New Martinsville Directory Years on Record
The West Virginia State Archives city-directory list is the clearest official inventory. It identifies a combined New Martinsville, Paden City, and Sistersville run. The title can cover more than one community, so an entry must be read with its locality heading. The official page did not identify the publisher, and no title page was inspected. It would be wrong to assign a well-known directory publisher by assumption.
| Collection | Years located | Where held | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Combined New Martinsville, Paden City, and Sistersville directory | 1969, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1982 | West Virginia State Archives | Archive research; ask about copies |
| Later combined directory editions | 1984–1987, 1989–1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998–2000 | West Virginia State Archives | Selected years, not an annual run |
| Genealogy print and microfilm | Exact directory years not published | New Martinsville Public Library | Ask the genealogy desk |
| West Virginia city and business directories | 1839–1929 collection scope | Digitized collection guide | Local title coverage must be confirmed |
Publication gaps are part of the evidence. No volume is listed for many intervening years, and the official inventory does not state why. A missing name may reflect an unheld edition, omission, spelling, a move to a nearby section, or a rural supplement. Cite title, year, page, locality heading, and address exactly as printed.
See the New Martinsville Directory Shelf
The archive page itself timed out during image capture, so no failed screenshot should be shown. A separate William & Mary collection guide was successfully captured. It describes digitized West Virginia city and business directories from 1839 through 1929, but it does not establish that a New Martinsville volume is present. Search New Martinsville, Martinsville, Wetzel County, Paden City, and Sistersville, then verify the title page.
The captured guide is a route into the digital collection, not a picture of the local archive volume.
A result earns a citation only after the edition, locality coverage, image page, and source repository are confirmed.
New Martinsville Library Genealogy Help
The New Martinsville Public Library at 160 Washington Street is the best local starting point. Its genealogy and local-history collection includes print and microfilm. HeritageQuest and FamilySearch are available in the library, and visitors can use public computers, Wi-Fi, printing, and photocopying. The library can be reached at 304-455-4545 or newmartpl@gmail.com.
Ask staff whether a specific directory edition, newspaper reel, obituary file, church history, family file, or street-name reference is held. Do not assume the city directory years at the State Archives are duplicated locally. The library's published pages do not give exact directory, obituary, reverse-directory, or newspaper-microfilm runs. A clear inquiry should name the person, spelling variants, approximate date, known street, and nearby relative while leaving room for staff to suggest the right collection.
The library genealogy page shows the local research access described here.
The Heritage Keeper's Genealogy Club also meets in the genealogy section on the first Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to noon, a practical source of local catalog knowledge.
Decode a New Martinsville Directory Entry
A city directory entry must be read by the conventions of its own volume. Photograph or transcribe the title page and abbreviation key first. Publisher practices can change between editions, and the New Martinsville publisher was not verified in the official inventory. Do not assume that a letter or mark means the same thing in every book.
| Name | Record the printed order, initials, spelling, and any cross-reference. |
|---|---|
| Spouse or household note | Copy only what the entry states; do not infer an unlisted relationship. |
| Occupation or business | Treat it as a dated role, and distinguish a business address from a home address. |
| Street address | Preserve number, suffix, rural wording, and the locality section. |
| Owner or renter mark | Use only when the edition's key defines the symbol. |
| Widow notation | Transcribe the wording and confirm the death through another source. |
The entry is a lead. It can connect a name to an address in one edition, yet it cannot show every member of a household. Initials may hide two people with the same surname. An occupation line may be stale by publication time. Compare the result with the prior and next available editions, not an imagined annual sequence.
- Criss-cross directory
- A section arranged by street and house number, useful for reading a block. Local holdings were not confirmed.
- Householder index
- A name or address list centered on the person named as head of a household.
- Abbreviation key
- The volume's own legend for symbols, street forms, roles, and other shortened terms.
- Edition snapshot
- A listing tied to the book's publication cycle rather than a live occupancy record.
Search Martinsville Before New Martinsville
Place-name history is a catalog key. Presley Martin platted Martinsville in 1838. The town incorporated as Martinsville in 1848, and “New” was added to the official name in 1871. Records before that change may omit the word New. County-seat records can also be filed under Wetzel County rather than the city.
Try Martinsville, New Martinsville, and Wetzel in catalogs. Read combined titles for Paden City, Sistersville, or Middlebourne, and check for a rural-residents supplement. Names may also occur in a county court book, church register, gazetteer, or business directory even when no local city volume survives. This search pattern is especially useful for a family tied to nineteenth-century land, river trade, oil and gas, railroad work, or an early downtown business.
| 1838 | Presley Martin platted the town as Martinsville. |
|---|---|
| 1846 | Wetzel County selected the town as county seat. |
| 1848 | Martinsville incorporated. |
| 1871 | The official name became New Martinsville. |
| 1969–2000 | Selected combined city directory editions are listed by the State Archives. |
Older Wetzel Records Extend the Directory
A New Martinsville city directory has a limited date span, so county and state archives carry the trail further back. The State Archives microfilm inventory lists Wetzel births, deaths, marriages, wills, deeds, trust deeds, fiduciary material, land books, tax records, naturalization, veterans files, and county court books. The series have different date breaks and some early gaps. Check the reel-level description before requesting material.
The WVU Wetzel County Archives finding aid covers 1846–1872 in about 2.96 linear feet and 18 microfilm reels. Road reports, orders, bonds, dockets, land papers, wills, estate settlements, contracts, royalty leases, liens, receipts, licenses, and tax apportionments can place a name in local context. Those papers predate standardized street addressing, so land descriptions, neighbors, a road name, and associates often matter more than a house number.
Historic vital records add another route. State registration began in 1917, while earlier records may remain with the county, archives, delayed-certificate files, or church sources. Public access still depends on the record type and date. Never treat a silent index as proof that no event occurred.
New Martinsville Names in Scrapbooks
The Wetzel County Museum at 136 Main Street advertises the Wetzel County Scrapbook Project. Clippings, photographs, local business material, organizations, obituaries, and events can help explain a directory listing. A scrapbook item should retain its newspaper title, date, page if known, museum citation, and any reproduction permission. It is a supporting clue rather than an official resident roll.
The museum's public page was captured successfully.
The local scrapbook layer can distinguish a business, club, or event from a home address when the city directory line is terse.
Nearby building history offers a second check. The Wetzel historic resources survey dates Main, North, and Maple Street examples from about 1910 to 1950 and names styles such as Colonial Revival, Craftsman, Victorian, and Romanesque Revival. It describes the structure, not its occupants. Pair it with a deed, directory page, or dated photo before linking a family to the building.
Trace New Martinsville Families by Edition
Build the time line around the editions that actually exist. Copy the source before extracting facts. Then move across directories and into records created between editions. A person who vanishes may have moved, died, changed name, been omitted, or appeared in another town section. Only another record can sort those possibilities.
- Find the earliest known name or address. Search both Martinsville and New Martinsville when the date calls for it.
- Record the directory title, edition, page, printed name, locality, street, and every defined mark.
- Compare the next available edition. Note the gap in years and changes in spelling, street, role, or spouse notation.
- Pair the directory years with federal census records where available. Use deeds, probate, vital records, church registers, and news between census dates.
- Check a street-order section only if the volume has one. The local criss-cross inventory has not been confirmed.
- Close the trail with the record that best supports the event, such as a deed for transfer or a death record and obituary for a death.
Report uncertainty in plain terms. “Possible match” is more accurate than joining two records just because the names resemble each other. Preserve name variants, exact address labels, source dates, and the fact that the known archive sequence is intermittent.
Evidence boundary. A historical listing shows what an edition printed. It does not establish current occupancy, identity, or every person who shared the address.