Skip to main content

2024 Week 19: Preserve #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

 A few years ago, I came into the possession of a family bible. It was the family bible of my paternal grandparents, John McAra and Christina Walker. Until her death in 2018, the bible had been in the hands of my Aunt Inez, widow of my Uncle Will McAra. When I started enquiring as to its whereabouts, I found that it was her grandson, John, who now had it. John himself had no real interest in it at all, so he was quite happy to hand it over to me. However, it was, to say the least, in a bit of a state. The front cover was completely detached and there were many loose pages as the spine of the book was also damaged and detached. I had no choice but to take it to a book repairer in Glasgow, where it was repaired as best it could be.

The bible itself had been originally published in Glasgow in the late 19th century. In Victorian times it was common for Christian families to have such a large bible in which they could record events such as births, marriages and deaths. The one I have also has pages for family portraits, but they, unfortunately, are empty. 

The 'family' pages are found between the the Old and the New Testaments. Although originally filled in by my grandmother, other people have added information over the years, some of which is inaccurate. Bibles such as this can often be a great find for a family genealogist, but in my case, there was no new information. 

I have no idea if the bible was ever used by the family in their home at prayer. It must have been beautiful when it was new. The cover is leather, it has metal clasps to lock it, each page has a commentary about the content/story and there are both black and white and colour illustrations throughout.

Although the bible now has a home on one of my bookshelves and is rarely looked at, I felt the need to preserve it. It is part of my family's story. It was in my grandparents' possession during the portion of their lives when they were having and losing children. It may have been a great comfort to them to have it in their home. I don't know how many other homes it may have been through on its way to me, but for now, it is here with me as I attempt to preserve it for the next generation.



Labels:

Comments

  1. Marian B. WoodMay 7, 2024 at 5:38 AM

    A very elegant Bible, worthy of being preserved for the next generation and beyond.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2025 Week 26 : Favourite name #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

 As well as researching my own family, one of the other trees I have spent a lot of time on is that of my daughter-in-law, Lucy. Whereas my heritage is Scots and Irish, Lucy's is English and therefore some of the names I came across were quite different to those found in my own tree. One of my first favourites was a Francis Badger who appeared in the 1851 census for England! He wasn't actually a relative, but an apprentice to Lucy's 3 x great grandfather and who also lodged with the family.  I did wonder how that  surname came about - did the original Badger have  a funnily shaped face? or perhaps a white streak through his hair?? Or was he just an annoying person?? I'll never know, but it was fun to find him! Francis Badger's entry at the bottom in the 1851 census for England. Source: Ancestry.co.uk However, my all time favourite name - and character - from Lucy's tree is a man named Golden Bridge ! He is Lucy's 5x great grandfather and he was born in Essex...
Post a Comment
Read more

2026 Week 2: A record which adds colour #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

My husband's paternal grandmother, Janina Ciupka, was born in 1902 in a small town, Nieszawa, north of Warsaw, Poland, on the banks of the River Vistula. She was the youngest of 12 children, only 8 of whom survived to adulthood. At this time Poland had been occupied by their three neighbours, Germany, Russia and Austria and Warsaw was under Russian control.  Her family were very wealthy, owning granaries, bakeries, brick factories and carriage factories and they also bred white horses for the Russian Tzars. As with her elder siblings, Janina was taught by a private governess and the family had many servants, including cooks and cleaners. She obviously was leading a very privileged life. There was little known about the  period of her life from about 1909-1919, The family had moved south eastwards to Haczow around 1909. The reasons for the move seems to have been a combination of business and politics, as Haczow was under Austrian rule, considered more liberal than that of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more