There are many helpful places to find information, or that are just plain fun to explore!
Click the + on the items below for more information.
To go directly to the tool, click on the name of it. Enjoy!
| Name of Source | Author/Source | Category | Tags | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston 1775 | Bell, J. L. | Blogs | Revolutionary War | History, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution in Massachusetts |
| Genea-Muings | Seaver, Randall J. | Blogs | Genealogy | Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories |
| Lonetester HQ | Alona | Blogs | Genealogy | Hi there … welcome to my blog. My name is Alona, I’m from the south end of the world in South Australia. I’m a Gen Xer, and I have a passion for genealogy, and am a hobby genealogist. I have been fortunate enough to have worked in the family history industry for many years, and have gained a lot of knowledge on products, websites and records available to researchers which I hope to share with you. |
| Orlando, West Virginia | Gloff, Donna | Blogs | Braxton County,Lewis County,Biographical Sketches,Genealogy | In the heart of the West Virginia hills, at the edge of the Little Kanawha River Basin, is Oil Creek with its several tributaries. It was first settled at the beginning of the 1800s. At the confluence of Clover Fork & Oil Creek the town of Orlando developed in the late 1800s and withered in the mid 1900s. For two hundred years a small community has loved, worked, fought dreamed and worshiped here and raised new generations to do the same. Here are some of the stories of that community. |
| The Family Curator | Levenick, Denise May | Blogs | Genealogy | It’s the goal of The Family Curator to inspire, and encourage other family curators to preserve and share their own family treasures. |
| BYU Historical Photographs | Brigham Young University | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | Brigham Young University has a fantastic collection of historical images, many from Utah but some from other areas. Among the latter are images of the San Francisco Earthquake and Europe in World War II. The Huntington Bagley Collection features 4,500 portraits out of the 15,000 taken by this Springville, Utah, studio. Each image has a title, description and subject headings (which may include family names). |
| Calisphere | University of California Libraries and Other State Partners | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | Welcome to Calisphere: your gateway to California’s remarkable digital collections. Calisphere provides free access to unique and historically important artifacts for research, teaching, and curious exploration. Discover over two million photographs, documents, letters, artwork, diaries, oral histories, films, advertisements, musical recordings, and more. |
| CARLI Digital Collections | Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | The Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois brings together historical images, manuscripts, sound recordings and more. |
| Cincinnati Digital Library | Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | If you have ancestors in southwestern Ohio, southeastern Indiana or northern Kentucky, look here for photos of their lives |
| Cornell University Library Digital Collections | Cornell University Library | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | Launched in December 2015, the Cornell University Library (CUL) Digital Collections portal aggregates CUL’s rich digital collections content into a single interface, with the goal of enabling easier access and discovery of these resources |
| Digital Library of Appalachia | Appalachian College Association | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | Includes: Nearly two dozen college and university libraries share photos, documents and artifacts from the hills of Appalachia. On the home page, you can browse collections by contributor or topic or enter a keyword in the search box. On a results page, search specific collections, add a date to your search and more. |
| Flickr | Flickr | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | The site gives individuals, museums and other organizations an easy way to share pictures, let the public access them, and gather comments. Search at the top for a topic or organization, then click Photos (to see all related photos), People (to go to the photostreams of people and organizations that post related material) or Groups (to view the pages and photostreams of groups that post related photos). Then choose the organization you’re looking for. Many institutions participate in Flickr Commons, whose goal is to “share hidden treasures from the world’s public photography archives.” A search box on this page lets you search just these images. If you register for Flickr (it’s free), you can add tags and annotations to images. Another cool thing about Flickr? You can use it to search the Internet Archive website’s images from old books. Information provided includes the publication in which they were found—even the exact page, textural references as well. |
| Getty Research Institute Digital Collections | Getty Research Institute | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is one of the world’s premier art museums, and of course it has a first-rate photograph collection. You can click one of the featured collections on the website’s home page to browse it, or click Search the Digital Collections to search item titles and descriptions with a keyword. |
| Harvard Digital Collections | Harvard University Library | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | While much of Harvard Library’s digital content is available only to Harvard affiliates, Harvard Digital Collections provides free, public access to over six million digital objects – from ancient art to modern manuscripts and even audio/visual material. |
| Library of Congress Digital Collections | Library of Congress | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | The United States’ largest library holds a lot of undiscovered digitized genealogical treasures. From the dropdown menu at the top of the page, select Photos, Prints, Drawings to search just visual content. Then search for topics, places, organizations and even names. You then can filter results by place, date and more. If you find a good match, click the subject heading in the image’s catalog listing to see similar items. A few items are for use only in the library, but most are downloadable in several sizes. Check the copyright information to make sure an item is in the public domain before you publish it anywhere. |
| Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints | Library of Congress | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | Provides access to about 7,000 different views and portraits made during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and its immediate aftermath. The images represent the original glass plate negatives made under the supervision of Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner as well as the photographic prints in the Civil War photographs file in the Prints & Photographs Reading Room. These negatives and prints are sometimes referred to as the Anthony-Taylor-Rand-Ordway-Eaton Collection to indicate the previous owners. The Library purchased the negatives in 1943. |
| Liljenquist Civil War Photographs | Library of Congress | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | Tom Liljenquist and his sons Jason, Brandon, and Christian built this collection in memory of President Abraham Lincoln and the estimated 620,000-850,000 Union and Confederate servicemen who died in the American Civil War. For many, these photographs are the last known record we have of who they were and what they looked like. |
| National Library of Ireland Digital Photographs | National Library of Ireland | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | On the website of this Republic of Ireland institution, you can search for images of the places your Irish ancestors lived by entering a place name or browsing by place or other topic. (The library’s collection covers the entire island until 1922; and thereafter, the Republic.) |
| National Library of Scotland Digital Resources | National Library of Scotland | Digital Collections | Collections here cover the First World War, 1929 Edinburgh, 1860s Glasgow, and Scots engaged in sporting activities. | |
| New York Public Library Digital Collectionsns | New York Public Library | Digital Collections | Historical Photographs | Explore 914,267+ items digitized from The New York Public Library’s collections. This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more. |
| Braxton County, WV Genealogy | Facebook Groups | Braxton County | Private Group – Ask to Join About This Group This group focuses on family history from the Braxton County, WV area. Everyone is welcome! |
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| Doddridge County Historical Society | Facebook Groups | Doddridge County | ||
| French Creek Pioneers | Facebook Groups | Upshur County | ||
| From the Beginning, Rosedale WV | Facebook Groups | Braxton County,Gilmer County | Private Group – Ask to Join Description: I would like to invite all residents and surrounding areas (past and present) to input photos, stories and any history that is known to them. Any information from the start of Rosedale WV to the present. NO gossip, just stories from the past. When posting photos, please include location, identification of people in photos (if known), identification of buildings and any history… Your family photos are welcome!!! … Hopefully, others can input their knowledge and we can have a wonderful composite of our small WV town! Please, keep this page clean and peaceful.. If you have disagreements, take it to your inbox… There will be NO scamming (it WILL be deleted)….. Thank you and I hope everyone enjoys and benefits from others input!! |
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| Gilmer County, West Virginia History and Genealogy | Facebook Groups | |||
| Gilmer County Historical Society | Facebook Groups | Gilmer County | Private Group – Ask to Join About The Gilmer County, West Virginia History and Genealogy page is for those who are interested in the history and peoples of the county. We are not professional genealogists but we do have knowledge of the county, it’s people, and resources that are available to aid in research. This is a place where you can connect with others who are also researching various aspects of the county and its residents. We have many wonderful photos and stories posted as well and welcome more. We welcome anyone interested in Gilmer county history but due to the influx of persons not of the same purpose I am sending messages to each of those who have sent a request to join. This message will go to your “other” box so please check back. Thank you so much and enjoy |
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| Harrison County, WV Genealogy & History | Facebook Groups | Harrison County | ||
| I Grew Up in Weston WV…and Boy Are My Arms Tired | Facebook Groups | Lewis County | ||
| Lewis County, WV History and Genealogy | Facebook Groups | Lewis County | ||
| Marion County, WV Genealogy | Facebook Groups | Genealogy and History Societies | ||
| Ritchie County, WV History and Genealogy | Facebook Groups | Genealogy and History Societies | ||
| Shock West Virginia (Tanner #4) | Facebook Groups | Gilmer County | Private Group – Ask to Join About Michael Stump came to Steer Creek in 1804 Alexander Shock married Eliza Stump in 1840. The “Log House” as we knew it at the mouth of Tanner would have been built shortly they were married. The first Millers came to Tanner in 1897, trading farms with Hiram Cox.(what we knew as the Ben Miller Farm) George’s father Lewis came to Mill Fork in 1876. Mention of Lindo Rogers living on Tanner in 1897 also, but I do not know from where, or what year he came |
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| Upshur County, WV History and Genealogy | Facebook Groups | Genealogy and History Societies | Private Group – You can be invited by one of the over 2,200 members. | |
| West Virginia Obituaries by Jas | Facebook Groups | Obituaries | Private Group – Ask to Join About This Group A place to post obituaries (and articles) of various West Virginia families. If you are interested in joining our group, PLEASE ANSWER ALL THREE questions in full (no one word answers) that pop up giving us info on your family research to show that you are actively researching family from WV, please have your fb profile page available to view, showing where you live and are from, and especially the groups you belong to. This will aid Admins in deciding if our group would be helpful to you. PLEASE do not ask to join this group in order to post spam or any type of ad. If you are not interested in, and contributing, to WV family research, please do not ask to join our group. |
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| Weston Historic Landmark Commission | Facebook Groups | Lewis County,Lewis County (Weston) | ||
| Ancestral Findings | Moneymaker, Will | Podcasts | Genealogy | Weekly; includes articles and a newsletter |
| Extreme Genes: America’s Family History Show | Fisher, Scott | Podcasts | DNA,Family History,Genealogy | Weekly. Includes transcripts. |
| Genealogy Gems | Cooke, Lisa Louise | Podcasts | Genealogy | Monthly |
| Genealogy Guys | Morgan, George G. and Smith, Drew | Podcasts | Genealogy | 1-2 times per month |
| Genealogy Happy Hour | Lay, Amy Crabill and Bonawitz, Penny Burke | Podcasts | Genealogy | 1-2 times per month |
| Allegheny Regional Family History Society | Webpages | Genealogy and History Societies | ||
| America’s Best History Timeline | Webpages | Historical Context,Chronologies and Timelines | ||
| Ancestor Hunt | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | This site contains Free Genealogy search engines. Browse for records by state or title. Links to some interesting search engines, such as Bible Record Transcriptions and Surname Index, Search for Old Family Bibles, Police Officers of the Past, Genealogy of Famous Folks and Genealogical Prison Records. | |
| Archives Records Information Access System (ARIAS) | Pennylvania State Archives | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference,Pennsylvania | This is the site of the Pennsylvania State Archives. Online searchable site for Pennsylvania records: National Guard Veterans’ Card File, 1867-01921; Civil War Veterans’ Car File; Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File; World War I Service Medal Application Cards; Spanish American War Veterans’ Card File of United States Volunteers; Mexican Border Campaign Veteran’s Car File Militia; Officers’ Index Cards, 1775-1800. |
| Atlas of Historical Boundaries | Newberry Library | Webpages | Reference,Maps | Website has an interactive map that shows the historical county boundaries of all 50 states, Choose a specific date to determine the boundaries for a given date. That can really make a difference when researching (West) Virginia! |
| Babelfish | Babelfish.com | Webpages | Language Translator,Reference | Just type in what you want translated and in what language. . . this program will do the work for you. |
| Behind the Name | Campbell, Mike | Webpages | Reference | Wondering about the history of your first name? Check out this site. There are also sections of the site dedicated to surnames and place names. It also has some interesting links: Name Days, Name Translator. |
| BillionGraves.com | Webpages | Cemeteries | Volunteer participation includes uploading photos, transcribing markers, and more. | |
| Chronicling America | Library of Congress | Webpages | Online Newspapers | Search America’s historic newspapers from 1789-1963. A partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Includes many newsapers including these that may be of special interest to HCPD members, such as: American Union (1855-1859) [Morgantown, VA Calhoun Chronicle (1883-1984) [Grantsville, WV] Clarksburg Teletram (1874-1926) Cooper’s Clarksburg Register (1851-1861) Fairmont West Virginian (1904-1914) Monongalia Mirror (1849-1855) South Branch Intelligencer (1830-1896) [Romney, VA] Spirit of Jefferson (1844-1948) [Charles Town, VA/WV Sunday Telegram (1914-1927) [Clarksburg] West Virginia Argus (1877-1946) [Kingwood, WV] Weston Newspapers include: The Democrat (1868-1874) [Weston] Weston Democrat (1875-current) |
| CivilWar Related Websites | American Battlefield Trust | Webpages | Civil War | |
| CLIO – Highlights of the Weston, WV Walking Tour | Webpages | Historical Markers and Sites,Lewis County | ||
| CLIO (General) | Webpages | Historical Markers and Sites | ||
| Cornerstone Genealogy Society | Webpages | Genealogy and History Societies,Harrison County | Waynesburg, Greene County, Pennsylvania, Local History and Genealogy | |
| Cyndi’s List | Ingle, Cyndi | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | A comprehensive, categorized & cross-referenced list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online. Your genealogy starting point for more than 20 years! |
| Dating Vintage Photographs By Clothing and Hairstyles | Price, Nancy | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | This article titled “Style Clues & Cues in Antique Photos” includes great tips for dating photographs, and links to many sources for research in this area. |
| Digital Public Library of America | Webpages | Online Libraries | ||
| Don’s List | Krieger, Don | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | Don Krieger, a long time resident of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Western Pennsylvania is committed to placing as much material as possible at DonsList.net and keeping it accessible and free. There are many areas covered in his lists. |
| Family History Library | Webpages | Online Libraries | ||
| Find-A-Grave | Webpages | Reference,Cemeteries | Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials or add photos, virtual flowers and a note to a loved one’s memorial. Search or browse cemeteries and grave records for every-day and famous people from around the world. | |
| Flesher Family Redwood | Webpages | Family History,Genealogy | This website attempts to gather in one place all of the information on three branches of a FLESHER family, namely the Pendleton Co WV, the Weston WV and the Doe Hill lines of the descendants of the Ober-Seemen Germany FLESHER or FLEISCHER family. Also all of their descendants. | |
| GenealogyLinks.net | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | This site has more than 50,000 genealogy links for US, UK, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. You can browse by region to find links on how to locate records, such as parish registers, censuses, cemeteries, marriages, passenger lists, city directories, military records, obituaries and more. This one will lead you all sorts of places!! |
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| Gilmer County, WV Historical Society | Webpages | Genealogy and History Societies,Gilmer County | ||
| Google Books | Webpages | Online Libraries | ||
| Google Translate | Google.com | Webpages | Language Translator,Reference | Just type in what you want translated and in what language. . . this program will do the work for you. |
| Harrison County Genealogical Society | Webpages | Genealogy and History Societies | ||
| Historical Anniversaries by Days of the Year | Wikipedia | Webpages | Historical Context,Chronologies and Timelines | |
| Historical Marker Database | Webpages | Historical Markers and Sites | ||
| Historical Marker Database (WV) | Webpages | Historical Markers and Sites | ||
| Historical/Cultural Timeline – 1700s | University of Houston | Webpages | Historical Context,Chronologies and Timelines | |
| How to Preserve Family Archives (papers and photographs) | National Archives | Webpages | Preservation | |
| Internet Archive | Webpages | Online Libraries | ||
| Introduction to the FamilySearch Catalog | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | This resource is vast, and these are some great tips for finding what you need. | |
| Irish Historic Towns Atlas (Digital) | Royal Irish Academy | Webpages | Reference,Maps | Access to IHTA’s online, GIS prototypes and additional resources. The Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA) has been producing printed atlases and related publications on Irish towns and cities since 1986. IHTA Digital is a complementary online resource and contains three components. IHTA Online: Access to the Online Editions of published towns and city atlases Digital Prototypes: Prototype digital atlas sites based on IHTA material (such as the Digital Atlas of Derry~Londonderry) Additional Resources: Further resources for researchers, students and teachers including Online Gazeteers, Dublin Suburbs, and Useful Links. |
| Land Grants and Deeds in Hampshire County | Hall, Charles C. | Webpages | Hampshire County,Land Records | Researching Early Land Grants, Deeds, Warrants, and Surveys |
| Local History & Genealogy Reference Services | Library of Congress | Webpages | Online Libraries | |
| Marion County Historical Museum | Webpages | Genealogy and History Societies,Marion County | ||
| My Genealogy Hound | Hearthstone Legacy Publications | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | My Genealogy Hound is your completely free site to view thousands of family biographies from early and rare history and genealogy references. These biographies can often be valuable for discovering details about ancestors in your family tree research. In addition, thousands of historic county maps and vintage photographs are also available free to view. As of this time (April 2021) the following states are included: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. |
| National Council on Public History – Project Directory | NationalCouncil on Public History | Webpages | Reference | This directory is a free guide to history-focused digital projects for students, faculty, public history professionals, and anyone interested in learning about history through digital media. It is designed to help connect researchers and learners with resources that can help them explore their interests, and to promote and share the wide range of digital projects in existence. This directory does not include all digital projects, but is vetted by the Digital Media Group for projects that are focused on the study or interpretation of historical subject matter, are open access, and are built with the intention of engaging a wide audience. |
| Obituary Links Page | Ancestry.com | Webpages | Genealogy,Obituaries | Obitlinkspage.com was created to provide an easy to access State-by-State directory of obituaries and obituaries related resources. This site is focused on obituaries, their importance in genealogy, and finding vital records such as birth certificates, death records, divorce decrees, and marriage licenses. |
| Olive Tree Genealogy | OliveTreeGenealogy.com | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | Your link to the past since February 1996! Search for your ancestors in free Ships’ Passenger lists, Naturalization Records, Palatine Genealogy, Canadian Genealogy, American Genealogy, Native American Genealogy, Huguenots, Mennonites, Almshouse Records, Orphan Records, church records, military muster rolls, census records, land records and more. |
| On This Day | OnThisDay.com | Webpages | Historical Context | |
| On This Day | Wikipedia | Webpages | Historical Context | |
| On This Day in West Virginia History | West Virginia Archives & History | Webpages | Historical Context | |
| OpenLibrary.org | Internet Archive | Webpages | Online Libraries | Need to set up a free Internet Archive Account, but then can borrow digital books. |
| a href=”http://www.pchswv.com/”>Pendleton County Historical Society | Webpages | Genealogy and History Societies,Pendleton County | ||
| Personal Archiving: Preserving Your Digital Memories | Library of Congress | Webpages | Preservation | |
| Preservatin at Home | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame | Webpages | Preservation | |
| Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1913 | OldBaileyOnline.org | Webpages | Reference | A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court. If you are new to this site, you may find the Getting Started and Guide to Searching videos and tutorials helpful. |
| RefDesk.com | RefDesk.com | Webpages | Reference | A little bit of everything! This site is a great start for just about anything. |
| Ritchie County HIstorical Society | Webpages | Genealogy and History Societies,Ritchie County | ||
| RootsWeb | Ancestry.com | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | This site provides links to search engines, including Social Security Death Indices; blank forms; WorldConnect family trees, and many other resources. There is also a link to different states and the resources that are associated with that locality. |
| Soundex Coding System | National Archives | Webpages | Census,Reference | Microfilmed census records 1880 ior later are indexed using the SOUNDEX system. This system was developed so that a person can find a surname even though it may have been recorded under various spellings. The coding rules are given on this website from the National Archives. |
| The Civil War: 150 Years | American Battlefield Trust | Webpages | Civil War | |
| The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation | The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation | Webpages | Immigration,Reference | If your ancestors came through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954, their immigration records can be found through a search engine at this site. To view the documents you will need to sign up for a free acccount. |
| This Day in History | Britannica | Webpages | Historical Context | |
| United States Census: Free Texts | Internet Archive | Webpages | Census,Reference | At last images of census records are online at no charge. The rolls of microfilm have been digitized and are available at this site. A few of the SOUNDEX indexes are available online, but most are not yet available. Also, all released census records from 1850 to 1930 are availabled as indexed information at www.familysearch.org |
| United States Zip Code Finder | United States Postal Service | Webpages | Reference | Tracking something down by zip code? This will help. |
| Upshur County HIstorical Society | Webpages | Genealogy and History Societies,Upshur County | ||
| US GenWeb Project | US GenWeb Project | Webpages | Genealogy,Reference | The USGenWeb Project is a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. This Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone. Organization is by county and state, and this website provides you with links to all the state genealogy websites which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties. The USGenWeb Project also sponsors important Special Projects at the national level and this website provides an entry point to all of those pages, as well. |
| Virginia Chronicle | Library of Virginia | Webpages | Online Newspapers | Includes many newspapers including these that may be of interest to HCPD members, such as: American Union (1855-1859) [Morgantown, VA] Calhoun Chronicle (1896) [Grantsville, WV] Cooper’s Clarksburg Register (1851-1858) Greenbrier Era (1854) [Lewisburg, VA] Kanawha Valley Star (1858-1861) [Charleston, VA] West Virginia Journal (1866) [Charleston, WV] Weston Democrat (1875-1880) Wheeling Newspapers include Daily Intelligencer (1859-1865) Wheeling Register (1878-1888) Daily Register (1863-1864) Wheeling Daily Register (1864-1878) |
| Virginia Memory | Library of Virginia | Webpages | Online Libraries | |
| West Virginia & Regional History Center | West Virginia University | Webpages | Online Libraries | |
| West Virginia Vital Records | West Virginia Archives & History | Webpages | The Vital Research Records Project is placing Birth, Death, and Marriage certificates on-line. Users can search the records and view scanned images of the original records. Certified copies of these records are available only from the issuing county or the West Virginia Vital Registration Office. |
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| Barbour County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records | |||
| Greenbrier County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records | |||
| Randolph County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records | |||
| Roane County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records | |||
| Calhoun County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records | |||
| Upshur County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records | |||
| Lewis County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records | |||
| Ritchie County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records | |||
| Wood County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records | |||
| Gilmer County (IDX) | Internet Data Exchange (IDX) database for county records |