Clay Co., WV

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Surname Lookup Volunteers

Clay County Family Website Links

Don Norman's Central WVa. Family Files

West Virginia Map

Friend's Fort

Names From the Past - Widen & Dille

Clay County Road Building

Capt. Jonas Friend at the Battle of Point Pleasant

Queries

First Queries - Apr. - 97

Queries - May - 97

Queries - June - 97

Queries - Jul/Aug - 97

Queries - Sept-Dec 97

Queries - 98

Queries after July 1, 2001

Please Visit our WV county neighbors

Clay County Census Records Online

1860 Census records online

1870 Census records online

1870 Detailed Census

1880 Census records on line

Other Census Sites

Clay County Soldiers

Clay Co., Civil War Soldiers

Spanish American War Soldiers

World War I Soldiers

World War II Soldiers

Korean War Soldiers

Vietnam War Soldiers

Clay Co., Soldiers Killed in Action

Clay County Courthouse 1907

HISTORY.
The county was originally named Henry then Marshall. Clay County was formed in 1858 from parts of Braxton, Kanawha, and Nicholas Counties and was named in honor of Henry Clay, a Kentucky statesman. We declared out statehood in 1863.

The county area is 346.1 square miles. Approximately 10,200 lived in Clay County in 1910 while the 1990 census indicated a drop in population to 9,983.

The mean annual temperature is 55 degrees and the mean annual snowfall ranges from 22 to 40 inches. The variation is due to mountain terrain. Two thirds of the county lies at elevations of 1000 feet above sea level. The county seat and only municipality, is in the Town of Clay ( formerly known as 'Clay Courthouse'). It has a Mayor/Council form of government with the Mayor being the Chief Executive Officer. Town Council consists of 5 members, one recorder and the Mayor. It is located 42 miles from the State Capitol, Charleston. Henry Clay

POPULATION
1960 - 11,942
1970 - 9,330
1980 - 11,265
1990 - 9,983
2000 - 10,700 (projected)

WORK
There are 2,346 workers living in the county. Of that 1,241 work inside the county while 1,016 work in another county and 1.7% ( 40) have jobs in another state.

COUNTY GOVT.
A three member county commission governs the county. The County Commission has the primary budgetary and administrative responsibility for the operation of county government.

COMMUNICATIONS
Clay County is served by two newspapers. The Clay County Freepress which is published weekly and The Communicator and is published bi weekly. There are no television stations in the county. The county is served by four cable TV companies. Telephone service is provided by Citizen's Telecom.

This information was copied with permission from ClayWestVirginia.com

The photos above are from the Portraits of our Clay County Ancestors Website. The site is designed to share photos and other genealogy information about our Clay Co., WV families, their ancestors and their descendents. Come share photos, family history and more with over 500 members of this site in a password-protected environment.

Email Brenda Vaughn

Volunteer to make this web site a valuable tool for other researchers:

Email Brenda Vaughn or Herschel Shamblin with ideas and input.

USGenWeb FTP--files to download of census records, marriages, cemeteries, wills, etc. The site is organized by state directory then by county directory.

WV GENWEB Archives: Ftp text file access to WV County records- download zone. If you want to submit WV County records/files be ready to copy & paste when you go here.

No guarantee in the accuracy of the data found on this page is given or implied by the page owner. as with all family research one must strive to obtain the documents necessary for proof of ancestry.

Brenda Vaughn and Herschel Shamblin, Clay County Coordinators
Les Shockey, West Virginia State Coordinator
Valerie Forren-Crook, Asst. State Coordinator