The following important events in the history of West Virginia affected political boundaries, record keeping, and family movements. See the Virginia Research Outline for additional information about the earlier history and records of the area that became West Virginia.

1731-1734	Morgan Morgan, the first white settler in West Virginia established a home in Berkeley County, Virginia.
1738	Frederick and Augusta counties were formed from Orange County, Virginia. Frederick County included territory later in the Eastern panhandle of West Virginia and began functioning in 1743. Augusta County encompassed all the area west of the Blue Ridge mountains north of the Carolinas and began functioning in 1745.
1753	Hampshire County, Virginia was created. This was the first county whose boundaries were within present-day West Virginia.
1775	West Augusta District was established by Virginia and included all of West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. Ownership of part of this district was disputed with Pennsylvania.
1779	Virginia ceded most of the northern part of West Augusta District to Pennsylvania after Pennsylvania agreed to accept land grants that Virginia had made in the disputed region.
1784	Virginia ceded its claims north of the Ohio River to the United States but reserved a section known as the Virginia Military District for Revolutionary War bounty land.
1788	Virginia ratified the constitution and became a state.
1861-1865	In a dispute over secession, fifty western counties broke off to form the “restored government of Virginia,” which remained loyal to the Union. The state of West Virginia was admitted to the Union in 1863. During the Civil War, about 32,000 West Virginia soldiers enlisted in the Union Army, while 9,000 served the Confederacy.
1870s	Industrial expansion in West Virginia attracted Black immigrants from southern states and European immigrants from overseas.