If you are researching in the current boundaries of Hancock, this land was also part of Brooke County, VA until 1848; part of Ohio Co., VA until 1797, and Yohoghania Co., West Augusta in 1782. The southern most boundary of Yohoghania at that time is the current Cross Creek of Brooke Co., WV. Be sure to research in the correct county records depending what time your ancestors lived in this panhandle. For help, click HERE to view the 1782 map of Yohoghania., West Augusta.

The four municipalities in Hancock County are Chester, Newell, New Cumberland and Weirton. Some places of interest in Hancock are Tomlinson Run State Park, Peter Tarr's Furnace located on King's Creek (cannon balls made here were used by Commodore Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie), Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort in Newell, Homer Laughlin China Company, home of the famous Fiesta Ware, and Mittal Steel, located in Weirton and previously known as Weirton Steel Corporation for approximately 100 years.

Perhaps Jack Welch, author of "The History of Hancock County, VA/WV" described the making of Hancock County best when he said "Hancock County, like any other inhabited area of the world, is more than a tiny block of land furnishing a livelihood for several thousands of people. It is a land that is built upon the labor, the ideals, the lives, and the deaths of those who have gone before. It is a forest turned into a farm, a farm turned into a town, and a town turned into an industrial site employing thousands of people. It is a man chopping a tree in a virgin forest, it is a woman taking up a rifle to protect her family from Indians, it is a man building a school, it is a man building a factory. All these things are Hancock County, as much of a reality as the topographical and statistical elements."