In addition to my own Bibles dating from my childhood, I’m the keeper of King James Bibles that belonged to the women in my motherline.
Emelia Ann (Moore) Jordan
My great great grandmother, Emelia Ann Jordan, was married to a lay Baptist minister. She gave a “New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” to her oldest daughter, Laura (Jordan) Goff September 30, 1890. Laura was pregnant with her first child, Leora, born that December 4.
Laura (Jordan) Goff’s Self-Pronouncing Bible
Written on a black hard-to-read page inside the one on the left in the photo is “Laura Goff, Key West, Minn.” Looks like she paid $1.35 for it. The Goff family moved to Minnesota with eight children 1903, and moved back to Iowa in 1905 with nine.
Inside are the military ID numbers for Laura’s three sons (Jennings, Merl, and Wayne Goff) who served in WWI, also the two who served in WWII (Rolla and Clarence).
Next is her daughter Leora’s note, “Mother read this Bible twice when she was with Clarence in Omaha.” (That would have been in the late 1930s.)
Under that is Laura’s signature and a notation that she joined the M.E. church at Dexter, Iowa, March 14, 1937, and was baptized there on March 28, 1937 (Easter Sunday) by Rev. J. H. Freedline. This is interesting because she’d moved to Omaha in 1935 and was living with her sons and two motherless grandchildren. She must have been visiting Leora’s family in Dexter when she joined the Methodist church and was baptized there (where she’d attended during the late 1920s and early 1930s while still living in Dexter).
Leora (Goff) Wilson’s Bible
The one in the middle was “presented to Leora F. Wilson, Minburn, Iowa, R.F.D. #1 by Clabe D. Wilson” of the same address, for Christmas 1942, the second Christmas of World War II. “WILSON” is stamped on the front.
Between the Old and New Testaments, Leora recorded family births, marriages and deaths. She also tucked bulletins inside as well as bookmarks and clippings.
There’s no underlining, but it looks like she read it often. Leora also had a smaller Bible, dated September 26, 1952, a Revised Standard Version, which is probably the one she carried to church.
Leora was a member of the First Christian Church in Guthrie Center for decades. She wrote in her memoir, “I also belonged to the Methodist church in Dexter, Iowa, for several years in the 1930s and changed my membership to the First Christian Church in Perry, was baptized in 1946, and transferred to Guthrie Center, Iowa, in 1948.”
Doris (Wilson) Neal’s Bible, Red Letter Edition
Leora’s oldest daughter Doris attended the Presbyterian Church as a child, while the Wilsons lived SE of Dexter. After they moved into town, they attended the nearby Methodist Church with their Grandmother Goff. After Doris married Warren Neal, who was Presbyterian, she joined his church.
Leora’s mother presented Warren and Doris a Bible in 1946, the one on the right in the photo. “NEAL” is stamped on the front. I don’t remember this Bible from my growing up years, but Mom also had a smaller Revised Standard Version which was handier.
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I’ve been blessed by several versions of the Holy Bible. My first one was from Grandma Leora, for Christmas 1952, a King James Version. I received a Revised Standard Version (RSV) on Pentecost 1959 (May 17, I was almost 15), presented by the Women’s Association of the First United Presbyterian Church at Dexter on becoming a Communicant Member. These days I’m rereading my English Standard Version (ESV) journaling Bible, which has room for notes.
Each generation must make their own profession of faith. I became a follower of Christ at a junior church camp, and was baptized in 1987 with my husband and 12-year-old son.
How precious it is to have this legacy of faith in my motherline.
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All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Bibles and other books of worship handed down help to tell us who we are.
I’ve been pondering that lately. Thanks, GP!
A great legacy to have! I especially like the truth of your statement that each generation–each individual–must make the personal decision to make the Bible the foundation of the legacy they leave behind. Since for a number of years I did editing for Christian publishers, I have a plethora of Bibles of various translations/versions that I used to check the accuracy of wording. I don’t use most of those today, the KJV being my preferred version, but the most precious ones I have are those belonging to my dad. He DID underline and take notes in his well-worn copy.
Thank you, Dennis! I would have welcomed some notes or underlining.
I love your Bibles! I have a large collection of family Bibles as well. One is very old. My Mother’s Bible is on my bedside table. Recorded in there is the date of her wedding ceremony and wedding details. (It was a gift from the church for her wedding.)
Thank you, Linda! We have Bibles from my husband’s side as well. What to eventually do with them!
I know… so much to keep track of, but so dear as well!!! I hope we can keep ‘passing them on!’
One son, not interested. . . hmmm
He may have a change of heart…you never know!
I have my grandmother’s KJV and one from my mother, plus the one I got in 3rd grade and the study Bible I use most of the time these days.
The one that generates poems!
I would have given my eyeteeth for my mom’s, my grandmother’s & great-gran’s Bibles. After moving my mom in with us over two years ago, we searched high and low for these Bibles in her house, which I knew she had, but couldn’t find one of them. I did nab my granddad’s Bible. In her dementia, the place was such a wreck, along with severe hoarding, it was truly a needle in a haystack. I’m sure they were in some secure places under all the stuff in her house, but had to give up. They are treasures, as you know.
Happy Easter! He is risen!
Alan
Alan, you were dealing with mold as well, as I remember. I’m thankful you found your granddad’s Bible. He is risen indeed!
Given my family’s history, there were no Bibles to pass on. I have a KJV edition given to me by a friend after my conversion in 1958. I did record some family dates in this Bible, but then I began to acquire newer translations, of which I now have six or seven. I also have seven versions on my iPhone and iPad. So it will be that there will be no well worn to pass on to my family.
We only have one son, who isn’t interested in old things, so I’m unsure what to do with most of them, especially since some are fragile.
Perhaps a local museum might be willing to preserve and display them. Or you could establish your own museum based on your family’s history, and some of the other histories you’ve uncovered. Start a foundation to raise funds for perpetual care and display of all the precious documents and items you have collected. You could call it, “Leora’s House”.
I remember back in the 80s, we stopped at a local museum in SD. where Laura Ingalls Wilder of “ Little House on the Prairie” fame had a whole houseful of memorabilia on display. There are actually several museums devoted to her memory and life work.
You have accomplished much in your careful research, capturing an era, in the life of one family. It’s worth preserving so that future generations can see how this nation was built a preserved by ordinary people.
Let me know when Leora’s museum opens. I’ll buy the first admission ticket and give a brief speech.
Guthrie County’s terrific museum is in Panora, which isn’t even the county seat. The Liza Jane train also didn’t go to Panora. Guthrie Center needs their own! That’s where I’d like to donate several Guthrie County items. I don’t have the energy to do more than I am, so let’s pray for someone to be thinking along those same lines. Mom and I enjoyed the Little House books and visited a couple of “her places.” I would have enjoyed traveling to them all. I have all the books, along with related books, so I certainly hope that granddaughter Kate will be interested someday! Well, Bob, if you’re giving the speech, you can get in free! Your encouragement is so heartening.
You are fortunate to have such a wonderful legacy of Bibles! Faith runs strong in your mother’s line. By the way, Leora and I share the same birthday-December 4. 🙂
Thank you, Nancy. Grandma Leora noted on the back of an old photo that I was born on her half-birthday!
The Bible my dad used was heavily underlined and annotated. I think it eventually fell apart because he had a new one in the ’80s.
A real treasure!
The spirtual history of our families is really absorbing, Joy.
Fascinating post, Joy. When I was researching Bibles for a book, there was a lot of focus on what was written inside the cover – wonderful peeks into the lives of the book’s owner. It seems like Laura’s and Leora’s bibles are great examples of that. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Diana. I guess we don’t do it anymore, or have other places to keep the information.
At one time much of education was done using Bible verses. It may have often been the only book in many pioneer households and thus the key to literacy.
You are so right! Emilia’s mother came to Iowa as a child. Her grandfather had pioneered in Indiana and built a meetinghouse with a pulpit at one end. I’ve started a manuscript about my motherline with the Moores bringing a King James Bible with them, along with a spinning wheel (noted in an obituary) and other necessities. Emilia’s firstborn, Laura, was a rural schoolteacher before she married.
I wonder how different the country would be if pioneers carried another book mass printed on presses like the Gutenberg. One of the notable dictionaries printed during the Gutenberg era was the “Catholicon,” printed in 1460 by Johann Balbus of Genoa. It was one of the earliest printed dictionaries and was intended to be a Latin dictionary.
Fascinating.