Nicholas, Fayette, and Kanawha County Clerks
What records do they have online or at the courthouse?
I’m looking at the County Clerks’ offices in Monroe, Greenbrier, Fayette, Nicholas, Kanawha, Summers, and Raleigh Counties to try to get familiar with the records they have online and the records that are only available in person or by mail. Yesterday, I posted my introduction to Greenbrier and Monroe. Though their systems are not exactly the same, I was impressed with the work they have done toward making vital records and legal documents more accessible.
Someone on another genealogy Facebook page told me about this county clerk’s office. I have checked out their online records, and they are very impressive. They seem to go further back than Greenbrier or Monroe, and they also have more detail. This is the link I was given. I always try to put in a surname and then arrange the date column with earliest records at the top. Also, a surname may have been spelled various ways, so you’ll want to do multiple searches or else just put the first four letters. I had to put VAND to pull up Vandal, Vandale, Vandell, Vandle, etc. all on the same list.
Here is what happened when I put in one of my surnames. Impressive.
With that name, I also had to try Kunz, Kuhn, and Kuntz.
Here is the information provided on the Homepage:
Fayette County has a similar record/document system as the other courthouses, but it doesn’t appear to have the very early dates. I could be wrong. Skaggs was one of the earliest names in the area, but these are the earliest records that came up.
If you want the County Clerk to look for your documents, here is a fee schedule.
This is information about what is available and what the County Clerk’s job is:
This site, like the others, has a very appealing layout. I tend to believe that all of these clerks cater more to genealogists than county clerks in other states do. West Virginians love learning about their family history.
Here is the information provided on the main page. I did not find any documents available virtually, but I suggest you try to prove me wrong and supply the links below. :)
Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the County Clerk sites for Summers and Raleigh counties.
Please feel free to provide your own links or comments.