Books were not as plentiful in the old days as they are now. A working class family in Europe or the U.S. might have only had one book: the Bible. This one book would serve as the catch all for family record keeping for decades, if not longer.

Knowing their market, Bible printers often left blank pages for families to fill in the births, deaths, marriages, and other life events which together told the story of that family. These old Bibles can be worth quite a bittoday, but most of the time they never leave the family since they are a precious genealogical resource. However, there is one family Bible in Oregon that has been parted from its family.

Via/ Flickr

Some antique Bibles had illustrations inside and many were further embellished by the presence of poetry or other musings which would have either been written in or placed inside as a loose leaf. These books not only were records, but functioned as the repository of a family’s history, attitudes, and artistic flair.

Via/ Wiki Commons

An antique store in Salem, Oregon called Aunt Bee’s House recently made posts on social media attempting to find out which family this amazing Bible belongs to. The cover is embossed leather of high quality with gilt lettering.

While the owners of Aunt Bee’s have not posted what’s on the inside, it’s clear from the photo they posted that the book is filled with relevant newspaper clippings going back decades. Their yellow corners might be marriage announcements or death notices. Whoever is descended from this line might be able to learn a lot about their family from these clippings. Who knows what other documents might be hiding between the pages of this antique Bible?

The store posted one image of the Bible in question on both Facebook and Instagram, noting that some of the families listed inside are Hunsingers and Moores and that the name “John Moore” appears written in the front of the Bible. Aunt Bee’s House listed their phone number in case anyone had any information on this extraordinary piece of history. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if more people did things like this?

On the store’s Instagram post, one commenter told the story of how their family Bible was lost and how special it was to have it returned safe and sound. Let’s hope the same thing happens in this case!

Via/ Library of Congress

We can imagine a family in a wagon train headed out West, taking very little in the way of furniture or decor, with the family Bible secured safely as they headed into their new life. If you have information on where this Bible might rightfully belong then please contact Aunt Bee’s House.

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