West Virginia Probate Records

Probate records of West Virginia have been kept by the county courts. You can obtain copies of the complete probate packets by contacting the county clerk's office in the appropriate courthouse. Some probate matters have been recorded in deed books and court order books.

The Family History Library has copies of many calendars of wills, order books, witness books, bonds, fee books, inventories, appraisals, and bills of sale from most counties. From Kanawha County, for example, the library has 208 microfilms of fiduciary settlements for 1871 to 1968, and 121 films of wills for 1820 to 1968.

The following publications index early wills and estate settlements:

Johnston, Ross B. West Virginia Estate Settlements 1753-1850. Fort Worth, Texas: American Reference Publishers, Incorporated, 1969. (Family History Library book 975.4 S2j.) This is arranged by counties and is indexed.

Torrence, Clayton. Virginia Wills and Administrations, 1632-1800. 1930. Reprint. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1965. (Family History Library book 975.5 P22t; film 844943)

Web Sites
http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/local/willsabout.htm