Modern families don’t use family bibles as much as they used to. That is too bad because the family bible can be invaluable for helping find important genealogy information. You may have some family bibles in your family too.
These types of family bibles are big, thick bibles with blank pages used to record births and deaths. Back in the day, even families that weren’t very religious had one of these big bibles to keep records and register their children’s births and family deaths.
Due to this, these types of records are very accurate. Many bibles tend to contain several surnames as they are passed down from generation to generation. Not only that, unlike some types of records, the bibles usually show surnames and maiden names of women. So, unlike census records, which often only included the man’s name followed by the number of women and children in the household, these bibles show all the records and all the names, including dates of birth, death, and marriage.
Many families also kept newspaper clippings inside to further document their family lineage, as well as other types of notes and scraps. This makes bibles like this super-important for tracing long-lost family history when there are no other official documents - especially for back to the time when there weren’t even regularly issued birth and death certificates.
Some genealogists collect these types of bibles that have been abandoned by family members, and record the information within. Information will be written on the pages, as well as on clippings, scraps of paper, bookmarks, official documents, and more. Some families also included dried flowers and other keepsakes from weddings and funerals of the family. While the bibles used to be prized possessions for families, they still got abandoned when everyone died and there was no one left to keep them or who wanted to keep them.
If a bible like that existed for your family, it may have been collected by a genealogist. Usually, they have been digitized. It might cost you some money to get hold of this information, but it is possible to find. There are a couple of websites that might be helpful such as Bible Records Online and Family Bible Website, where you can also locate family bibles for sale. Also, Ancestor Hunt has a list of family bibles online listed by surname.
Links:
Bible Records Online - http://www.biblerecords.com/
Family Bible Website - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~familybibles/index.html
Ancestor Hunt - http://www.ancestorhunt.com/family_bibles_index3.htm
Bible Records Online - http://www.biblerecords.com/
Family Bible Website - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~familybibles/index.html
Ancestor Hunt - http://www.ancestorhunt.com/family_bibles_index3.htm
Don’t forget to check auction sites like eBay as well for family bibles being auctioned off. Hundreds of family bibles are auctioned off every month on this site. It may not be likely you’ll find your family bible, but you never know; it’s worth having a look. The information you’ll need in order to find your family bible is the typical kind - as many dates of events and names that you know.
Some states also have bible records online so check to see if your state has any of that information. You can also look for bibles that have been found on USGenNet.org. If you’ve found a bible yourself, you can list it, but you’ll need to include your information as they do not allow for anonymous entries.
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