The state of West Virginia has the nickname of “The Mountain State”. Are you searching for more information about your ancestors who once lived in West Virginia? There are plenty of online West Virginia genealogy resources that can help you. Start with the ones that are in this blog!
Cyndi’s List is probably the most comprehensive list of links to online genealogy resources. If it is located somewhere in the internet, then Cyndi’s List has a link to it! They have a page called “United States – West Virginia”. Start by selection one of their many categories to browse through. Categories include: “Birth, Marriage, Death”, “Census”, “Counties”, “Military”, “Newspapers”, and more!
Interment.net has cemetery records online. Start by putting the first and last name of your ancestor into the search engine at the top of their website. Or, you can start by clicking on a link for a particular county in West Virginia. If there is a link, it means that Interment.net has information about records from cemeteries that are located within the county. Sorry, there is no information for Gilmer, Morgan, Ohio, Preston, Summers, or Tucker.
Ancestry.com has a page that is filled with links to all of their West Virginia collections of records. In order to access the majority of these records, you must have an Ancestry.com membership. Sometimes, a collection may be offered for free access. Return to their page often. Ancestry.com does a great job of making it clear when a collection is new, has been updated, or is currently offered for free.
FamilySearch has a Wiki page about the state of West Virginia. Click on a link for a particular county, and it will take you to another FamilySearch Wiki page about that county. Towards the bottom of the page, there are a series of links to more FamilySearch Wiki pages that are about specific FamilySearch collections of West Virginia records.
Facebook has a Community Page for FamilySearch West Virginia Genealogy Research. This is a great resource for genealogists who want to connect with more genealogists who are also working on West Virginia genealogy right now. You will also find links to FamilySearch collections of records for the state.
GeneaLinks has a search engine at the top of their website. Start by putting the first and last name of your ancestor into it. Choose which type of record you want to search through: vital, birth, death, marriage, divorce, or “Genealogy”. GeneaLinks also has helpful information for genealogists who are new to West Virginia genealogy. Did you know that privacy restrictions for birth registrations must be 100 years old before they are open to the public?
Image by Jeff Kubina on Flickr