Where do I begin to look for an owner of a bible with few dates and only a few names in it? It is 1

LegacyUser

Where do I begin to look for an owner of a bible with few dates and only a few names in it? It is 125 years old and I would love to reunite it with it's ancestors! Joseph D. Smith gave it to his wife on 12/25/1895. That's literally all the info I have!!

I am refering this to the Family Bibles Group:

 

referred to @Family Bibles​ by admin

Teresa Arispe

Thanks for getting in touch! We love solving family Bible mysteries like this.

 

Could you get us photos of the names and dates in the Bible? Every little bit helps. Also, if you could give us the location you think the Bible is from, that would aid us in narrowing down our search. I see you posted this in the Midwest group, so do you know if the Bible is from a specific Midwestern state?

LegacyUser

Hi Teresa! I really hope you can help! My uncle found this bible 60 years ago in Phoenix, AZ but there are newspaper clippings in there from Houghton, Michigan. I would LOVE nothing more than reunite this treasure to its ancestor!

LegacyUser

Teresa Arispe

Thanks for the photos! What a beautiful Bible!

 

I checked FamilySearch and Ancestry, but I'm not finding anything that looks like it could be the family this Bible belonged to. But we won't give up yet! Could I please take a look at the newspaper clippings? Every bit of evidence helps in solving a case!

 

Here's what I've deduced so far:

 

• Joseph D. Smith and his family may have lived in or around Houghton, Michigan.
• The date that Joseph gave the Bible to his wife may or may not be relevant. If he gave it to her on Christmas Day, it was probably a Christmas present and not a wedding present. However, we cannot discount the possibility that he gave it to her for their first Christmas together, as obtaining a family Bible was a common practice when a new family was started. If your parents didn't give you theirs, you would have to buy a new one.
• The paper flower decoration appears to be a wedding memento; based on the names and the year, it looks like it could be a son of Joseph's.
• If your uncle found the Bible in Phoenix, it's possible that it was passed on to said son who lived in Phoenix.

 

What I can tell you right now is that the gentleman in the photo is 1920's Western actor William S. Hart. I also did some research on the lady, Lenore Ulrich, and she was an actress from the same era. It seems somebody liked movies and scored some autographs. (I recognized Hart right away because I live in the area where he lived and shot most of his movies. His beautiful Mission-style house is now a museum dedicated to his life and work.) (I know it's not directly related to this family, but it's a fun historical tangent.)

Family Bible

great detective work!!

LegacyUser

Can you see why I want to reunite this treasure to its ancestors?!?! It's beautiful, right??? I am attaching everything that was placed in the bible. I took pictures of the newspaper articles and the backs of them as well. Also, there are some cards but not a lot to go by with only first names. 😥 I've looked on family search and ancestry as well but there are A LOT of Joesph Smiths out there. 😂

 

LegacyUser

This is probably the most important info..."For my cousin Joseph, from Annie"

How do you find any info from that?!?!?😞

 

Teresa Arispe

Thank you! If I wasn't so squeamish I could be a private investigator. But history is a lot like detective work!

Teresa Arispe

Thanks so much for the fabulous photos! What a treasure trove of interesting information! Those newspaper clippings look super old. The mention of China's Imperial Telegraph Department means that that particular paper can't be newer than 1906, when the department was merged into the Ministry of Posts and Communications. The newspaper clippings don't really look like they have much to do with the family--it just looks like somebody liked those articles and pictures enough to want to keep them. My own family has a old Bible belonging to my great-great-aunt who did the same thing. It's cute and fascinating seeing what she found interesting enough to want to keep in her Bible all her life.

 

I am still unfortunately not finding anything that looks like a match either. But thank you so much for holding on to this Bible, and I hope we can find the Smiths someday. Maybe their information just hasn't been uploaded to the Internet yet--I'm always surprised by how many families somehow slip through the cracks, despite all the digitized records nowadays and people constantly adding to their online family trees. Don't give up! A breakthrough usually comes when you least expect it.