I am from Lavalette Wv and I am having some real trouble. One of my good friends passed away when we were 14. I am 31 now. Needless to say I can't find any information on him at all. All the sites I found want a crap load of money for info. I would LOVE to get his obituary. His name is Matthew Ryan Samson. He was born August 1, 1981 and passed away July 3rd 1996. He was born and raised here in Wayne/Lavalette Wv. He was with his dad ( Clyde ) and twin sister ( Heather ) and went to Scottown Ohio to get some fireworks for the next days activities. A man walked into the store with a lit cigarette and lit a firework. That spread throughout the whole store and he didn't make it out. I made him a memorial but I can't find his obituary ANYWHERE. If any of you could help me out here I would greatly appreciate it.

correction, Sansom. I accedientaly put samson. thanks to all who will help. sorry about the misprint

Check the back issues for the Cabell County newspapers. A quick Google search turned up later obits for his older relatives, but for as far back as 1996 you'll have to go low-tech. Good luck.

Did a little more digging at ancestry.com. Found an article in The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland about the fire and IDs of the victims. I'll PM you my email; that way I can send you copies of what I find.

Thank you. I appreciate it you can email me at hart187kid(at)yahoo.com

I've sent you an email.

Found his obituary here on find a grave, Matthew Ryan "Snake" Sansom

Hope this helps.

The OP stated in their first post that they created the memorial here on FAG.

I see that others have assisted you in your search. I am new to the findagrave site and finding it most helpful. I too am in WV. I would have suggested checking the courthouse and newspapers archives of the area for your information. Due to the recent years of your inquiry many sites won't have information available. WV Vitials cut off is 1970. If you are working in family genealogy the site FamilySearch.org is free. Most counties in WV have a GenWeb site that works with county and state records.
Happy hunting in future quests.

Thank you all very much ! I had to go to the local University library and find the obit and Ernie White had history with the family and got me the picture. Once again, thank's to all who helped

Joey