Who should the Family Bible be handed down to?

[Keith Sherwood]

There's recently been discussion on my mother's side of the family about who the Family Bible should be handed down to in the next generation, by right.  I have heard that the eldest daughter of each generation is entitled to it, though that of course would mean that the bible would pass out of the male line.
In our family we have a Genevan Bible that first seems to appear in 1613.  At some stage in its career it went to Australia, but now is back in England.
Can anyone in the family lay claim to the Family Bible?
Keith

[sandra70]

Hi Keith,

I always thought it went to the eldest son ?

There is supposedly one in my Mother in Laws family, that went to her brother
and now his son has it - as no-one has seen the son for years, I wrote to his
sister asking about it - no reply !

My own thoughts would be that whoever is now interested in the family history
should automatically lay claim to the bible, especially if you belong to rootschat...............

[Keith Sherwood]

Sandra,                                                                        Have you ever tried wrestling the family bible off whoever has it at the present moment in time? If it's extremely old, maybe perceived to be worth a bit, it can be extremely difficult negotiating even a brief peep at it...!
But it would be interesting to hear how other families have managed it. (Passing it down through the generations, not fighting over it, I mean...)
Keith

[casalguidi]

Hi Keith

I don't know the answer to your question but in lots of the old wills that I've seen, personal effects were often left to daughters.  However, probably even this is variable county to county and dependant on the decade/origin.

At least you've got the information from it 

A very interesting topic!

Best wishes

Casalguidi

[jinks]

My second cousin as in her possession a family
bible which as passed down the maternal side
of the family.

I suppose this is so the family links can still be
found i.e. The woman usually changes her name
on marriage.

Jinks

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Jinks,
That's a very interesting thought, about the changes in surname at marriage being recorded in this way through a handing-down of the Bible.
Just by chance this very week a cousin of mine has had a chance to look at our family Bible after an absence of 27 years, and it seems that somehow the first flyleaves are missing and much of the vital information that was supposed to be there in 1978 is now missing.  I'll hopefully get to see it at Easter now - its a 1597 Genevan Bible, apparently.
Keith

[Lloydy]

I have two family bibles given to me by my great aunt who died in 2000.  She was the last surviving sibling from a family of originally 7 children - my Nan was her sister. 

In my family it was easy for my great aunt who to decide to give the bibles to! - My Nan had two sons, my Dad and my uncle who are both alive and well.  Then there was me - an only child - and my cousin, again an only child.  He has no interest whatsoever in family history so I was the lucky one

They are wonderful bibles.  All the births and deaths are recorded in the back, and tucked amongst the pages were newspaper cuttings, a couple of obits, 3 funeral cards and some photos  


Jan

[Keith Sherwood]

Fascinating to read all that, Jan, about your own Bibles.
There's actually a bit of a hiatus going on with our family at the moment, as the Bible that is meant to have the names Crudde, Creed and Gurner - and is supposed to have been handed down within the family since 1613, has been unearthed and looked at for the first time for 26 years, and although I personally have not yet had the chance to look at it, none of the scribblings it now contains have the slightest bearing on our family, and also several pages at the front are now missing.
I'm wondering about some kind of skulduggery of the worst sort, and will soon be down to London to look at certain family wills, etc. to try and make sense of it all...
Watch this space...
Keith
p.s. If anyone does come across a very old Bible with the names Crudde, Creed and Gurner in its flyleaves, please let me know.  (Could some naughty person have swapped it...??)

[Lloydy]

Keith,

I don't know how lucky I am


Jan