What is a Family Bible?

If you are lucky there is a family Bible in your family. Family Bibles provided paper where families wrote records of births, marriages, deaths and other important events. Often they are the only record of important events that occurred within the family. For instance, an infant might have been born stillborn, or only lived a short time. This typically means the birth and death was never recorded anywhere except for the family Bible. There will likely be no census or baptismal record of this child. Small children often did not have a tombstone placed on their grave. In addition, marriage records may only be located in a family Bible. In the past many marriages were common law or church marriages with no written record. In addition, many official marriage records have been lost due to fires and floods. Great care must be taken when reading the information in a family Bible because the pages may be fragile while sunlight, skin oils and other contaminants can harm the delicate pages. Use special gloves that are acid free and created for old document research. Keep the book away from dampness, mold and bright light. Do not write on the pages or try to copy the pages with a machine because it will cause serious damage to the Bible. You can transcribe information from the family Bible pages into a newer book or online. Make sure to store the Bible properly in an archival acid free box or container.

The Gathering

Gather documents for further genealogy research. Find birth certificates, marriage certificates and licenses, death records, school records, military records and any other documents that contain names and dates of relatives or friends you are researching. Ask relatives if they have any documents for ancestors, just make a copy of those for your file. Old letters often have information that can be helpful and they definitely add dimension to your research. Find yearbooks and photos for extra documentation for your ancestry search. If you are very fortunate someone may have an old family bible with notes about your ancestors. Gathering documents is a process that will continue throughout genealogy research.