Old Clanton Family Bible Found ~ Contains Deeds, Obituaries, Pictures

One area you may be unaware of is the family bible. When a couple married, usually one of the gifts would be a family bible and many important records and family history would be stored in the book for safekeeping. The video above shows the Clanton family bible that was sent to Terry Ike Clanton who does a weekly Internet TV Western show called "The Haunted Saloon". Mr Clanton's cousin sent him an old family bible that was found among his mother's estate that is packed with family history and genealogy items such as newspaper clippings, land deeds and pictures.

Many very old family bibles have survived both in the hands of descendants and elsewhere, and some occasionally will come up for auction on websites like eBay. When those are spotted on auction sites, GenTips will provide a link to those family bibles that are for sale.

The reason that family bibles can have such a direct bearing on your family research is that many important events such as births, christenings, marriages, deaths and burial information was usually handwritten inside the bible and may contain important items such as newspaper clippings such as the 50th wedding anniversary announcement as shown in the video. The accuracy is usually pretty good, because the information would have been added at the time of the event, but if the information is, for example, births or marriages that took place prior to the actual publication of the bible, then it is considered as second or third-hand. It could still be accurate, but not if written down as the event occurred.

If no one in your family has any idea if there was an old family bible or whether it has survived, don't give up all hope in locating this precious piece of family history. It could be in the hands of a distant cousin, and sometimes they have been deposited with libraries, historical and genealogical societies in the area where the family had previously made their home.