West Virginia is a state-land state, outside the federal public domain where the township grid was used, so its land was patented or granted by Virginia, of which West Virginia was part until June 20, 1863, and a West Virginia title traces back through county deeds to a Virginia patent or grant whose survey gives a metes-and-bounds description.
West Virginia Archives and History notes that until June 20, 1863 the area now known as West Virginia was part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Kentucky Secretary of State's Land Office glossary lists West Virginia among the state-land states: states not in the federal public domain, which have or have had their own land office. The same glossary ties townships to the public land system of mapping used in the federal public domain, where land appropriations are overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.
So West Virginia land was not laid out in federal townships. It was patented or granted by Virginia, and in that patent process, the glossary explains, the survey consists of a plat drawing and a metes and bounds description: bearings and distances, with corners that may be trees or stakes.
The Library of Virginia holds those original grants. Its Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants collection covers patents from 1623 to 1774 and grants from 1779 onward, including grants within the Northern Neck Proprietary with their survey plats. Its West Virginia research guide notes that patents and grants for land in counties that became part of West Virginia before 1863 are online in that collection, and that many of the earliest grants in the region were part of the Northern Neck Proprietary, including land in Berkeley, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson and Morgan counties.
When West Virginia became a state, county records stayed in each county. The West Virginia Archives and History Library holds microfilm copies of those county records, including deeds, surveys, wills and estate records, for all West Virginia counties, though some are incomplete. It also holds land tax books: land records originally maintained by the State Auditor's Office and prepared by county assessors, running from each county's formation to the 1930s and, for almost half the counties, through 1959.
For a mineral title, those land books matter because West Virginia taxes minerals as property. The West Virginia Tax Division explains that in West Virginia minerals are considered property and fall under the ad valorem property tax, and that name, address or legal-description problems go to the county assessor.
| Record | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Original Virginia patents and grants (before 1863), including Northern Neck grants | Library of Virginia, Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants |
| County deeds, surveys, wills and estate records (microfilm) | West Virginia Archives and History Library; originals in each county |
| Historic land tax books | West Virginia Archives and History Library |
| Surface tax maps | County assessor (also on MapWV) |
| Mineral tax maps and parcels (select counties) | Mined Minerals GIS Section, West Virginia Property Tax Division |
West Virginia's statewide property viewer, MapWV, explains that the county assessor is responsible for maintaining the surface property tax maps, and that the state Property Tax Division and the county assessors are co-custodians of the tax maps and GIS files. Mineral tax maps and digital mineral parcels are available for select counties from the Mined Minerals GIS Section of the Property Tax Division.
MapWV cautions that tax maps are not conclusive evidence of property ownership in any court of law.
Generations of conveyances over metes-and-bounds tracts, many described by reference to earlier deeds, make West Virginia mineral titles detailed work: a title examiner works back through the county deed records and land books to the original Virginia grant, matching each description to the one before it. For royalty rules on West Virginia leases, see Marcellus royalty rates.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Have a West Virginia title attorney confirm what a specific description covers.
Mineral Rights in West Virginia
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Educational information only — not legal, tax, or investment advice. Consult a qualified attorney, CPA, or landman about your specific situation.
No. The Kentucky Secretary of State's Land Office glossary lists West Virginia among the state-land states, outside the federal public domain where townships were used. West Virginia land was patented or granted by Virginia, of which it was part until June 20, 1863, and those patent surveys give a metes-and-bounds description.
Patents and grants for land in counties that became part of West Virginia before 1863 are in the Library of Virginia's Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants collection, which is online. Many of the earliest were part of the Northern Neck Proprietary.
In each county, with microfilm copies of county deeds, surveys and estate records for all counties at the West Virginia Archives and History Library, which also holds historic land tax books.
The West Virginia Tax Division says minerals are considered property and fall under the ad valorem property tax. Mineral tax maps and parcels are available for select counties from the Property Tax Division. For how this applies to your own interest, ask a CPA or tax attorney.
A colonial-era land grant region whose grants the Library of Virginia holds with their survey plats. In what is now West Virginia it included land in Berkeley, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson and Morgan counties.
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