HOW AND WHERE TO LOOK IT UP
RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHING THE HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA. ©2001
William D. Theriault, Ph.D.
17434 Virginia Ave.
Hagerstown, MD 21740
WMTheriault@myactv.net
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9. Cemetary Records
Used in conjunction with other sources, cemetery records (or tombstone inscriptions) can provide valuable information about births, deaths, and marriages in Jefferson County.

Birth and death records for Jefferson County no longer exist for years before 1853. Marriage records from 1802 to the present are available. All of the available birth, death, and marriage records may be found at the Jefferson County Court House, and they were microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah in 1970 and 1973. Death records for Berkeley County from 1772 to 1801 are not available.

The following indexes of birth, death, and marriage records were published in 1970 by Lester J. Link and are available in the Old Charles Town Library: Index of Names Appearing in the Birth Records of Jefferson County, Virginia and West Virginia; Index of Names Appearing in the Death Records of Jefferson County, Virginia and West Virginia; and Marriages, Jefferson County, Virginia and West Virginia, 1801-1880. These resources are available at the Old Charles Town Library.

While official records are the preferred sources of information, the tombstone inscriptions, cemetery records, and obituaries are particularly important to fill in the lack of official sources before 1853. Tombstone inscriptions are not always accurate and are sometimes misread or incorrectly transcribed. Obituaries are also subject to error, and many of them provide references to death (e.g., “died last Thursday”) rather than the specific death date.

The most extensive work on cemetery inscriptions has been published by the Bee Line Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Their Tombstone Inscriptions. Jefferson County, West Virginia (1981) study records tombstone inscriptions from over 120 cemeteries in Jefferson County and is supplemented by records from the court house, churches, and funeral homes. The index provides references to surnames only. D.A.R. cemetery and family records from 1754 to 1900 are available on microfilm from the Genealogical Society of Utah (roll numbers 848,621 and 848,632).

Hugh Voress’ Burials in Jefferson County, West Virginia, 1978-1998, supplements the D.A.R.’s effort, listing burials that occurred after the publication of Tombstone Inscriptions. It also contains tombstone inscriptions and cemetery records not included in the earlier book.

Another extensive record of tombstone inscriptions was published in several issues of the Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society. The following issues contain relevant information: vol. 26 (1960): 26-42; vol. 27 (1961): 35-47; vol. 28 (1962): 41-59; vol. 29 (1963): 38-51; vol. 30 (1964): 48-54; vol. 34 (1968): 45-48; vol. 35 (1969): 39-61; vol. 36 (1970): 57-79; vol. 40 (1974): 51-54; vol. 44 (1978): 69-72. The cemeteries reported in each issue are listed in the Bibliography.

African American burial sites were mapped by Dr. Charles Hulse of Shepherd College in his 1990-91 Jefferson County, West Virginia African-American Cemetery Survey. Hulse's survey results and maps are also found in Explorer CD. Some cemetery records can be found at the West Virginia Archives in Charleston.

Local newspapers such as the Spirit of Jefferson, Free Press, and Shepherdstown Register published brief obituaries. After the Civil War they printed death lists of soldiers and civilians who had died during the war years.

Obituaries in the year following the Civil War often identify former soldiers who died at home from wounds suffered in the war. Several other sources may provide supplementary information:

Bergen Christine Blackwell. Miscellaneous Historical Records. German Reform, Lutheran Cemetery. List of family graveyards in Jefferson County, West Virginia. Compiled by Christine Bergen.

Daughters of the American Revolution [West Virginia]. Shepherdstown Lutheran Cemetery, 1773-1914. Original typescript and index available on 1 microfilm reel No. 0848178 item 3. Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah in 1970.

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