FREE DOWNLOAD

The WV Genealogy Starter Kit

West Virginia research is its own animal.

This kit is the map I wish someone had handed me at the start. Every free West Virginia records source I trust, organized by what you are actually trying to find instead of by which archive holds it.

Version 1, July 2026

Send Me the Kit

What's Inside the Kit

A master resource index for researching west Virginia families. Version 1, updated as the research library grows.

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1863 Puzzle, Explained

One date changes everything in WV research. Learn the Virginia split first and half of your missing records stop being missing.

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Records by Task, Not by Archive

Vital records, censuses, land grants, court files, church and cemetery sources. Sorted by what you are trying to find, because nobody sits down to search an archive.

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Free Records Google Cannot See

Millions of WV records are digitized, free, and are invisible to search engines because nobody indexed them. The kit opens the doors.

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Coal Camp and Railroad Trails

If your people were coal miners, an entire parallel archive tracked them in remarkable detail. Most genealogy guides never mention it and it could be a treasure trove for you.

Who Made This

I’m Lisa Isbell. I research West Virginia families the slow way: phone calls, letters, digging through records and tax lists nobody ever indexed. I run one of the most active WV genealogy communities on Facebook, and The Gray Shed is my workshop for handcrafted heirloom pieces. This kit is free because this hobby has always been generous to me, and I’m sharing what I’ve found.

Three Steps and It's Yours

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Step 1

Tell me where to send it

Drop your first name and email in the form below.

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Step 2

Open the email

Your download link arrives with a couple of minutes.

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Step 3

Keep it where you do research

Park it on your desktop and check back as it grows. New deep dive articles link in as they publish.

Where Should I Send Your Kit?

Enter your first name and email and the kit is on its way. You will also get a heads up when new WV research guides go live. No spam, and you can unsubscribe any time.