Roane County, West Virginia Genealogical Records Information

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Roane County History and Information

Roane County Facts

See D.O.T. Maps for a Detailed County Map

Roane County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on March 11, 1856 from parts of Gilmer, Jackson and Kanawha counties. It was named in honor of Judge Spencer Roane (1762-1822).

County Seat - Albert Gallatin explored present-day Roane County in 1785 and subsequently claimed over 50,000 acres of land in the area, including present-day Spencer. Indian hostilities and the lack of transportation in the area prevented its development and Gallatin turned his attention to his farm in then-Fayette County and to politics. He later rose to national prominence as Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury and James Madison's Ambassador to France.

As mentioned earlier, Samuel Tanner and his wife, Sudna, were Spencer's first residents. They arrived in 1812, along with a man named Jonathan Wolf(e), who lived with them. Their daughter, Elizabeth, was born that year, reportedly while they still lived in the cave. Several years later, as more setters arrived, the area became known as Tanner's Cross Road, and later as Cassville. In 1849, Raleigh (Rollo) Butcher, intending to go to California to search for gold, arrived in Cassville and decided to stay, building a large frame house and opening a popular tavern. The area became known as New California, because it was the place where Butcher stopped on his way west. Some local residents resented the name, seeing it as a way of poking fun at Mr. Butcher and local residents. When the petition to form a new county was being circulated, Henry Hughes, a prominent lawyer in the town, also circulated a petition to change the town's name.

The first meeting of the Roane County court was held at the home of M. Benson Armstrong on April 7, 1856 in New California. The county's eleven Justices of the Peace elected John W. Cain presiding Judge, and J. Marcellus McWhorter county clerk. Later, Thomas Ferrell became the county's first sheriff. The county's voters then selected New California over Robert Luney's Farm as the county seat. In 1858, the town was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly and renamed Spencer, presumably in honor of Judge Spencer Roane, although some historians argue that it may have also been named in honor one of the town's first school teachers, John S. Spencer. The town was incorporated on February 20, 1867.

See also Extended History for more historical details.

Areas adjacent to Roane County are Wirt County (north), Calhoun County (east), Clay County (southeast), Kanawha County (south), Jackson County (west). Roane County Cities and Towns Include Amma, Clio, Gandeeville, Harmony, Left Hand, Linden, Looneyville, Newton, Reedy, Spencer, Tariff, Uler, Walton

Official County Government/ Community Website
Roane County, West Virginia History Books at Amazon.com
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Roane County Court Records

See Also West Virginia Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.
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.

Roane County Clerk has Land Records from 1856, Marriage Records from 1856, Probate Records from 1856 and Birth & Death Records from 1856 -Present and is located at the Courthouse, 200 Main Street, P. O. Box 69, Spencer, WV 25276; 304-927-2860, Fax: 304-927-2489 .
The County Clerk's many duties include some of the following: the issuance of marriage licenses, birth and death certificates, record births, marriages and deaths in the county, serve as the recorder of all documents, prepare and send to all heirs a Notice to Redeem and take care of publications, redemptions or recording deeds with regard to delinquent property, issue military service discharge records and probate wills and assist in administration of estates.

Roane County Clerk of Circuit Court has Court Records from 1856 and is located at the Courthouse, P. O. Box 122, Spencer, WV 25276-0122; 304-927-2750, Fax: 304-927-2164 .
The County Clerk of the Circuit Court's many duties include some of the following: Serve as the Clerk to the Circuit and Family Court, Issue mesne (during the progress of a case) process, Issue final process to enforce and execute judgements, Appoint guardian ad litem where required, Responsible for all papers filed in the office; serve as registrar, recorder and custodian for all pleadings, documents and funds pertaining to cases filed in circuit court and family court, Responsible for the administration and management of the petit and grand jury systems in the county

Since West Virginia was part of Virginia prior to 1863, see Virginia Databases for all records before that date.

Click Here to Search West Virginia Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Roane County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Roane County Court Records by clicking the link below:

West Virginia Marriage Records, 1863-1900
Roane County, West Virginia Court Books at Amazon.com
West Virginia Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.

Roane County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

While people were taxed in Virginia prior to 1782, not many tax lists for that early period have survived, and the originals that have survived are at the Virginia State Library. Colonial period taxes were imposed on the personal property of males who were twenty-one and older, and called "tithables." While there is no comprehensive list or collection of early tax lists, many fragments are printed throughout Virginia genealogical literature

West Virginia has one of the most complete sets of old tax records in existence. Land tax records dating from 1782 to 1936 for all counties, with some through 1959, are available at the Archives and History Library in Charleston. Most county clerks have duplicate copies in their offices. As noted in the section on Virginia, the Virginia State Library has the original unindexed personal property tax records from 1782 to 1863.

Below is a list of online resources for Roane County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Roane County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Roane County, West Virginia Tax Books at Amazon.com

Roane County Genealogical Addresses

The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Roane County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Roane County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Roane County Historical Society, Inc., P. O. Box 161, Spencer, WV 25276-0161
Local West Virginia Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
West Virginia Archives and History, The Cultural Center; 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, E.; Charleston, WV 25305-0300. Read here before requesting research
Publication: West Virginia History. This facility consists of the library, archives, and a museum containing materials from 1760 to present.
West Virginia Genealogical Society, Post Office Box 249, Elkview, West Virginia 25071
West Virginia Historical Society, PO Box 5220, Charleston, WV 25361
West Virginia Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
West Virginia Genealogical Society Books at Amazon.com

Roane County Church & Cemeteries

Click Here to Search West Virginia Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Roane County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Roane County Tombstone Transcription Project.

Many religious groups have deposited their records at the West Virginia and Regional History Collection. Church record inventories compiled as part of the Historical Records Survey are available there and at the FHL. For a complete discussion of early church records, see Virginia-Church Records.

The most extensive collection of West Virginia tombstone inscriptions was compiled by the Historical Records Survey. Available at the West Virginia and Regional History Collection and on microfilm at the FHL, the collection includes inscriptions through 1939-40. The DAR and others have published volumes of cemetery records.

Below is a list of online resources for Roane County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Roane County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Click Here to Search West Virginia Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Roane County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Roane County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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County History

The First Settlers

The first native settlers in central West Virginia (Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Gilmer, Lewis, Nicholas, Roane, Upshur, and Webster counties) were the Mound Builders, also known as the Adena people. Remnants of their civilization have been found throughout northern West Virginia, with many artifacts found in the Northern Panhandle, especially in Marshall County.

The following is a brief history overview:

Several thousand Hurons occupied present-day West Virginia during the late 1500s and early 1600s.
During the 1600s, the Iroquois Confederacy (then consisting of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Seneca tribes) drove the Hurons from the state and used it primarily as a hunting ground.
During the early 1700s, the Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, and other Indian tribes also used present-day West Virginia as a hunting ground. West Virginia's Potomac Highlands was inhabited by the Tuscarora. They eventually migrated northward to New York and, in 1712, became the sixth nation to formally be admitted to the Iroquois Confederacy. The Cherokee Nation claimed southern West Virginia.
In 1744, Virginia officials purchased the Iroquois title of ownership to West Virginia in the Treaty of Lancaster.
The Delaware, Mingo, and Shawnee sided with the French during the French and Indian War (1755-1763). The Iroquois Confederacy officially remained neutral, but many in the Iroquois Confederacy allied with the French.
When the French and Indian War was over, England's King George III feared that more tension between Native Americans and settlers was inevitable. In an attempt to avert further bloodshed, he issued the Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. The Proclamation was, for the most part, ignored.
During the summer of 1763, Ottawa Chief Pontiac led raids on key British forts in the Great Lakes region. Shawnee Chief Keigh-tugh-qua, also known as Cornstalk, led similar raids on western Virginia settlements. The uprisings ended on August 6, 1763 when British forces, under the command of Colonel Henry Bouquet, defeated Delaware and Shawnee forces at Bushy Run in western Pennsylvania.
In 1768, the Iroquois Confederacy (often called the Six Nations) and the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Hard Labour and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, relinquishing their claims on the territory between the Ohio River and the Alleghenies to the British.
In April 1774, the Yellow Creek Massacre took place near Wheeling. Among the dead were Mingo Chief Logan's brother and pregnant sister. Violence then escalated intoLord Dunmore's War.
On October 10, 1774, Colonel Andrew Lewis and approximately 800 men defeated 1,200 Indian warriors led by Shawnee Chief Cornstalk at the Battle of Point Pleasant, ending Lord Dunmore's War.
The Mingo and Shawnee allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War (1776-1783). One of the more notable battles occurred in 1777 when a war party of 350 Wyandot, Shawnee, and Mingo warriors, armed by the British, attacked Fort Henry, near present-day Wheeling. Nearly half of the Americans manning the fort were killed in the three-day assault. Following the war, the Mingo and Shawnee, once again allied with the losing side, returned to their homes in Ohio. As the number of settlers in the region grew, both the Mingo and the Shawnee move further inland, leaving western Virginia to the white settlers.

Roane County's European Pioneers and Settlers

Jesse Hughes, of present-day Lewis County, is credited as the first Englishman to set foot in present-day Roane County. In 1772, he led a small party, including William Lowther and Elias Hughes, into the Little Kanawha Valley and is believed to have passed through the county. He told many of his relatives that the area would make a fine home. Several of his and his wife, Grace (Tanner) Hughes, relatives and children became Roane County's earliest settlers.

In 1812, Samuel Tanner and his wife, Sudna Carpenter Tanner, became Roane County's first settlers when they constructed a rudimentary shelter inside a cave in present-day Spencer. The following year, they built a log cabin. In 1814, several of their relatives moved to the Spring Creek area, just a few miles south of the Tanner homestead. Four of these families last names were recorded: Tanner, Carpenter, Miller and Runnion. John Greathouse, Samuel Tanner's cousin, arrived the following year. In 1816, the Spring Creek area became known as Tanner's Cross Roads because two paths bisected the area.

Around 1816, several families moved to the Reedy area, then known as Three Forks. By 1823, the following pioneers and their families resided in the Reedy area: Patrick Board, Robert Blosser, a Mr. Cain, a Mr. Roach, David and Thomas Seaman, and Charles Stewart.

Important Events in Roane County during the 1800s

In 1853, the Gilmer (or Glenville), Ripley, and Ohio Turnpike opened between New California (Spencer) and Ripley. The construction of wagon roads played an important role in opening up the county for economic development and settlement.

Most of Roane County's residents sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Peregrine Hays, former sheriff of Gilmer and Calhoun counties, led the "Moccasin Rangers," a band of para-military soldiers for the Confederacy, in a series of raids against Union forces in the Roane County area throughout the war. Earlier, he played an important role in Roane County's formation.

In 1893, Spencer State Hospital, the state's second hospital for the care of the insane, opened for business in Spencer and continued in operation until 1989. At the time of its construction, it was known as the longest continuous brick building in the nation (it was one-quarter of a mile in length). The Hospital's 184 acres of land were purchased from William R. Goff in 1888 for $9,200. The following year, Mr. Goff, using the proceeds from the land sale, and several other investors formed the county's first bank, the Bank of Spencer

County Name Origin

Spencer Roane was born in Essex County, Virginia on April 4, 1762. In 1777, he began studies at William and Mary College and later studied the law. After establishing his law practice he entered the Virginia House of Delegates, and, in 1784, became a member of the council of state. He soon resigned that office and resumed the practice of law, and was elected to the state legislature again. In 1789, he was appointed a judge of the Virginia general court and, in 1794, a judge of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. He served in that office until his death in 1822. He was widely considered one of the most able jurists in the state and nation, often writing political commentaries for the state's leading newspapers. In 1819, he served on the commission that helped to establish the University of Virginia. A life-long advocate of state's rights, he died on September 4, 1822. His wife, Anne, was the daughter of Patrick Henry, his son, William H. Roane, served in the United States Senate, and his nephew, Thomas Ritchie, was one of the nation's leading publishers and Ritchie County's namesake.

Local folklore indicates that the county was named for Judge Roane because of an act of kindness. According to the story, when he was a young boy John P. Thomasson's wagon became stuck in the mud. Judge Roane helped him free the wagon. Thomasson never forgot the kindness and decades later, when petitioning to form the new county before the Virginia General Assembly, he recommended that the county be named in Judge Roane's honor.

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