See this old book?
It’s an old family bible that was found in the clerk’s office at church, just sitting on a shelf in a magazine holder. It’s publish date is 1865!
Mr. Ferrero Rocher brought it home on Sunday to see if I could do some detective work and try to find out about the names that are listed in the births at the front of the bible.
Glued to the inside front cover was a newspaper clipping of the announcement of Louisa Maize’s death. We found out her maiden name was Rigsby. Louisa married Robert J. Maize in 1844.
The bible belonged to one of their children, Martha Maize, who married James S. Evans July 21, 1864. All of the births listed are of their children: William Thomas Evans {b. July 27, 1865}, Robert Johnson Evans {b. March 7, 1868}, Perry Tolbert Evans {b. Oct 15, 1871; d. Sept 2, 1873}, Olive Medora Evans {b. Sept 2, 1875}, Etta May Evans {b. Oct 15, 1878}, Alice Ida Evans {b. March 28, 1884}, and Eunice Leona Evans {b. July 26, 1889}.
Stuck in Ecclesiastes was the funeral program of James Samuel Evans who died on December 27, 1915.
And on one of the blank pages in the front are locks of braided hair. We know they were blond!
I have found out quite a bit just searching through newspaper reports, cemetery records, and genealogy forums. I was able to find the spouses of all the children except for Perry who died as an infant and Alice. I’ve even been able to find the names of some the grandchildren!
The mystery is how this old family bible with treasured information came to be in the clerk’s office of a Mormon church in Northern Nevada when all these people are primarily from Missouri or Iowa. . . . and were Baptists and Presbyterians. Even the latest information I’ve found places the family in the Midwest.
We’ll keep trying to figure out that part of the story for a while longer and then we will contact those on the forums. One was even updated March 20th, just a little over a week ago! Do you think they will be excited to have this special heirloom?
What family treasures do you have? Do you have an old family bible like this that has been passed down through the generations?
More names just for research sake:
William Thomas Evans married Bertha Morgan on Nov 29, 1896 {there’s a question about the actual year}. Their children were Aleowyn and Doris. Aleowyn married Neil Frank Tierney and is in the 1940 census but her last name was indexed as Tenny. Her daughter, Aleowyn, is also listed in that census.
Robert Johnson Evans married Margaret Richmond on Sept 14, 1892.
Olive Medora Evans married T. Ben Maulding on July 3, 1895.
Etta May Evans married Mark DeWitt {b. June 17, 1881} on May 15, 1907. Mark died on June 26, 1961. Etta died on Feb 14, 1974. Their daughters are Marcelline Swisher, Dorothy Davis, and Virginia Munns. {their married names}
Eunice Leona Evans married Byron C. Stevens on Oct 12, 1910. Byron died of a heart attack on Nov 06, 1942.
If you recognize any of the names as being in your family history….send me an e-mail!
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That is fascinating. I can’t wait to hear how this all plays out.
have you checked Family Search to see if anyone submitted their names for temple work? that might lead you to a family member and more info. I love mysteries and i love searching family histories! I’ve been researching my own family for over 30 years and still find new info all of the time. looking forward to hearing about the results.
I stumbled upon your blog via Pinterest (Easter). This particular post drew me in instantle. I love old books, especially old Bibles! I do not have any but I do have some old books that belonged to my great-aunt and maybe the generation before her. This is truly a treasure that I’m sure a family member will be thrilled to receive! Let’s pray so anyway!
that book is so cool. Nice of you to track down the owner, I am sure you will.
This book is just amazing, all that history. I would think the descendants of Louisa will be delighted to have this in their hands.
I have several friends from Missouri and Iowa and have posted it on my FB wall for them to see. I have also asked them to pass the info on. I hope you find the family soon!
Just reading some of your posts I missed. This one brought back memories of a time I got to play Nancy Drew. 15 years ago we had moved back to UT from AZ and were living in Provo in the upper half of a house. There was an old broken down car in the driveway that we asked the landlord about hauling off so we could have more parking space. He said to go ahead and when we went through it we found someone’s mission journal under a seat. I just couldn’t throw it away but had no idea how to get it back to its owner. I held onto it for quite a while. Then I really felt I had to make an effort do I opened it to see if I could determine what mission this elder had served in. I was able to find a website that had lists of missions and I posted a question on it asking if anyone knew this missionary and knew how to contact him. I got an address so I sent a letter asking him if he would like to have it back. It took a really long time but I finally got a response. He did want it and I was so happy to have found who it belonged to and get it to him. It was a very fulfilling experience.
Did you ever find descendants who wanted the Bible?