Towne-Eames Family Bible From Holliston, Mass Goes Back To 1700s

Here's another newly listed family bible on eBay. Published in 1823 by Daniel J. Smith of New York, the seller states the family history information is very clearly written in the bible and provides quite a bit of what genealogical data it contains.

The family shown is Garner Towne and his spouse Dorcus Eames. Garner Towne's info shows he was born 29 Nov 1795 and died 20 June 1879, while his wife Dorcus E. Eames was born 25 May 1801 and died 7 July 1887. They married 29 March 1825.

According to information from the Internet, she was the daughter of Daniel Eames and Molly Kittridge Wright (also shown in the family bible). The marriage of Garner and Dorcus is shown as 1826, not 1825 as shown in the bible, and her date of death as 30 June 1897, not 1887, so confirmation is needed there.

Her father Daniel Eames is shown as born 11 March 1767 (at Holliston, Middlesex, Mass) and he died in 1855. His parents are shown as Daniel Eames and Mary Cutler. Daniel Eames (1767-1855) and Molly Kittridge Wright (1768-1842) are shown with 13 children, 3 born at Holliston, Mass and the remaining 10 children born at Weston, Oneida, New York. Looking on Rootsweb, there is a family tree starting with Thomas Eames (1618-1679) of Dedham, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, who married Mary Blanford and connects down to the mentioned Daniel Eames (1740-after 1777) and Mary Cutler (she was the daughter of Jonathan Cutler and Abigail Clark). Here's a link to the Eames Family Tree.

The item number for those wanting a closer look at this family bible is 380219140798.

Matthew Broderick On Ancestry.com's Who Do You Think You Are?

I almost missed watching Matthew Broderick on Who Do You Think You Are? last night, but caught  most of the second half of the episode. I had to miss the first 2 episodes of the series which featured Sarah Jessica Parker and Emmitt Smith because of prior commitments (and I'm kicking myself for not recording it), but I did have an opportunity to catch the Lisa Kudrow episode.

Like most genealogists and family history geeks, I love watching this kind of stuff: seeing others find out about their family's distant past. I have my own stories of my ancestry that I'm proud to share, but it is intriguing to see the untangling of the stories others are researching, even if they are celebs. On the most recent show, Broderick was trying to find out about his great-great-grandfather who died following a battle during the American Civil War and was buried in an unmarked grave. His body was later transferred to another cemetery, but was listed as unknown until Broderick found his gravesite. Interestingly, Broderick played Colonel Robert Gould Shaw in the movie Glory who dies while attacking a southern fort (one of my favorite Matthew Broderick movies, along with Ferris Beuller's Day Off, of course!) and his body is dumped unceremoniously into an unmarked grave.

What I enjoy about this program is that you see a different facet of the celebrity as they track down their wayward ancestors. Just looking into the past and finding ancestors you were previously unaware of and discovering their individual life stories is particularly fascinating. Matthew Broderick's discovery of where his great-great-grandfather was buried put a name to an unnamed Civil War soldier's grave and opens up a line of study for him if were to choose to follow up, but what I like is that other distant relatives of Broderick may become interested in the family and start doing research. There are a million lives of our ancestors waiting to be discovered if we choose to look for them. They were not all famous, but even the most mundane life that was lived contributed to who we are and deserves the respect of being remembered. Now I can hardly wait to see next friday's show which will be about Brooke Shields and her father's history which links her to European aristocracy.

Wilkinson Family Bible From Lancshire

This bible was originally published in 1860 and was the family bible of George and Martha Wilkinson, of Clayton Le Moors, Lancashire. Their children were Grace, Mary Ann, George, and Stanley Luke. George Wilkinson was born 07 March 1874 at Clayton Le Moors, Lancashire, England. I believe Martha's surname was Laynes. George's parents were listed as Luke and Ann and they were listed in the 1881:

1881 English Census
Dwelling Police Station

Census Place Great Harwood, Lancashire, England

Luke Wilkinson, age 45 (born 1836), born Ribchester, Lancashire, England, occupation Police Sergeant
Ann Wilkinson, age 43 (born 1838), born Ribchester, Lancashire, England
Children: Sarah, Thomas, John, Luke, George (age 7), Grace and Ann.


Luke Wilkinson married Ann Slater 9 April 1860 at Ribchester, Lancashire, England. Luke was born 8 Mar 1836 at Ribchester and listed as the son of Thomas Wilkinson and Sarah Jones. They married  24 June 1830 at Ribchester, Lancashire, England. Looking online, the name Wilkinson seems to be closely attached to Ribchester with the surname recorded back to the 1600s.

The eBay item number for this family bible is 170462509497.

Roderick Family Bible ~ From Wales To Canada

This is a welsh language bible originally printed in 1840 by the London Printing and Publishing Company Limited. The bible was apparently a gift from a Daniel Thomas to his daughter Eleanor, with a message written:

"The gift of Daniel Thomas of Gryshwyn Faun in the parish of Lanarthnet Carmarthan, to his daughter Eleanor Roderick of Curgan Vawr Landivilog; was born Eleanor the 6th day of Decr 1846. Be not a terror unto me;/thou art my hope /in this day of evil.".

There are several pages of Eleanor Roderick's family listed including a birth of her son, James Hamilton Roderick (born Jan 24, 1872 at Aldershott, Canada).

Checking online, there is a Canadian census entry for Eleanor Roderick and her family:

1881 Burlington, Halton, Ontario
James Rodrick, age 40 (born 1841), born England, Hotel Keeper
Elenor Rodrick, age 34 (born 1847), born England
2 of their children, Thomas and John L. born in England, with the remaining 3, James H., Margarett A., and Elizabeth all born in Ontario, Canada. Given the dates of birth of their children, it looks like the family moved to Canada between 1870 and 1872.

I did also find the marriage for James Hamilton Roderick:

016007-98 (Wentworth Co.) James Hamilton RODERICK, 26, Ontario, Saltfleet, agent GTRy, s/o James & Eleanor RODERICK, married Jessie Gertrude DAVIS, 23, Canada, Saltfleet, d/o Wm A. Davis & blank, wtn: W.O. DAVIS of Stoney Creek, & Eliza A. RODERICK of Burlington, on June 1, 1898, at Saltfleet.

And the 1901 Canadian census shows James H. and Jessie Roderick with a son, Evan W. Roderick born 19 September 1899. There is a picture online showing where Eleanor Roderick lived. The description states:

Top, residence of Mrs Roderick, Locust Street (second house from Water Street on the west side), now demolished. Eleanor Roderick was the widow of James Roderick, the innkeeper at the Burlington Hotel (now 280 Brant Street), who died in July 1900. She sold the hotel but continued to live until 1933 in her Locust Street house, which she named “Dryslwyn”.

If you would like a closer look at this family bible, the eBay item number is 260570881465.

1839 Seibert Family Bible For Pennsylvania Amish Family

This family bible is from Lancaster, PA according to the eBay seller and shows the family name of SEIBERT (looks sort of like "Seifert" to me, but that may be because of the handwriting).  The names visible indicate this german language bible once belonged to Anna Seibert, with other names such as Alice, Franklin George, Solomon. Looking online, there is a Pennsylvania family with these names listed on the 1880 census:

Lowhill, Lehigh, Pennsylvania

Solomon Seibert, a farmer age 54 (born 1826), born PA (parents both born PA)

Maria, wife, born 1830

children Alice and Frank.

Obviously more details would be needed to confirm whether or not these Seiberts are the ones from the bible, but if you would like to have a look at the family bible (published 1839 in Philadelphia), the eBay item number is 280482495542.

1802 Soloman Steward Family Bible With Family Tree Goes Back To 1700s

Here's an old family bible first published way back in 1802 by Mathew Carey of Philadelphia. The bible itself is in poor condition, the seller mentions that it is missing several front and back pages, but it does have entries for the family going back to 1763-4. It is very difficult to read based on the pictures provided, but you can see the name Solomon Steward.

If you would like to take a closer look at this family bible, it is on ebay, with the item number 250601767072.