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West Virginia, state of the eastern United States. West Virginia lies in the very heart of the Appalachian Highlands, and its predominantly mountainous terrain and picturesque scenery have led to its nickname as the Mountain State. The state’s unusually irregular boundaries, formed largely by rivers and mountains, give it the shape of a large pan with two handles, one in the north and one in the east. For this reason it is sometimes called the Panhandle State. The Official State Website is http://www.westvirginia.gov/
West Virginia is known for its magnificent scenery and its abundance of natural resources, including coal, oil, gas, and timber. It is one of the leading producers of bituminous coal among the states and is also noted for the manufacture of fine glass. West Virginia, plagued for many years by economic stagnation, has recently attempted to diversify its industrial activity. Yet the state remains one of the poorest in the United States.
West Virginia entered the Union on June 20, 1863, as the 35th state. It was part of Virginia until the American Civil War (1861-1865), when its inhabitants, loyal to the Union, formed a separate state after Virginia became part of the Confederacy. Charleston is West Virginia’s capital and largest city.
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The destruction of courthouses greatly affects genealogists in every way. No only are these historic structures torn from our lives, so are the records they housed: marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others. Once destroyed they are lost forever. Even if they have been placed on mircofilm, computers and film burn too. The most heartbreaking side of this is the fact that many of our courthouses are destroyed at the hands of arsonist. However, not all records were lost.
Counties without significant gaps in vital statistics, wills and deed records: Braxton, Brooke, Doddridge, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Lewis, McDowell, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Mercer, Mineral, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Ohio, Pendleton, Pleasants, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Taylor, Tyler, Upshur, Wayne, Wood.
Below is a list of West Virginia Counties and the years the Courthouses were subjected to a disaster. This does NOT mean that ALL RECORDS were lost. Often, folks took their documents again in for recording after a disaster and later deeds will contain long chains of title, etc.
- Barbour County: Records Missing for Deaths: 1904.
- Berkeley County: Records Missing for Deeds: 1797-98, 1809-11, 1816-17, 1827- 30, 1837-38, 1853-55, 1861-64; Wills: 1832-36, 1849-52, 1854-60; Marriages: 1852-64.
- Boone County: Records Missing for Deeds: Book C; Wills: Book A
- Braxton County: Courthouse fire in 1861, but many records still exist from 1836 on.
- Cabell County: [Some records have been damaged by flood water and are not very legible. Transcripts of many of these records are available as an aid in deciphering them.]
- Calhoun County: Records Missing for Births: 1868-77.
- Clay County: Records Missing for Births: 1897-98; Deaths: 1897-98.
- Jefferson County: Fire in 1803, but records still exit from 1801 on.
- Kanawha County: Marriages for 1844-49 are not missing. The ledger is mislabeled. These years are recorded in correct chronological sequence in the ledger.
- Lewis County: Fire in 1886 destroyed courthouse, but records were saved.
- Logan County: Fire sometime during Civil War. Not all records lost.
- Mingo County: No fire, but flooded in 1977, heavily damaging records. Mingo was not created until 1895, so Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) was not interested in filming Mingo's records during the 1960's-70's when they filmed other counties because LDS was concentrating on pre-1900 records at the time. By the time Mingo records were scheduled for filming, privacy laws had been enacted which prevented copying many records. Births for 1900-24, Deaths for 1894-1925, Marriages for 1895-1926 and Wills for 1895-1926 were filmed.
- Pendleton County: Fire in 1924, but no records lost.
- Preston County - lost records in a courthouse fire in 1869. Lost all Deaths, Marriages, Wills and Deeds before 1869
- Roane County: Both the courthouse built in 1856 and its replacement built in 1887 burned. Could not determine dates of fires. Not all records were destroyed. Many survived.
- Wayne County: Fire in 1921, but no records lost.
- Wirt County: Fire in 1910, but apparently not all records lost, as many records prior to 1910 still exist.
- Fayette County: There are undocumented gaps in several sets of records throughout 1800's, and particularly between roughly 1890 and 1915.
- Hampshire County: [Hampshire County undoubtedly suffered the worst loss of records of all the western Virginia counties during the Civil War. The Library of Virginia microfilm for Hampshire helps fill in the gaps with Births 1853-59, Marriages 1854-60, and Deaths 1853-59.]
Births: Before 1865.
Deaths: Before 1866.
Marriages: 1829-64.
Wills: Books 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21. (There is a roll of microfilm with loose wills dating between 1830 and 1859.)
- Jefferson County: After the county's records were filmed by the Church of the Latter Day Saints, Jefferson County staff numbered the volumes, pages and lines for their Vital Statistics registers and compiled an index using those numbers. The LDS group returned and filmed the new indexes, but did not refilm the registers in which the changes had been made. Consequently, although we have the indexes on microfilm, matching an index entry up to the correct page in a register can be very difficult.
- Kanawha County: Marriages: 1844-49.
- Lincoln County: The Lincoln County Courthouse burned in 1909, destroying almost all records. Some land and land tax records dating from 1867 were not in the building at the time and are available in Lincoln County, but have not been microfilmed. Some effort was made to recreate records, and many Delayed Birth certificates were recorded. Because Lincoln County was formed by a West Virginia legislative act in 1866, well after the beginning of the Civil War, there were no records preserved in Virginia as there were for counties formed earlier.
Births: Before 1909.
Deaths: Before 1909.
Marriages: Before 1895.
- Logan County: Many Logan County records were destroyed during the Civil War, and records were not kept for several years following the war. The Library of Virginia records on microfilm help fill in the years 1853-60.
Births: Before 1872.
Deaths: Before 1872.
Marriages: Before 1872.
Wills: Before 1873.
Deeds: Before 1835.
- Monongalia County: Monongalia is one of the oldest counties, formed in 1776, but had a fire in 1796. Not all records were destroyed.
Marriages: Before 1796.
Wills: Before 1819.
Deeds: Before 1789, but index survives from 1776.
- Morgan County: Morgan County lost records in a courthouse fire in 1844, and again during the Civil War. Some attempts were made to recreate records.
Births: Before 1865.
Deaths: Before 1865.
- Pocahontas County: Deaths: 1901-04.
- Preston County: Preston County lost records in a courthouse fire in 1869. The Library of Virginia records on microfilm provide some birth, death and marriage records for 1853-60.
Births: Before 1869.
Deaths: Before 1869.
Marriages: Before 1869.
Wills: Before 1869.
Deeds: Before 1869.
- Randolph County: Randolph County had a courthouse fire in 1897, but the birth, death, marriage, wills, deeds, etc., were in a vault and saved. Other records were lost.
- Tucker County: Deaths: 1862-63, 1867, 1875-76, 1879, 1883.
- Webster County: In 1860 Webster County was the last county created under Virginia before West Virginia achieved statehood. The Civil War disrupted organization of the new county, with neither Virginia nor West Virginia taking control of Webster's government. As a result, some records were not kept, courts did not meet, etc. Also, in 1888, a courthouse fire destroyed the records that had been kept.
Births: Before 1888.
Deaths: Before 1888.
Marriages: Before 1888.
Wills: Before 1888.
Deeds: Before 1877.
- Wetzel County: Births: 1863-64, 1871-72, 1876.
Deaths: 1862, 1864, 1872-73, 1876.
- Wirt County: Although Wirt County was formed in 1848, many of its records on microfilm do not begin until much later, or have significant gaps. The Library of Virginia records on microfilm fill in some of the gaps for some birth, death and marriage records for 1854-60.
Births: Before 1870.
Deaths: Before 1870, 1875.
Marriages: Before 1854.
- Wyoming County:
Deaths: 1860-64, partial 1865-67, 1868-74.
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