Ohio County, West Virginia Genealogy

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

Description
The County was named for the Ohio River. The County is located in the northwest area of the state.

County Courthouse
Ohio County Courthouse 1500 Chapline Street Wheeling, WV 26003-3553 Phone: 304-234-3656 Ohio County Website County Clerk has birth and death records from 1853, marriage records from 1793, probate records from 1777, land records from 1778. Clerk of the Circuit Court has divorce and court records from 1884.

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Biographies
Numerous biographies of citizens are available on the Ohio County WVGenWeb site - Biographies

Business, Commerce, and Occupations
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 Wheeling silversmiths.

Church Records
Baptist

Early Baptist churches (with years constituted):


 * Short Creek (1802) A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia. By Robert Baylor Semple and George William Beale. (1810; reprint, Richmond, Va.: Pitt and Dickinson, 1894), Page 440. Available online at Google Books.

Ohio County fell within the bounds of the Red Stone Association.

Quaker

Early monthly meetings (with years of existence):


 * Wheeling Monthly Meeting (1789-1823) aka Head of Wheeling. The Friendly Virginians: America's First Quakers. Jay Worrall. (Athens, Ga.: Iberian Publishing Company, 1994), Pages 537-539..

Historic Churches of Wheeling website presented by the Ohio County Public Library

List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * FamilySearch Places

Directories

 * The Leader, Wheeling city directory 1879-1880 at Family Search Digital Library
 * Ohio County Directories, 1888-93 at Ancestry ($)

Funeral Homes

 * Kepner Funeral Homes
 * Altmeyer Funeral Homes

Genealogies
More than a dozen genealogies are available on the Ohio County WVGenWeb site Genealogy files
 * Beeler - 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 ($)..
 * Craft - Craft, Kenneth Fischer. "The Craft Family in America," The Southwest Virginian, Vol. 4, No. 20 (Apr. 1981):43-45; Vol. 4, No. 21 (June 1981):36-39..
 * Dulin - Boss, Lula Reed. "Revolutionary Soldiers Buried in Mason County, Kentucky," The Kentucky Genealogist, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1968):25-33.

Local Histories
Books
 * History of the Upper Ohio Valley Vol 1 online at: FamilySearch Digital Library
 * History of the Upper Ohio Valley Vol 2 online at: FamilySearch Digital Library
 * History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens online at: GoogleBooks

Online Resources
 * Wheeling History Online Ohio County Public Library
 * Wheeling 250 - In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the city of Wheeling lectures were hosted and are available at Wheeling 250. Topics include:
 * Civil War Roundtable
 * First Families of Wheeling
 * African American Experience
 * Prehistory Wheeling
 * Weelunk publishes articles about local history
 * Archiving Wheeling also has some original content

Maps and Gazetteers

 * FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places
 * Maps of West Virginia (1617-1995)
 * Map of 1850 Virginia and West Virginia
 * Wheeling Area Maps from the Ohio County Public Library
 * Early Wheeling Street Names - A fun article about this change was published by Weelunk

Revolutionary War
Regiments. Service men in Ohio County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Ohio County supplied soldiers for the:


 * - 13th Virginia Regiment (3rd, 5th, 6th, and 9th Companies)

Additional resources:


 * 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, Ohio County on page 135.

War of 1812
Ohio County men served in the 4th Regiment.

Civil War

 * 1861-1865  at FamilySearch — index - How to Use this Collection
 * 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)

Civil War service men from Ohio County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies or regiments that were formed from men of Ohio County.

Union


 * - 1st Regiment, West Virginia Cavalry
 * - 1st Regiment, West Virginia Infantry, Companies A, B, C, E, and K.
 * - 1st Regiment, West Virginia Light Artillery, Battery A Light Artillery.

Confederate


 * - 27th Regiment, Virginia Infantry Company G (Shriver Greys).

World War II

 * 1940-1945 - at FamilySearch — index and images - How to Use this Collection

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1814-1991  at FamilySearch — index and images - How to Use this Collection

Newspapers

 * Wheeling Intelligencer and predecessors from the Ohio County Public Library
 * The Wheeling repository (1807-1808) from Chronicling America
 * Wheeling, West Virginia Newspaper Archives (1874-1897) - $ genealogybank.com

Probate Records
Online Probate Indexes and Records

Will Transcriptions
 * 1724-1978 West Virginia Wills and Probate Records 1724-1978 at Ancestry — index and images $
 * 1756-1971 at FamilySearch — index and images - How to Use this Collection
 * Some individual wills have been transcribed and posted on Ohio County WVGenWeb

Social Security Records

 * 1935-2014 at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.

Tax Records
How can West Virginia tax lists help me?


 * 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 &amp; 21 Years, the Number of Slaves over 16 &amp; Those Under 16 Years, Together with a Listing of Their Horses, Cattle &amp; 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. . The source of this publication is the 1787 personal property tax list. Ohio County is included in Vol. 2.
 * 1790 - Indexed images of the 1790 Personal Property Tax List of Ohio County, Virginia(now West Virginia) are available online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * 1802 - Images of the 1802 Personal Property Tax Lists of Ohio County, Virginia(now West Virginia) are available to browse online, courtesy: Binns Genealogy.
 * 1815 - Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Ga.: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. . The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Ohio County is included in Vol. 6.
 * Personal Property (1811-1850) Ohio County tax list

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

 * West Virginia Vital Records, 1865-1969 (varies) - Includes birth, death, and marriage.

Birth

 * - How to Use this Collection
 * - How to Use this Collection
 * West Virginia Births, digital images available

Marriage

 * 1780-1970 - at FamilySearch — index - How to Use this Collection - The search will link to the West Virginia Vital Records page. Those records will give the date and page number of the volume, but do not provide the volume number. However, with the date and page number information you can browse the FamilySearch collection to locate the appropriate volume.
 * 1801-1962 - West Virginia, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * - How to Use this Collection
 * West Virgina Marriages, digital images available

Death

 * - How to Use this Collection
 * - How to Use this Collection
 * West Virginia Deaths, digital images available

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to Family History Centers

Societies
Wheeling Area Genealogical Society 2237 Marshall Avenue P O Box 6450 Wheeling, WV 26003-6450 Wheeling Area Genealogical Society

Wheeling Area Historical Society 63 Oakland Avenue Wheeling, WV 26003 Phone: 847-537-3119 Email: curator (at) [mailto:wheelinghistoricalsociety.com wheelinghistoricalsociety.com] Wheeling Area Historical Society

Ohio County Public Library 52 - 16th Street Wheeling, WV 26003 Ohio County Public Library

Websites

 * Ohio County, WV History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * West Virginia Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * WVGenWeb
 * Cyndi's List for West Virginia
 * Ohio County, West Virginia Microfilms at the Library of Virginia
 * - The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records