West Virginia Obituaries

West Virginia’s newspaper history begins in the 1790s, before the state existed. For obituary research, its strongest free resource is the state’s Vital Research Records site, which pairs well with newspaper notices.

Recent West Virginia obituaries (2000 to today)

Most obituaries published since about 2000 are online. Daily papers post paid death notices and family-written obituaries in an Obituaries section, usually hosted by Legacy.com, and keep them online with a guest book. The largest daily papers in West Virginia are:

• Charleston Gazette-Mail
• Herald-Dispatch (Huntington)
• The Dominion Post (Morgantown)
• The Intelligencer (Wheeling)
• Parkersburg News and Sentinel
• The Journal (Martinsburg)

Legacy.com’s West Virginia page searches the obituaries of most of these papers and many smaller ones at once. Funeral homes also post obituaries on their own websites, often before the newspaper does and sometimes instead of it: search the person’s name with the town and “obituary” or “funeral home.” For obituaries no longer online, ask your public or state library: many offer NewsBank or ProQuest databases with the full text of recent newspapers, free with a library card.

West Virginia obituaries in historic newspapers

Newspapers were printed in the Eastern Panhandle towns of Shepherdstown and Martinsburg by the 1790s, when the region was still part of Virginia. Wheeling became the region’s newspaper center in the 1800s, and the Wheeling Intelligencer covered the statehood movement during the Civil War, when West Virginia separated from Virginia in 1863.

Coal, timber and railroad towns grew quickly in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and their papers reported mine disasters and industrial accidents as well as ordinary deaths. Notices for miners often name the mine and company, which helps when searching company records or mine-accident reports.

West Virginia newspapers are digitized through Chronicling America, and the West Virginia Archives and History in Charleston holds the state’s newspaper microfilm.

Where to find older West Virginia obituaries

Digitized West Virginia newspapers

• West Virginia newspapers on Chronicling America — Free West Virginia titles digitized for the Library of Congress.

Obituary and death indexes

• West Virginia Vital Research Records — Free searchable images of West Virginia death, birth and marriage records.

Archives and libraries

• Genealogy research, West Virginia Archives and History — West Virginia Archives and History's research resources, with newspapers on microfilm in Charleston.
• West Virginia Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to West Virginia newspaper archives, indexes and microfilm, with local links.

Also search the nationwide archives: Chronicling America, FamilySearch, Find a Grave, Newspapers.com. See all nationwide obituary resources.

West Virginia death records

West Virginia death certificates are restricted to family and others with an interest, ordered from the state Health Statistics Center or the county clerk. Older death records are free on the West Virginia Archives' Vital Research Records site.

• West Virginia Vital Registration — the office that issues West Virginia death certificates, with ordering instructions and fees.
• Where to Write for Vital Records: West Virginia — the CDC’s summary of where to order, current fees and which years the office holds.
• West Virginia Vital Records, FamilySearch Research Wiki — free death indexes and certificate collections, with the years each covers.

Tips for finding an obituary in West Virginia

• Start with Vital Research Records. Free images of older WV death certificates give the date and place.
• Check Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky papers. Border-county deaths often ran in out-of-state papers.
• Remember the Virginia years. Deaths before 1863 were in Virginia; check Virginia records.
• Look beyond the word “obituary.” Older papers reported deaths under headings like “Died,” “Deaths,” local news and personals columns, funeral notices and cards of thanks, and often listed married women under the husband’s name (“Mrs. John Smith”). See death notices vs. obituaries.

Common questions