County Assessors offer an online searchable database, where assessment record searches can be performed by name, account number, year, or mp/parcel number. Where online records are not available, requests for records can be made to the Assessment Office in person, by phone, or in writing.

The search for tax information can start here

Vital Records
. Includes marriages 1784-1970 - free.

Societies and Libraries
Hackers Creek Pioneers Descendants Inc c/c Central West Virginia Genealogy and Historical Library P O Box 56 Horner, West Virginia 26372-0056

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Clarksburg West Virginia Family History Center

Websites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Cyndi's List for West Virginia
 * Harrison County, West Virginia Microfilms at the Library of Virginia
 * Harrison County, West Virginia Microfilms at the Library of Virginia

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