Wirt County, West Virginia genealogy and family tree research page. Locate links to record collections, history, and genealogy sources to help you track your Wirt Co., ancestors. Get started by building a Free Family Tree.
Wirt County was established on January 19, 1848 from Jackson County and Wood County. The county was named in honor of William Wirt (1772-1834), U.S. Attorney General.
The County Seat is located in Elizabeth and the county government website is http://www.wirtcounty.wv.gov
Areas adjacent to Wirt County are Wood County (northwest), Ritchie County (northeast), Calhoun County (southeast), Roane County (south), Jackson County (southwest).
Cities and towns located in the county include Brohard, Creston, Elizabeth, Munday, Palestine
Wirt County consists of Federal Census Schedules to aid in researching your family tree. Federal government Population Schedules are present for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 (free index), 1890 (fragment), 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940. Wirt Co. Mortality Schedules can be acquired for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. Wirt Co. Industry and Agriculture can be found for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. Wirt Co. Union Veterans Schedules can be obtained for 1890. One can find free down-loadable and also printable census forms to assist with your research.
A list of Wirt County Historical and Genealogical Societies, Forums, Message Boards, Libraries, Archives. See Also West Virginia Archives, Genealogical and Historical Societies for statewide Addresses and links.
Researchers often overlook the benefits of Wirt County court, probate, and land records as a useful resource of ancestry and genealogy information and facts. Buried away in West Virginia courthouses and archives just about everywhere could be the dreams and worries of many West Virginia residents.
The chances are excellent that your potential ancestors and forefathers have left a comprehensive document of at least a few factors of their lives in the Wirt County court records. Even if your ancestors and forefathers is not referred to in a Court case, take into account all of the other procedures which often can have lead to him or her to appear in court records.
The following indicates what vital, land, probate, and court records are in Wirt county. The dates indicated below are the first known records for this county which may include records of land, estates, taxes, vital records, divorces, naturalizations, voter registration, court records, and so forth. Courthouse Fire in 1910, but apparently not all records lost, as many records prior to 1910 still exist.
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.
The following are web links to Genealogy and family history, Records and Resources related to Wirt County. Each of these genealogy links fall into 3 categories: Business oriented Sites, Personal Sites or Organization Sites. Some have free access some have to have a payment. This is basically a list which has been collected or submitted. I do not endorse or promote one genealogy site above another. Feel free to suggest your own preferred Wirt County genealogy or family history related sites.