Page News & Courier
Heritage and Heraldry
The Need in Keeping Page County’s Documented History in Page County
Part 1
Article of August 5, 1999
For openers, don’t read the title the wrong way here. I’m not saying to “hoard” Page County’s historical documents so those living outside the county don’t have access to things like letters, diaries, memoirs, etc. (some of these same people, like myself, are natives of Page and reside out of the county and have a genuine interest in the contents of these same documents). My plea is actually for the overall preservation of documents relating to Page’s rich history. While it would be fantastic to have as many of the county’s historic documents as possible in a safe repository right here in Page; realistically, there is no true repository in Page that can offer climate control and the best situation to preserve our ancient pieces of paper from deterioration, theft or anything else. Additionally, why would a descendant want to part with his or her ancestor’s priceless documents? Rather, what is first and foremost important at this time? Before anything else happens to those priceless documents, as a minimum we should make photocopies to maintain in one or more public master file (preferably at county or local university libraries). Who really knows just how many original documents have already been lost to time? But for those that we know are in existence today - how can you best preserve them and prevent their loss forever more? Sadly, at one point in time, for whatever reason, many of our priceless documents are sold outside of the county, OR, Heaven forbid, they are lost tragically and FOREVER in a house fire, flood, hurricane or other natural disaster.
On a tangent of my own again? Perhaps, but, at the writing of this article I’m also working with a renewed awareness after a recent personal episode. Specifically, I recently was on the famous e-bay auction site and found a most fascinating document relating to Page’s history. To most it wouldn’t appear to be anything spectacular or earth-shattering, but to me it was absolutely wonderful just by virtue of the person who signed the document up for bid. Someone in Shenandoah County had found a document signed by William Townsend Young and placed it for bid on e-bay. Now in itself, the name probably means little to anyone. However, if one takes the time to look, they would find that Young was the first captain of the “Page Volunteers,” also known as Company K, 10th Virginia Infantry. Though it was advertised with these facts of Young’s Civil War service, this document wasn’t anything of great significance. It wasn’t endorsed by Robert E. Lee nor were the contents of great value. Additionally, it wasn’t even signed by Young during the war, but rather while he was a merchant in Luray in the 1850's. Well, I saw an ideal opportunity to save another piece of Page’s past and placed my bid amounting to no more than about $12.00 in all. The auction had days to go before ending and I was safe until the absolute last minute. Now I’ve played the auction game on e-bay before and I know to look out after my bid - but this unknown person that wasn’t residing in or even -in all likelihood- from Page County (his e-mail handle was “warmonger” I believe) outbid me by 50 cents. Now I know its a “shame on me” thing for not keeping a better eye out, but the moral is much greater here in the long run - how can we preserve those documents rich with important information for all posterity TODAY? More on this in a following article.
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