Step-by-Step West Virginia Research, 1850-1910

Step 1: Find out everything possible from living relatives and their family records.
Every good genealogy project starts with finding all the clues that can be gathered from living relatives — both from their memories and from documents or memorabilia in their homes.

What are the best questions to ask?
In order to extend research, ask for names, dates, and places. Everything about who a relative was and when and where they lived is a clue to a new record search. For ideas, see :
 * 50 Questions to Ask Relatives About Family History


 * Creating Oral Histories

What documents should be collected or copied?
Because these records cover names, dates, places, and relationships, they are a valuable source of clues. Look for them in your home, your parents' home, and ask living grandparents to check for them.

Step 2: Find ancestors in every possible census record, 1850-1950, online.
Example of a census record.
 * A census is a count and description of the population for a given date. A census took a "snapshot" of a family on a certain day.
 * For each person living in a household (depending on the year), their name, age, birthplace, relationship to head of household, place of birth for father and mother, citizenship status, year of immigration, mother of how many children and number of children living, native language, and whether they were a veteran of the military can be listed.
 * Searching for a family in census records every ten years can identify all the children in a family.
 * Searching in earlier census records to find someone as a child can identify parents.



Look for ancestors in as many censuses as possible. Use the clues from each census for hints where to find families in both earlier and later census records.
- For more information, see Virginia Census and United States Census.

Step 3: Try to find additional details in death certificates, Social Security, obituary and cemetery records online.
When a person dies, several records will be created: death certificates, Social Security records, obituaries, and cemetery records.
 * Death certificates can give birth information for people born before actual birth registration began. Death certificates frequently give the birth date and place, parents' names, and birth places of parents.


 * The Social Security Death Index includes those who had a Social Security number and/or applied for benefits. The index entries give the person's full birth date, last known residence, and residence at the time they first enrolled.


 * The Social Security Applications and Claims Index provides information filed in the application or claims process, including valuable details such as birth date, birth place, and parents’ names.


 * Cemetery records can be as simple as the information on the headstone or, in some FindAGrave records, they can report more thorough information about birth, parents, spouses, children, and siblings.

Example of a death index entry.



Death Indexes

 * WV Division of Culture and History Death Records.
 * Index & images
 * West Virginia Death Index Index & images ($)
 * West Virginia Deaths Index Index only ($)
 * Index only

Writing for Full Death Certificates
The full original certificate will contain information not contained in the index. Although it costs money, consider sending for the full original certificates, particularly for direct line ancestors (grandparents, great-grandparents, etc).
 * Where to Write for Virginia Birth, Marriage, Death and Divorce Records

U.S. Social Security Records

 * The U.S. Social Security program began in 1935 but most deaths recorded in the index happened after 1962.
 * The Social Security Death index includes those who had a Social Security number and/or applied for benefits.
 * You can search these records online at
 * Also at Ancestry.com, ($), index.
 * The Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 picks up where the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) leaves off, by providing information filed in the application or claims process.
 * The Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 picks up where the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) leaves off, by providing information filed in the application or claims process.


 * If you find an ancestor in the SSDI index, you can order a copy of their original Social Security application (SS-5). If you can prove the individual has died (by sending an obituary or copy of their cemetery headstone), the application will also give the deceased's parents' names, if listed.

Obituaries

 * Genealogybank ($)
 * Obituary Links
 * ObitsArchive.com - West Virginia
 * 1980-2014 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * West Virginia Newspapers ($)
 * West Virgina Online Historical Newspapers
 * WV Archives and History Vertical Files
 * NewspaperArchive ($)

Cemeteries

 * Find-A-Grave
 * at FamilySearch - How to Use This Collection
 * U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current at Ancestry
 * Billion Graves
 * at FamilySearch - How to Use This Collection
 * BillionGraves Index at Findmypast ($)
 * at FamilySearch - How to Use This Collection
 * West Virginia Cemetery Readings, 1941 at Ancestry ($)
 * West Virginia Cemetery Records at AccessGenealogy
 * West Virginia Cemetery Records at Interment
 * at FamilySearch - How to Use This Collection
 * West Virginia Tombstone Transcription Project at USGenWeb Transcription Project
 * Online West Virginia Obituary and Cemetery Indexes at DeathIndexes

For more information, see Virginia Obituaries and Virginia Cemeteries.

Step 4: Search for county birth and marriage records online.
'''Vital records registration of births and marriages at the state level started in 1917. Prior to that the individual counties kept some records. The starting dates of those records vary from county to county, depending on when the county was formed.'''

Online Records
Births Marriages
 * WV Division of Culture and History Birth Records
 * West Virginia, Births Index, 1853-1969 Abstracts ($)
 * Index only.
 * Index and Images
 * West Virginia Birth Index, 1853-1914, index and images ($)
 * WV Division of Culture and History Marriage Records.
 * West Virginia, Marriages Index, 1785-1971 ($)
 * Index and images.
 * Index only.
 * West Virginia Marriage Records, 1863-1900 ($)
 * West Virginia, Marriage Index, 1931-1970, index. ($)

Records at the County Courthouse.
These records were originally created by county clerks, and then copies were sent to the state. County clerks can be willing to help find all the birth records for one family or perform other searches that the state would not do. To contact county clerks by e-mail or telephone, go to the Wiki article for each county. Links to the county Wiki articles are found at the end of this page or by clicking here: Virginia Counties.

For more information on birth, marriage, and death records in Virginia, see How to Find Virginia Birth Records, How to Find Virginia Marriage Records, and How to Find Virginia Death Records.

Step 5: Search military records: World War I and II draft cards.
There are many different types of military records: draft records, enlistment records, service records, pension records, etc. Information in military records can vary from a simple lists of name, age, and residence, to more detailed records including name, residence, age, occupation, marital status, birthplace, physical description, number of dependents, pensions received, disabled veterans, needy veterans, widows or orphans of veterans, and other information. - Example of a World War I draft card. - Example of a World War II draft card.



'''Search the World War I and World War II Draft Collections for male relatives.
- For more information and additional collections, see West Virginia Military Records.
 * , index and images.
 * , index and images.

Step 6: Look for church records online.
Church records function as vital records. Church records are particularly helpful prior to the advent of civil registration.
 * An infant christening or baptism record documents a birth.
 * Many, if not most, people are married in a church, and then a record is created by the minister.
 * Likewise, ministers presided over funerals, then creating a burial record, which documents a death.



Indexes

 * 1853-1928 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Index only.
 * 1854-1932 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Index only.
 * 1854-1932 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Index only.

Quaker (Society of Friends)

 * 1681-1935 U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, index & images ($).

- For help with church records kept in West Virginia, see West Virginia Church Records. To search records by denomination, if you know your ancestors religion, go to Searching for Church Records by Denomination.

Step 7: Search for wills and probate packets.

 * County probate records include '''probate proceedings, petitions, affidavits, orders for sales, reports of sales, administrators' and executors' bonds, guardianship papers, wills, and letters of administration.
 * In a will book, usually just a transcription of the will is recorded. But all of these other records are kept in a probate packet.
 * Administrations are probate proceedings that handled an estate if no known will existed.

Search these indexes and images for probate records.

 * United States Wills and Deeds Experimental Search: West Virginia
 * West Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1724-1978, ($), index and images, incomplete.
 * Index and images.

Probate Information in County Wiki Articles
Each West Virginia county Research Wiki page lists additional probate sources, including where to write for records: West Virginia Counties

For more information, see West Virginia Probate Records and United States Probate Records.

Step 8: If any ancestor was an immigrant, search immigration and naturalization records online.
The census records may show that an ancestor was born in another country. It will be necessary to try to find the town or city they were born in to continue research in the country of origin. Searches of immigration records (usually passenger lists) and naturalization (citizenship) records would be the next step.

West Virginia Immigration Records

 * United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records
 * 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s at Ancestry - index only ($); includes those with Destination of West Virginia; Also at MyHeritage; index only ($)
 * 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritage - index & images ($); includes those with Destination of West Virginia

Cultural Groups

 * 1920-1939 Germany, Bremen Emigration Lists, 1920-1939 at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of West Virginia
 * Germans Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of West Virginia
 * Italians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage - index only ($)
 * Russians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of West Virginia

Passport Records Online

 * 1795-1925 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1795-1925 U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 Index and images, at Ancestry ($)

West Virginia Naturalization and Citizenship Online Records

 * United States Naturalization and Citizenship Online Genealogy Records
 * - index and images
 * West Virginia, Naturalization Records, 1814-1991 ($), also at Findmypast, index, and at My Heritage, index
 * U.S., Naturalization Records - Original Documents, (World Archives Project) for West Virginia, 1856-1867 - Northern District, Wheeling, U.S. District Court ($)
 * West Virginia, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1844-1943 at Ancestry - index & images ($)

For more information, see West Virginia Emigration and Immigration and West Virginia Naturalization and Citizenship.

Step 9: Search land records online.
These records will give the They can contain clues to
 * names of the buyer (grantee) and seller (grantor),
 * previous or new residence of the parties to the deed
 * the date they obtained the land,
 * the description of exact location of the land, sometimes mentioning neighbors.
 * family members who shared ownership of the land,
 * sold or gave land to a child, or
 * officially witnessed the sale.

Search for any ancestor's land records.

 * United States Wills and Deeds Experimental Search: Virginia
 * 1748-1912 (*) at FamilySearch Catalog
 * 1860-1875 (*) at FamilySearch Catalog
 * 1863-1889 (*) at FamilySearch Catalog
 * Sims Index to Land Grants
 * Bureau of Land Management(BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records, index

For more information, see Virginia Land and Property and United States Land and Property.

Local Histories

 * Published histories of towns, counties, and states sometimes contain biographies and accounts of early or prominent families.
 * Here are several websites that feature online copies of printed county histories: West Virginia; that will bring up too many hits. Just use the name of the county and "county": for example, "Hyde County"
 * Google Books. Use keywords "West Virginia" and the county name. Hits will list online readable books, lists of libraries that carry the book, and purchasing opportunities.
 * Family History Books
 * County and Town Histories
 * Internet Archive.Use keywords "West Virginia" and the county name.
 * Ancestry.com, ($). In the Card Catalog search box, use West Virginia and the name of the county.

FamilySearch Collected Local Histories

 * Local histories are extensively collected by the FamilySearch Library, public and university libraries, and state and local historical societies.
 * If you have access to the FamilySearch Library or a FamilySearch center, you can find local histories by:
 * Go to the FamilySearch Catalog.
 * In the "Place" field, type the name of your county and click "Search".
 * A list of subheadings for the county will appear. Local histories containing genealogies and biographies will be found under Biography, Genealogy, History, or History - Indexes.

Biographies
These collections of biographies can be searched online. Most have a table of contents and an index. Or use the "Find" function on a computer.
 * County and Town Histories with biographies
 * Men of West Virginia ... v. 1, Vol. 2, e-book
 * 1915 hand-book of West Virginia : the state's wonderful development, its natural resources and industrial advantages, biographies of prominent citizens and stories of leading business institutions, e-book
 * An inside view of the formation of the state of West Virginia. With character sketches of the pioneers in that movement, e-book

Step 11: Contact a local historical or genealogical society.
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 * Historical societies have collections that are frequently little known and often overlooked.
 * Many have a surname file, where they have collected genealogies, newspaper clippings, old photographs, etc.
 * Many have a sort of "pioneer ancestor" program, where people can submit pedigrees to prove they are the descendants of an early resident of the area.
 * Most keep track of queries about families that once lived in the area from other distant relatives who may actually have more family memorabilia.
 * Most keep track of queries about families that once lived in the area from other distant relatives who may actually have more family memorabilia.


 * Find the society on the internet, and they may list their holdings. Or call them on the phone, find out what they have, and find out what arrangements can be made to search their collection. Frequently, one of their members can be hired to search the collection for you.

This online directory by GenealogyInc. lists historical and genealogical societies by county: Click on the map to select a county, then scroll down to the historical or genealogical society listings. Here is an example of an internet website for a local genealogical society.

Historical Images
Records collected and digitized by FamilySearch can all be found through their Historical Images feature.
 * West Virginia, United States Historical Images, New Version
 * West Virginia, United States Historical Images, Old Version

West Virginia Online Genealogy Records
Search any other online records listed in West Virginia Online Genealogy Records. The steps given here are intended to list record sources which can most efficiently identify descendants. Many other online records which might or might not mention descendants are listed in the West Virginia Online Genealogy Records page, including immigration records, land records, military records, newspapers, and probate records, and others. These can be records that cover a smaller group within the population, such as men who served in the military, etc.
 * West Virginia Online Genealogy Records

Step 13: Study the Research Wiki pages for any county in West Virginia.
This article focused more on West Virginia state or state-wide records. There is a separate Wiki article for each county in West Virginia. These articles give information, office addresses, and links to county records.