Many resources for genealogy resources are now available online. While travel to courthouses, cemeteries, archives and libraries is likely to be necessary to compile your family history, researchers now have the convenience of accessing many records from home.
Genealogists have already published genealogical charts or family histories for many West Virginia families. Individual works of family history can be identified by searching for the family name in the library catalog. When searching, treat the family name as a subject heading, for example, Chapman Family, or Morgan Family.
In addition, extensive listings of the published histories of many West Virginia and Virginia families can be found in the following guides:
Stuart E. Brown. Virginia Genealogies: A Trial List of Printed Books and Pamphlets. (Berryville, Va., Virginia Book Company, 1967-1980.)
Robert A. Stewart. Index to Printed Genealogies. (Richmond, Old Dominion Press, 1930. Reprinted: Baltimore, Genealogical Book Company, 1970.)
Useful data concerning people, places, and events in Virginia's and West Virginia's history can be located through this extremely detailed index: Earl Gregg Swem. Virginia Historical Index. (Roanoke, Va. 1934-36. 2 volumes. Reprinted in 1965.)
Virginia Historical Index is a comprehensive index through 1930 to Tyler's Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, and other historical publications.
A wide assortment of works with compilations of brief biographies of West Virginians of state and local prominence include:
George W. Atkinson. Bench and Bar of West Virginia. (Charleston, W.V.: Virginia Law Book Company, 1919).
George W. Atkinson & Alvaro F. Gibbens. Prominent Men of West Virginia. (Wheeling: W.L. Callin, 1890)
Walter E. Clark. West Virginia Today. (New Orleans: J.O. Jones Co. , 1941)
Jim F. Comstock. West Virginia Women. (Richwood, W.Va.: Comstock, 1974)
Ethel Davie. Talent and Courage: Outstanding West Virginia Women in the 1990s. (Charleston, W.V. :Ethel Davie, 1992)
Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Biography of West Virginia. (New York: Atlantic Pub. And Engraving Co., 1894)
Ethel. C. Leahy. Who's Who on the Ohio River and its Tributaries. (Cincinatti, Ohio: E.C. Leahy Pub. Co., 1931)
Men of West Virginia 2 vols. (Chicago: Biographical Pub. Co., 1903)
Robert E. Murphy. Progressive West Virginians. (Wheeling: Wheeling News, 1905)
West Virginians: A Work of Biography. (New Orleans: J.O. Jones Co. , 1928)
West Virginia Women's Commission. Missing Chapters: West Virginia Women in History. (Charleston, W.V. : West Virginia Women's Commission, 1983)
Who's Who in West Virginia. (Chicago: A.N. Marquis Co., 1916, 1939, 1983)
Additional sources for biography include the Personal Name Index, a card index for 50 works of West Virginia history, and the West Virginia Civil War Union Soldiers Index. The West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia is also an excellent source for biographical sketches of hundreds of West Virginians.
Printed volumes of various types of records, such as marriages, births, deaths, cemetery readings, estate settlements, census listings, and census indexes are available for most counties. Examples of compilations of genealogical data include:
Connie J. Casilear. Hampshire County (Virginia), West Virginia Births: 1865-1889. (Winchester, Va.: C.J. Casilear, 1996)
Wes Cochran. Tyler County, W.V., Deaths: 1936-1950. (Parkersburg, W.C. : Wes Cochrane, 1999)
Thomas R. Dille. Monongalia Marriage Bonds: 1796-1835.(Morgantown, W.V.: Dille, 1930-1939)
Pauline Haga. Raleigh County Cemeteries. 5 vols.(Crab Orchard, W.V. : P.Haga, 1980)
William A. Marsh. 1880 Census of West Virginia. 14 vols. Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1993)
Obituaries: Glenville Democrat: 1935-2000. 5 volumes.
[see Book Locations Map for details on location in the reading room. call numbers starting at: ]
West Virginia Counties
Barbour County 929.375459
Berkeley County 929.375499
Boone County 929.375439
Braxton County 929.375466
Brooke County 929.375413
Cabell County 929.375442
Calhoun County 929.375429
Clay County 929.375467
Doddridge County 929.375456
Fayette County 929.375471
Gilmer County 929.375427
Grant County 929.375492
Greenbrier County 929.375488
Hampshire County 929.375497
Hancock County 929.375412
Hardy County 929.375493
Harrison County 929.375457
Jackson County 929.375431
Jefferson County 929.375499
Kanawha County 929.375437
Lewis County 929.375461
Lincoln County 929.375443
Logan County 929.375444
Marion County 929.375454
Marshall County 929.375416
Mason County 929.375433
McDowell County 929.375449
Mercer County 929.375474
Mineral County 929.375494
Mingo County 929.375448
Monongalia County 929.375452
Monroe County 929.375478
Morgan County 929.375496
Nicholas County 929.375469
Ohio County 929.375414
Pendleton County 929.375491
Pleasants County 929.375421
Pocahontas County 929.375487
Preston County 929.375482
Putnam County 929.375435
Raleigh County 929.375473
Randolph County 929.375485
Ritchie County 929.375424
Roane County 929.375436
Summers County 929.375476
Taylor County 929.375455
Tucker County 929.375483
Tyler County 929.375419
Upshur County 929.375462
Wayne County 929.375447
Webster County 929.375465
Wetzel County 929.375418
Wirt County 929.375426
Wood County 929.375422
Wyoming County 929.375445
Albemarle County 929.375548
Alleghany County 929.375581
Augusta County 929.385591
Bath County 929.375587
Botetourt County 929.375583
Clarke County 929.375598
Culpepper County 929.375539
Frederick County 929.375599
Henry County 929.375569
Montgomery County 929.3755785
Orange County 929.375537
Pulaski County 929.3755775
Rockbridge County 929.375585
Rockingham County 929.375592
Shenandoah County 929.375595
Tazewell County 929.375576
Wight County 929.375554
Wythe County 929.375577
