County records are computerized

WARREN -- Some of Trumbull County's oldest records are being scanned onto computer for eventual display on the Internet.
The records, including marriages and estates and wills dating to 1803 -- the year Ohio became a state -- are in high demand by genealogists and people researching their family trees.
The archive in the basement of the county's Stone Building is visited by 5,000 to 6,000 people a year, said Diana Marchese, the county recorder.
Will take years: Volunteers recently began scanning the documents using $20,000 worth of equipment bought by county Probate Judge Thomas Swift. It will take a few years before all the documents are scanned, Judge Swift said.
Reading the documents from computerized pictures spares wear and tear on the aging books. The system is set up to display images of the oversize record books page by page in full color.
"Somehow, when you are researching history, there is a whole different feel from looking at the real documents," said Emily Varner, the archivist. "This at least gives you some of that."
The documents will be accessible from the Internet after the database of images has been built up, county officials say.