West Virginia Biography

You can usually find biographical information in state, regional, and county histories. An excellent source of biographical information on past and present West Virginians is Jim Comstock, West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia and the supplemental series. Family History Library call number 975.4 H26w volumes 1-25 and Family History Library fiche number 6051350 (93 fiches).

An index to biographical sketches in several hundred local histories and genealogies is P. G. Wardell, Timesaving Aid to Virginia-West Virginia Ancestors: A Genealogical Index of Surnames from Published Sources, Four Volumes. (Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Company, 1990; Family History Library book 975 D22w).

Representative biographical sources at the Family History Library are:

Atkinson, George Wesley. Prominent Men of West Virginia. Wheeling, West Virginia: W. L. Callin, 1890. (Family History Library film 1000648 item 3).

Callaham, James Morton. History of West Virginia, Old and New. Three Volumes. Chicago, Illinois: American Historical Society, 1923. (Family History Library book 975.4 H2c; Volume 1 on film 1425634 item 4 and Volumes 2-3 on film 1698201 items 1-2.) Volumes two and three are biographical.

Men of West Virginia. Two Volumes. Chicago, Illinois: Biographical Publishing Company, 1903. (Family History Library book 975.4 D3; film 874390 items 1-2.)

Miller, Thomas Condit, and Hu Maxwell. West Virginia and Its People. Three Volumes. New York, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913. (Family History Library book 975.4 H2mw; film 1000646.) Volumes two and three include family and personal histories.

Web Sites
West Virginia Biographies Project: http://www.wileygenealogy.com/~usbios/wv.html

A History of The Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory http://www.kinyon.com/westvirginia/midnewriver/contents.htm