Berkeley County, West Virginia Genealogy

United States &gt; West Virginia &gt; Berkeley County

West Virginia county in the Shenandoah Valley region.



Parent County
1772--Berkeley County was created 10 February 1772 from Frederick County (Virginia). County seat: Martinsburg

Neighboring Counties

 * Clarke County, Virginia
 * Frederick County, Virginia
 * Jefferson
 * Morgan
 * Washington County, Maryland

Cemeteries

 * "Cemetery Record," Rowan County Register, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Nov. 2001):3749. Available at . [Discusses a gravemarker from Salem United Methodist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, surname: McCormick, date of death: 1858, which identifies the person's 1788 birthplace as Burkley [sic] County, Virginia.]

Genealogy
It is anticipated that this bibliography will eventually identify all known family histories published about residents of this county. Use this list to:


 * Locate publications about direct ancestors
 * Find the most updated accounts of an ancestor's family
 * Identify publications, to quote Elizabeth Shown Mills, about an ancestor's "FAN Club" [Friends, Associates, and Neighbors]

General

 * Cartmell, T. K. Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia (Illustrated) from Its Formation in 1738 to 1908, Compiled Mainly from Original Records of Old Frederick County, Now Hampshire, Berkeley, Shenandoah, Jefferson, Hardy, Clarke, Warren, Morgan and Frederick. n.p.: n.p., c1909. Available at ; ; digital version at Ancestry ($); BYU Family History Archives and World Vital Records ($). [3 copies at FHL.]

Immigration

 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes wills of residents of Berkeley County proved in London. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.]

Land
Grants and Patents


 * Gray, Gertrude E. Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1742-1775. Vol. II. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997. Available at ; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes Berkeley County.]
 * Gray, Gertrude E. Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1775-1800. Vol. III. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993. Available at ; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes Berkeley County.]

Local Histories

 * Cartmell, T. K. Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia (Illustrated) from Its Formation in 1738 to 1908, Compiled Mainly from Original Records of Old Frederick County, Now Hampshire, Berkeley, Shenandoah, Jefferson, Hardy, Clarke, Warren, Morgan and Frederick. n.p.: n.p., c1909. Available at ; ; digital version at Ancestry ($); BYU Family History Archives and World Vital Records ($). [3 copies at FHL.]
 * Norris, J. E.. History of the Lower Shenandoah Valley Counties of Frederick, Berkeley, Jefferson and Clarke: Their Early Settlement and Progress to the Present Time, Geological Features, a Description of Their Historic and Interesting Localities, Cities, Towns and Villages, Portraits of Some of the Prominent Men, and Biographies of Many of the Representative Citizens. Chicago: A. Warner, 1890. Original edition available at ; 1972 reprint available at ; digital version of original edition at Ancestry ($); and World Vital Records ($).

Migration

 * Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1975):248-254. Available at ; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records often identify migrants who left the county and their intended destinations. Berkeley County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on pp. 250-254.]

French and Indian War

 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at . [Identifies some Berkeley County veterans and 1774-1775 militia officers; see place name index.]

Revolutionary War

 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census]. 1841. Digital versions at U.S. Census Bureau and Google Books et. al. 1967 reprint: 973 X2pc 1840. [See Virginia, Western District, Berkeley County on page 134.]
 * Rejected or Suspended Applications for Revolutionary War Pensions. Washington, D.C., 1852. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1969, and 1991. Reprints include "an Added Index to States." 973 M24ur; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Includes veterans from this county; Virginia section begins on page 238.]

Occupations

 * Cutten, George Barton. The Silversmiths of Virginia (together with Watchmakers and Jewelers) from 1694 to 1850. Richmond, Va.: The Dietz Press, Incorporated, 1952. Available at . [Includes a section on Martinsburg silversmiths.]

Probate

 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes wills of residents of Berkeley County proved in London. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.]

Research Guides

 * Macomber, Kenneth D. "Genealogical Research in Berkeley County, West Virginia," The Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter, Vol. 30, No. 5 (Oct. 2004):1-3Available at ; digital version at Virginia Genealogical Society website.

Taxation
At first glance, researchers might conclude that Virginia tax lists contain very little family history data, though one soon learns that valuable genealogical conclusions can be drawn from these records, nicknamed "annual censuses," such as: relationships, approximate years of birth, socio-economic status, identification of neighbors, the ability to distinguish between persons of the same name, evidence of land inheritance, years of migration, and years of death.

Virginia began enumerating residents' payments of personal property and land taxes in 1782. These two types of taxation were recorded in separate registers. Personal property tax lists include more names than land tax lists, because they caught more of the population. The Family History Library has an excellent microfilm collection of personal property tax lists from 1782 (or the year the county was organized) well into the late nineteenth century for most counties, but only scattered land tax lists. Microfilm collections at The Library of Virginia include land tax lists for all counties and independent cities for the years 1782 through 1978, as well as personal property tax lists for the years 1782 through 1930 (and every fifth year thereafter). Taxes were not collected in 1808.

Some tax records are available online or in print, though published abstracts often omit useful details found only in the original sources. Statewide indexes can help genealogists identify specific counties where surnames occurred in the past, providing starting points for research.


 * [1782] Fothergill, Augusta B. and John Mark Naugle. Virginia Tax Payers, 1782-87, Other Than Those Published by the United States Census Bureau. 1940; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1978. Available at . [1782 personal property tax list of Berkeley County.]
 * [1787, 1788] Schreiner-Yantis, Netti and Florene Speakman Love. The 1787 Census of Virginia: An Accounting of the Name of Every White Male Tithable Over 21 Years, the Number of White Males Between 16 &amp; 21 Years, the Number of Slaves over 16 &amp; Those Under 16 Years, Together with a Listing of Their Horses, Cattle &amp; Carriages, and Also the Names of All Persons to Whom Ordinary Licenses and Physician's Licenses Were Issued. 3 vols. Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987. Available at . [Source for this publication are the 1787 personal property tax list and 1787/1788 tax delinquent lists. Berkeley County is included in Vol. 2.]
 * [1788] Clay, Robert Y. "Some Delinquent Taxpayers 1787-1790," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1975):248-254. Available at ; digital version at New England Ancestors ($). [These records often identify migrants who left the county and their intended destinations. Berkeley County's 1788 Delinquent List appears on pp. 250-254.]
 * [1815] Ward, Roger D. 1815 Directory of Virginia Landowners (and Gazetteer). 6 vols. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Pub. Co., 1997-2000. Available at . [The source for this publication is the 1815 land tax. Berkeley County is included in Vol. 6.]

Vital Records
Marriage


 * Keesecker, Guy L. Marriage Records of Berkeley County, Virginia 1781 - 1854. Originally published: Strasburg, VA: G.L. Keesecker, 1969. Baltimore, MD: Reprinted for Clearfield Co. by Genealogical Pub. Co., 1995. Reprint available at ; digital version at Ancestry ($); and World Vital Records ($).