Voter registration records from more than 120 years ago have been rediscovered in one small Rockingham County community, revealing a wealth of genealogical and historical data. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
Tucked into the rolling farmland of central Rockingham County is a small community called Edom. The Nineteenth Amendment arrived there in late September of 1920 – when the first four women, all white, registered to vote: 30-year-old Mary Fitzwater, 24-year-old Barbara Wenger, 54-year-old Laura Myers, and 55-year-old Minnie Davis. Their names, and those of other registered voters from 1902 to 1960, were preserved in six official voter roll books kept by registrar Pauline Fawley Beard, who passed away in 1988.
CHAZ HAYWOOD: It really is telling us a lot about the dynamics and who lived in those communities of the Linville district at the time.
Chaz Haywood is the Rockingham County Circuit Court Clerk. Beard's descendants, the Mehegan family, found the books in a closet and gave them to the court, where the archives team is now reviewing and preserving the records. Haywood said it was common practice in days gone by for registrars to keep these documents in their homes. Similarly old voter rolls were discovered in an attic in Elkton around 2012.
HAYWOOD: I don't doubt that there are dozens more somewhere … hopefully still in a chest that belonged to great grandma. … What we just plead with folks is – anytime you come across something that's written, of historical relevance, reach out to us! … We want to help you. We want to help save that local history, whether it's your history or the locality's history.
Deputy Clerk Megan Pullen told WMRA in an email that the records include genealogical details such as dates of birth and death, places of residence, and notes about relocation.
