I only have a few people in my database that are connected to West Virginia. And by a few, I mean I can count them on one hand. While I was filling in a few missing pieces on those people, I learned that the West Virginia Archives & History website has digitized many vital records, including marriages.
From the Vital Research Records page, you can choose birth, death, or marriage. After you choose a type, you will see on the right-hand side of the page a list of counties and year ranges for records available. All of the images are indexed, so conduct your search, choose from the results list, and view the image of the record.
I managed to find the marriage record for Francis Xavier Webster and Hilda Cummings, who married in Wellsburg, Brooke, West Virginia on 28 January 1937. Francis is my second cousin, three times removed.
Neat find. I had no idea these records were available, and best of all, for FREE!
Genealogy By the States is a theme created by Jim Sanders over at the Hidden Genealogy Nuggets blog.
I love the WV Culture website. My Mom is from West Virginia and we have a ton of family from there. It really helped with some of my research. Plus, in the marriage records I was able to find a marriage ban. It was the first one I had seen related to any of my families.
West Virginia Vital Research Records (http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/) is my #1 favorite site! I’ve used it hundreds of times while researching my WV families. The records can also be searched for on FamilySearch (Partner Site) where parents’ and spouse’s names can be used to narrow the search. It will also catch the ones that are transcribed incorrectly.
Thanks for the tip about FamilySearch!
Julie,
I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/09/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-september-6.html
Have a wonderful weekend!