Family Bible Of Barrett Family Of Concord, Massachusetts Connects To 1600s

BarrettThere's a family bible of one of the older families of Massachusetts on sale at eBay. It concerns the Barrett family who have lived at Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts since the early colonial era although this particular bible contains family information starting in the mid-to-late 1700s.

The bible itself was printed in 1809 by Matthew Carey of MA and is in fairly good condition for it's age. There are numerous pictures of the bible and its contents on the eBay auction. There are 5 pages of Barrett and related family history information with, according to the seller:

Births 1755 - 1895
Marriages 1779 - 1870
Deaths 1826 - 1944

The bible originally belonged to Amos Barrett and his wife Mary Hubbard who wed in 1779. Unfortunately the information is a bit difficult to read in the photographs provided, but some details are legible. One of the entries that I can make out is the marriage of Rufus Gilmore and Abigail Barrett, 18 June 1816. Looking online, this Rufus Gilmore is Rufus Gilmore Jr born 25 Dec 1790 at Union, Knox, Maine, the sone of Rufus Gilmore and Sally or Sarah Robbins.

If you are doing genealogical research and have family that lived in or around the area of Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, you might want to take a look at this site: Barrett Family Tree, which has 48 pages showing the descent from Humphrey Barrett (b: 1630 England, d: 3 Jan 1714/15 at Concord). Lots and lots of families and names to read through and there is a connection down to Amos Barrett and Mary Hubbard.

If you want to take a look at the family bible (and all the pictures of family history), the eBay item number is 370400590550.

Tiffany-Best Family Bible On EBAY

If you are researching the Tiffany or Best families in New York state, you might want to take a close look at this family bible that has come up for auction on eBay. The bible itself is in fairly good condition according to the seller and has quite a bit of family information.

The genealogical information starts with the marriage of Charles David Tiffany to Ada Best June 5, 1878. Other entries show Ada's parents as Henry Best and Catherine Maria Smith.

I took a look online and Henry Edgar Best (son of Robert) married Catherine Maria Smith Oct. 15, 1856. Ada's siblings are given as: Carry (b Sept. 6, 1859; m. Byaly Miller); Jessie, (b. March 30, 1862; d. May 10, 1863); Anna Maria, (b. Aug. 26, 1864; m. Jonas A. Rossman); Janette, (b. Mch. 5, 1867; m. Nov. 2, 1887, James I. Leggett; d. Oct. 19, 1888. No issue); Lulu, (b. Oct. 30, 1874; m. James H. Miller); Eugenia, (b. Nov. 13, 1877 ; m. Edgar S. Bradley); and Catherine E., (b. Apr. 17, 1879; d. Mch. 16, 1881).

Ada was born July 12, 1857 and married Charles D. Tiffany (he was born June 3, 1856). Their children:

Claude, b. March 5, 1879
Gordon, b. Mch. 10, 1881; d. July 8, 1899
Lila Erroll, b. Sept. 1, 1884
Mary Irene, b. Sept. 9, 1889
Rossman, b. July 29, 1895
Harold, b. Oct. 6, 1900

Henry Edgar Best's father, Robert Best was born Jan. 1, 1799; d. Dec. 3, 1890; married Anna Maria Hallenbeck.

Here's a link for more on the Best Family Tree.

If you want to take a closer look at this family bible, the eBay item number is 110551199069.

Eisenhart And Smith Family Of Tipton, Cedar, Iowa Family Bible

This old family bible was printed in 1853 at New York by the American Bible Society and appears to have come into the possession of a "J.S. Eisenhart." The bible itself seems in fairly good condition, with "some doodles" according to the seller. One page shows a Jacob Eisenhart marrying an Ellin? Smith, as shown to the right.

Doing some quick online research, it seems that Eisenhart came from Pennsylvania according to the census info seen below.

Take a look at the following 1880 Census information for Tipton, Cedar, Iowa:

Rebecca Smith Widow, age 74 (born 1806) born Pennsylvania, parents both born Pennsylvania

Ella Eisenhart, daughter, married, age 40 (born 1840) born PA, father born Maryland

Jacob Eisenhart, son-in-law, married, age 46 (born 1834), born PA, Occupation Agent Setting Spring Beds, both of Jacob's parents born in PA.

Dessie Eisenhart, daughter, age 20 (born 1860), born Iowa

Earnest Eisenhart, son, age 12 (born 1868), born Iowa

It looks like Jacob is living with his mother-in-law, Rebecca Smith. Interestingly, Jacob seems to have been born in Pennsylvania and moved to Iowa. If searching for more information on this particular Eisenhart family, looking into Pennsylvania records may be in order. There is a "Jacob Schmucker Eisenhart" born 27 January, 1834 at York, Pennsylvania to Jacob Eisenhart and his wife Eliza. I don't know if this would be the same Jacob that marries in Iowa, but more research may be in order.

If you are looking for more information on the Eisenhart family in Pennsylvania, take a look at this page about the Eisenhart/Isenhart family. The name "Jacob" shows up and it looks like this family also spread over to Ohio.

To take a look at this family bible, the eBay item number is 170505709597.

Wachter From Lewistown, Maryland 1850s-Era Family Bible On EBAY

Are you a Wachter from Maryland? I just spotted a family bible on sale at eBay that may be of interest to you. The seller has this leather-bound bible that contains family history information that you might want to take a look at. The births of several Wachter children from a farming family in Lewistown, Frederick, Maryland is handwritten over several pages and if you have that surname in your background, you might want to take a look.

The names I can decipher are as follows:

Milton (Valerin?) Wachter born 1853
Marien Eugene Anderson Wachter born 1854
Willie Haward Wachter born 1856
Florence Elmira Wachter born 1859
Charles Samuel Wachter born 1860
Elmer Curtis Wachter born 1862
Lillie Anna Bell Wachter 1865.

There is actually more info on the pages than just the year of birth. Their exact date of birth as well as their date of baptism is given. The children were baptised by a "Reverend Geo. W. Anderson" and the second child listed has Anderson as a middle name, so possibly a relative of the family? Or maybe the good reverend was held in very high esteem by the family. I don't know at this point. Some of the other children were baptised by different reverends.

Taking a look online, This family seems to be the same as that listed in the 1880 Census for Lewistown with the following details:

Lewis H. Wachter married age 47 (born 1834) Born MD Occupation Farmer, Both parents born in MD.
Amanda Wachter married age 50, Born MD, Keeping House, also parents born in Maryland.
Eugene Wachter, son, age 25 (born 1855), laborer
Charles Wachter, son, age 19 (born 1861), laborer
Elmer Wachter, son, age 16 (born 1864)
Anna Wachter, daughter, age 15 ( born 1865)

These children are also shown as born in Maryland. Also, a few houses away lives the family of Andrew Wachter, age 39 and his wife Cornelia and their 5 children,. A little farther down the road is another Wachter family: John Wachter, age 28, his wife Mary and the couples 2 small children. Another Lewis F. Wachter, age 46 and his family live close by - perhaps a cousin of the Lewis H. Wachter?

There's also a record of the marriage of Lewis H. Wachter to Amanda A. Pacely 2 September 1852 at  St Johns Parish Protestant Episcopal, Joppa, Harford, Maryland. There seems to have been several Wachter families in County of Frederick, Maryland since at least the 1780s. More research would need to be done to link all these branches together to see who is a couson or brother to whom, but as I am not tracing this particular family, I'll leave that to others.

To take a look at this old family bible, the eBay item number is 110552108666. As always, I am not associated with any one selling family bibles on ebay and the info provided is hopefully helpful to those tracing this particular surname.

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.