Rockingham County Circuit Court receives grant to preserve historical documents

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - In the words of Rockingham County Circuit court Clerk Chaz Haywood, ‘Today’s record is tomorrow’s history’.

Thanks to a grant from the Library of Virginia’s Circuit Court Records Preservation Program, many documents, some even dating back to when the county was founded in 1778, will be preserved.

The $31,807 grant will cover the preservation of eight volumes of historical documents from between the years 1778 and 1913. These include wills, deeds, marriage licenses, surveyors’ books, and execution books.

The documents will also be digitized and made available to the public, adding to the 10.5 million images already in the court’s records management system.

“A lot of information about a lot of people who might have lived here passed through here, so for genealogy purposes it’s huge it’s a treasure trove for those people doing their genealogy research,” Rockingham County Circuit Court Clerk Chaz Haywood said.

Since 2008, Haywood has received more than $350,000 in grant funding to preserve and digitize Rockingham County historical records.

The eight pieces will be immediately transported to Kofile Technologies in North Carolina for the process to begin.