West Virginia Church Records

The Church of England (now Protestant Episcopal) was the established church in Virginia (including West Virginia) from 1624 to 1786. Other major religious groups in West Virginia were the Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Roman Catholic, and United Brethren churches.

The Historical Records Survey produced detailed inventories of existing church records for the Presbyterian, Protestant Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Protestant, and Episcopal churches. The Family History Library has copies of these inventories. W. Guy Tetrick also surveyed and described the records of many West Virginia churches (FHL film 163930).

Church records from various denominations are available at the West Virginia University and the Archives and History Library. The Family History Library has a few original church records from West Virginia and some published histories.

Many church records are also available at the Virginia State Library. To learn about this collection, see Jewell T. Clark, and Elizabeth Terry Long, A Guide to Church Records in the Archives Branch of the Virginia State Library (Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library, 1981; FHL book 975.5 K23c).

Many denominations have collected their records into central repositories. You can write to the following addresses to learn where their records are located.

Baptist
West Virginia Baptist Historical Society Route #2 Box 304 Ripley WV 25271 Telephone 304-372-3675

Methodist
Methodist Historical Society West Virginia Wesleyan College Annie M. Pfeiffer Library 59 College Avenue Buckhannon, WV 26201 Telephone: 304-473-8013 Fax: 304-473-8888 Email: [mailto:librarian@wvwc.edu librarian@wvwc.edu]

Episcopal
Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia 1608 Virginia Street East P.O. Box 5400 Charleston, WV 25361 Ph: 304-344-3597 Fax: 304-343-3295

Most of the early parish registers are incomplete or missing, but those still existing are at the Virginia State Library. An excellent published history is George W. Peterkin, A History and Record of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of West Virginia (Charleston, West Virginia: Tribune Company, 1902; FHL book 975.4 K2p).

Roman Catholic
Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston 1300 Byron Street P.O. Box 230 Wheeling, WV 26003 Telephone: 304-233-0880 or 1- 888-434-6237 Fax: 304-233-0890

United Brethren
Historical Library Church of the Brethren 1451 Dundee Avenue Elgin, IL 60120 Telephone: 847-742-5100 Fax: 847-742-6103

Web Sites
http://www.churchangel.com/westvirg.htm