Wood County, West Virginia Genealogy

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

County Courthouse
County Clerk has birth, marriage and death from 1850 Probate record, military records from 1900 County Assessor has land records from1798 Clerk Circuit Court has divorce and county records

History
Wood County History Wood County Historical and Preservation Society

Parent County
1798--Wood County was created 21 December 1798 from Harrison County. County seat:Parkersburg

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating West Virginia county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation West Virginia County Boundary Maps" (1617-1995) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Populated Places
Wood County, West Virginia Genealogy Communities

Neighboring Counties

 * Athens County, Ohio
 * Jackson
 * Meigs County, Ohio
 * Pleasants
 * Ritchie
 * Washington County, Ohio
 * Wirt

Research Guides

 * "A Guide to the Counties of Virginia: Wood County," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1976):297-300. ; digital version at American Ancestors ($).

Cemeteries

 * Wood County, West Virginia Funeral Homes
 * Wood County WV Genealogy Obituaries
 * Wood County, West Virginia Obituaries
 * West Virginia Cemetery Preservation Association Wood County
 * Random Acts WV Cemetery Records Research Guide

Census
Wood County, West Virginia Census

Church
Wood County, West Virginia Bible Records

Genealogy

 * Agnew - Roberts, Gary Boyd. The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States: Who Were Themselves Notable or Left Descendants Notable in American History. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2008. ; online bookstore; 2004 digital edition at Ancestry ($).
 * Blennerhasset - Roberts, Gary Boyd. The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States: Who Were Themselves Notable or Left Descendants Notable in American History. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2008. ; online bookstore; 2004 digital edition at Ancestry ($).
 * Cooke - Welles, Albert. American Family Antiquity. New York: Society Library, 1880. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.
 * Cunningham - Newman, Betty Cunningham. Adam and 500 More Cunninghams of the Valley of Virginia, c.1734-c.1800. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, Inc., 2000..
 * Kiger - Pappas, Carolyn H. "Christopher Beeler, 1705-1775," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1999):243-255; Vol. 44, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 2000):18-30; Vol. 44, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 2000):115-125. Digital version at American Ancestors ($)..
 * Page - Rutherford, Dolores Crumrine. Page Family Records in Virginia Counties. 2 vols. Carmichael, Calif.: D.C. Rutherford, 1982-2006. Wood County appears in Vol. 2 Part 4
 * Page - Rutherford, Dolores Crumrine. The Page Family in Virginia Personal Property Taxes (1782-1850). 2 vols. Carmichael, Calif.: D.C. Rutherford, 2002. Wood County appears in Vol. 2

Local Histories
West Virginia Archives History Wood County

“Area Families Have Interest in Saga of John Jones His Sister Polly” by Helen E White of the Parkersburg (Wood County, WV) News Staff, December 1964

The Thornes, the McCutcheons, Bumgarners, Cheuvronts, Roberts, McClungs, the Ashleys, Browns, and many other old families in Wood, Wirt and adjoining counties all have a common ancestor and interest in the little known saga of John Jones and his sister Polly.

The story begins on a June evening on Dunkard Creek in Monongalia County in the year 1777 when Polly was 13 and John 11.

On this fresh, rain-washed evening there was excitement in the cabin of Jacob Jones as he, accompanied by his two children, John and Polly, were preparing to go and spend the night at the cabin of Jacob Farmer, about two miles up the creek.

By staying the night with the Farmers, they would be up early the next morning to help their neighbor with his corn hoeing, which helpful customs being common among pioneer families.

At dusk, the trio started out, Jones carrying his flintlock, Polly skipping along in her nut-brown linsey-woolsey and John bringing up the rear clad in homespun jeans. The children carried three hoes against the morrow’s task.

About a mile up the creek, so the story has been handed down in the families, they were joined by Alexander Clegg, Nathan Worley and John Marsh who were also on their way to the Farmer’s cabin.

Sometime in the small, silent hours between midnight and dawn, the whinnying of a horse awoke the sleeping occupants of the cabin who discovered they were surrounded by a large band of hostile Inidans. The loopholes of the cabin were quickly manned and the long wait began for morning and the inevitable attack. At the first light of dawn, the Indians opened fire on the isolated dwelling eventually killing Worley and Farmer and leaving the defense to Marsh, Jones, Clegg, Mrs. Farmer and the children.

Against such odds, the outcome was certain. When the Indians finally streamed shrieking into the cabin, Jones and Marsh managed to make their escape. From their concealment they watched the victorious Indians with John and Polly Jones, and Susie Farmer as captives, start out on the long trek back to the Wyandotte settlement near what is now Sandusky, Ohio. Jones and Marsh set out to follow the savages and free the captive children, but about the second day, the Indians’ trail seemed made of air and the men were finally forced to abandon the pursuit and turn back.

Polly, so the old story goes, was quick, unafraid and keen enough to obey the Indians orders while John, although he patterned his behavior much after his sisters, fretted constantly and spent much time in making plans to escape. But Susie Farmer, two years older than Polly, spent her entire time crying. So, when the Ohio River was reached, Susie was tomahawked and scalped before the eyes of the Jones children. A great celebration was held when the two young white children were led captive into the Indian village. They were made to run the gauntlet several times, and their courage must have impressed the braves, as the two children were adopted into Wyandotte families.

Five years later, John managed to escape and reach Detroit where he was adopted by a Dr. Harvey who educated him to be a physician. Six years after his escape, on his way to England to finish his education, he returned to his old home for a visit. Eventually Dr. John Jones married and settled west of Grafton. His daughter Mary, married Thomas Thorne from near Fairmont, and the young couple came to Palestine in Wirt County to establish their home.

Mary and Thomas Thorne were the parents of 12 children and their descendants are numerous in and around this area; one of whom, a great grandson, Benjamin Franklin Thorne, who died in 1930 was said to be the last Confederate soldier in Wood County.

Polly Jones adjusted to her life among the Indians and lived with them until her rescue in 1787. She was taken to Detroit and adopted by the family of General McCoombs, an English army officer. In 1790, she married Peter Melott, a Frenchman, and they made their home in Kingsville, Ontario.

Polly made but one trip back to her childhood home in 1817. Appearing at the cabin of her parents one spring evening like a ghost from the past, she stayed several months and then returned to Kingsville.

However, the combined descendants of John and Polly Jones hold a large annual family reunion for many years. When Tilden Thorne, the last “president” of the family passed away, the yearly reunions were discontinued, but there are still many of the older ones who remember hearing the story of brown-eyed Polly and her younger brother, John.

Maps

 * Maps of West Virginia (1617-1995)
 * Map of 1850 Virginia and West Virginia
 * Wood County, West Virginia Map

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. 1967 reprint: . [See Virginia, Western District, Wood County on page 136.]
 * 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." ; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes veterans from this county; Virginia section begins on page 238.]

War of 1812

 * Wood County men served in the 113th Regiment.

Civil War

 * - 14th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate). Company N (Night Hawk Rangers).
 * - 20th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry (Confederate). Company G.

Records and histories are available, including:


 * 1861 - 1865
 * 1861 - 1865 U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1861 - 1865 U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)

Naturalization

 * 1814 - 1991 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers
Wood County, WV Genealogy News Clippings

Wood County, West Virginia Newspapers

Probate
Online Probate Records


 * 1724 - 1978 West Virginia Wills and Probate Records 1724-1978 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1756 - 1971 at [https:/familysearch.org/ FamilySearch] — index and images

Wood County, West Virginia Will Books 1833 - 1969

West Virginia

Wood County, West Virginia Wills

Taxation
How can West Virginia tax lists help me?


 * 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. Wood County is included in Vol. 6.]
 * Wood County, West Virginia Tax List

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 1804-1969 - free.

Societies and Libraries
See also a List of West Virginia Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies

Wood County West Virginia Genealogical and Historical Societies

Wood Wood County Public Library

Family History Centers

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

Web Sites

 * Wood County, WV History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * West Virginia Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * West Virginia Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * Wood County, West Virginia Various Records on Microfilm at the Library of Virginia
 * Cyndi's List for West Virginia
 * Wood County West Virginia Genealogies
 * Parkersburg, West Virginia:A Vintage Portrait
 * Parkersburg, West Virginia:A Vintage Portrait

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