Bibles, personal or family, are such a wonderful things to discover.They can be a great resource for Births, Deaths, and Marriages. Sometimes they are filled with newspaper clippings and other items saved by the owners.
A few months ago, while conducting a page by page search of a Bible given to my Great Aunt, Kate Baker Ryan (1898-1987) in 1923, I discovered handwritten information about her father, Arthur Wellington Baker (1857-1940), mother, Martha Victoria Bradford Baker (1862-1947) and husband, James "Jim" Patrick Ryan (1893-1950) on the back of the New Testament page.
 |
| Page from Kate Baker Ryan Bible © Cheri Hudson Passey |
Kate wrote:
"Father taken to hospital June 22- 1940"
"Father was taken back to hospital Oct. 25-1940
"Father died Mon 6am Oct. 28 '-40 Buried Tues. 11am Oct. 29
"Mother was taken sick April 9, 1947 (Wed) and died Sat. am 2 o'clock April 19
buried Sun-April 20-1947 Sumter Cemetery
" My best friends are gone"
"Jim was taken sick Sat. Oct 30th 1948
died at veteran's Hospital Dec. 21-1950-"
"My best friends are gone"
What a sad statement! Reading it broke my heart.
Kate's sentiment seems to originally be for her beloved parents and then, later in 1950, her husband of 29 years.
I am grateful that "Auntie Kate" took the time to document how she felt about the deaths of her loved ones in her Bible. To call her parents "best friends" says something about the paternal Great Great Grandparents I never knew.
Are we kin? Please contact me. Together we can find our people!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
I love that you can see exactly how they FEEL in their OWN writing.....heart touching. So Glad to see when Bloggers have these possessions. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYes, it is wonderful to have emotions expressed in writing. I have no journals from this family so it was such a joy to find this. I look at their pictures together differently now.
DeleteThanks so much for reading my post and commenting!
Aw, that is sad. It really puts a face on your ancestor.
ReplyDeleteGosh, it's so sad, isn't it? I knew her when I was a child and into my early adulthood. Wish I had talked to her about her parents. Thanks for reading and your comment, Wendy!
Delete