Our Oldest Family Bible

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 40

#52ancestors 
Prompt: Oldest  

Our oldest family Bible is worn and is held together with masking tape. When it was given to me, I had to piece together its history since I didn't remember anything about it.  I received it after both my parents had passed away.  My sister remembered that it belonged to my Dad and that she had seen it as a child.

There were several interesting things in the Bible, a card from the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, some carefully dried flowers, and scraps of newspaper print with poems and spiritual readings. One poem (included below) mentions the year 91, presumably 1891.

 

The title page was missing and the title page for the New Testament was torn at the very bottom cutting off the publishing date, although it shows that it was published by the American Bible Society.  The American Bible Society was organized in 1816 to make the Bible available to all people. They were the first organization to provide Bibles to hotels and the first pocket Bibles to Civil War soldiers.    

Our Bible has a unique latch on it. The latch on the front and the back are still attached but whatever was between them is gone. Doing an image search on Google, I found an American Bible Society Bible with an identical latch. Although the cover was similar, it wasn't exact. That Bible was published in 1892.  There is a date handwritten on the back cover of 1886.  Searching out title pages that match the New Testament page in our Bible, I found matching ones from 1881and 1853.  This has led me to believe that the Bible was published around 1890, perhaps as much as 10 years before or 10 years after that date.

 On the back of the New Testament title page are some handwritten names and birthdates.  This gave the strongest clues of the original owner of the Bible.  Listed were:

 Ewing W. Lamb Born March 4, 1857

Lucy Bell Lamb April 17, 1861

Parents of

Leeland Henry Lamb Born Oct 6, 1880

Mattie Bell Lamb  Jan 21st 1882

Eva May Lamb March 20, 1884

Eli Edward Lamb Aug 10th 1886

 

The ink and handwriting for all names and dates are the same, so it was written after Aug 10th 1886, perhaps when the Bible was new.  At first we thought that the Bible belonged to Myrtle Olive Parker, wife of Leeland Henry Lamb. However, it would make more sense for her to have written her husband and herself with their children, leading us to believe that Lucy Bell Lamb was the original owner and that it passed down to Leeland Henry Lamb, then to his daughter, Eva Maude Lamb to my father, Leeland Johnston Golightley.  Leeland Golightley was saved after he was an adult and his oldest children were born.  We have speculated that his mother gave him the Bible at that time. 

I'm including one of the poems left in the Bible.

 

Why we are happy.

 

We all feel so happy this bright New Year's Day.

For Johnny is taking us both in his sleigh.

He drawing us down to the Temperance Hall,

With evergreen branches to hang on the wall;

For to-night the little Crusaders will meet,

For speaking, and singing and also a treat

Of sweet-cakes and candles, and apples and pies.

I tell you the people will open their eyes

When they see what the little Crusaders have done,

And are hoping to do in the year Ninety-One.

Neither whiskey, or brandy, or cider, or beer,

Is needed, I'm sure, for a happy New-Year.

They only bring sorrow, and hunger, and woe;

That's why we are little Crusaders, you know.