FAMILY BIBLES
Family Bibles can be one of the most valuable and accurate sources of genealogical information. When searching for ancestors prior to the mid-1800’s, the family Bible may constitute the only source of such information for those members of your family who lived and died before the implementation of governmental mandates concerning civil registration and the creation of vital records.
If you are fortunate enough to find a family Bible in your home or in the home of a relative, the next step is to evaluate the reliability of the family information recorded in it. The importance of this step can be illustrated in the following example from one of our patrons. “In my wife’s line, there were five children in one generation. Our family is in the possession of our family, a Bible which was called the John Y.C. Bible. However, during the research process, my brother-in-law pointed out to several entries dated between 1810 – 1840, well before the Bible’s publication date in 1849. Further investigation uncovered that my brother-in-law’s grandmother felt compelled to fill in the information from pervious times in that book”.
Here are some important points to remember when examining family Bibles.
- Note the publication date of the Bible. When recording data from a family Bible, always include the date and place of publication, the name of the publisher, the name of the printer if different from the publisher, the name and address of the current owner, and the name and dates of birth and death of the original owner.
- Be carefully to examine the dates of the earliest family events recorded in the Bible. If a Bible published in 1870 indicates that Great-great-great-grandfather Mulcahy was born in 1799, you can be sure this information was entered in the Bible long after the fact. Perhaps it was copied from another source. Or it may simply be someone’s best recollection of Great-great-great-grandfather’s birth date. Regardless of the reason, the possibility of error is far greater in this situation than if the event had been recorded at the time it happened.
- Look for other clues such as changes in handwriting, inks, writing instruments, and style of recording information. These variations suggest that the information was not copied from another source and that the events were probably being recorded as they occurred.
- Are the entries made in chronological order, or did someone forget and record a birth after a death or after the birth of another younger child? Are christenings or baptisms recorded in logical time sequence to births? Are the children of each set of parents recorded together, or is the Bible record a mishmash of several branches or generations of a family?
Family Bible records sometimes confuse as much as they clarify. If this is the case, accept the record as you do a family tradition. Then work on testing its accuracy just as you go about proving or disproving the stories you have heard from older members of your family. Be thankful that someone made the effort to leave some form of written record. At least you have something to work with.
Compiled by Bryan L. Mulcahy, Reference Librarian, Fort Myers-Lee County Library 8/6/2010.