I know where my family bible is - how do I get it!

[Redroger]

I have no chance of a family bible on either side if I am right about the oldest child (I thought son) inheriting it! My paternal grandfather was the youngest son of 5, while though my maternal grandfather was the oldest in his family, his father's position in the family was the reason my grandfather was an ag lab rather than a wealthy farmer. I think he was 12th, certainly 20 years younger than his oldest sibling.

[weste]

One of the relatives in a  branch of a cousin's line had  found a family bible.  I was excited for her until she told me it had been stored correctly and damp had got in. I have n't heard of one in my lines, that would be too easy! I have heard of them being found in charity shops etc but would n't have thought about car boots.  The best info source i sometimes find is the family history society that i belong to, they bring various cd's etc of useful records. Also other people who are researching the same lines and the opportunity to swap info. 

[seank]

I have no chance of a family bible on either side if I am right about the oldest child (I thought son) inheriting it!

Live in hope! For one strange reason or another, both our family bibles have passed down to youngest children. One of them in particular was passed to my great-great-grandmother who was the youngest of nine children. I believe it was then passed in turn to her youngest daughter Lilian, the youngest of 12!!

[aghadowey]

Almost 20 years ago a relative of my father's said she wanted me to have the family Bible- it had come down from original owner (my grandfather's great-grandfather) to son, then (no surviving sons) his daughter, then that daughter's sister's daughter (lived in the house), then her daughter (only child). There are 2 other (male) relatives in Ireland who are more closely related to the relative and several male relatives in England. When I suggested the Bible should go to some of them she said no, the original surname has died out and the others never kept in touch so she wanted me to have it.
Went to get the Bible- lovely tooled leather cover, in fantastic condition, obviously a very expensive edition. Inside front cover was (in beautiful handwriting) the name of my great-great-great-grandfather and with great excitement I started looking for family details....



... not another thing written inside even though there are pages (yes, pages) printed for births, deaths and marriages, no deaths letters, newspaper clippings, nothing 

[deeiluka]

A friend and I found an old family bible in a little local shop. We persuaded the owner to hold it for two weeks to allow us to try to trace the family. (We couldn't afford to buy it.) With the help of Rootschatters on the Australian board, we put together quite a family history post haste, and when the shop owner saw what we'd done, she let us have the bible for a price we could afford.

The end of the story is that the Rootschat thread was found by a grandaughter of one of the two children listed in the bible, and we're going to be returning it into the family.

So do live in hope.....you just never know!


Dee   

[macken_h]

I have a family bible that I managed to save from who knows what. In 1978 I travelled to England and met for the first time my mother's widowed aunt. She mentioned that she had the family bible  and offered it to my mother who declined thinking that it was too heavy to take back to Australia. Fortunately I decided that I would find a way to get it home and took possession of it.  I mailed it "book post" back to Australia and it sits pride of place in my bookcase.
 I haven't written in it as yet as the old copperplate writing is not easily copied.
As heirlooms go this is one of the few items that I have from my forebears. Immigrants to Australia tended to travel light!

[Redroger]

Why copy the copperplate handwriting? It was contemporary when it was written in the Bible. I would write in it in my present style adding a further page of history for the next and future generations.

[Nutty1966]

Before my Gt Aunt died five years ago, I used to visit her and she would tell me tales of the family, I would scribble the details down on anything to hand and rush home and start looking for the facts.  Aunt Olive was always correct with her facts and then one day she started to tell me about when her parents had died and she was given the family bible and the old grandfather clock... her brother, who lived with her and her late husband decided there was no room for them so chopped the clock up and made a bonfire and the last thing to go on the fire was the family bible   

I would have given my left arm to have just read what was written, but alas it's never to be.

I always keep my eyes open for them in charity and  antique shops.

Enjoy if you have one

Jane

[Al in Vane]

They were certainly not always passed on to the oldest, in my family in the early 1800s it went to the youngest and he also got two shares in the will whereas the others got one share, never found the reason, perhaps his parents thought he needed it more than the others!
I saw the bible offered for sale some years ago on the internet and sent Emails and phoned but got no response so if anyone knows of a Peter Gonovan (Perhaps Donavan) or his firm Banbury Computors situated in Banbury, Oxfordshire perhaps they could chase this up for me