How to Find and Use the Family Bible – Premium
The Family Bible: Elevenses with Lisa Episode 29
The family Bible is an important resource for genealogy. Here’s how to find family Bibles and use them for family history.
Watch episode 29 of Elevenses with Lisa to learn how to find and analyze your family Bible for genealogy
Start by watching this video to learn how to find and use family Bibles. Then keep reading below for all of the website links and resources to help you be successful in your research of the family Bible.
Elevenses with Lisa, the online video series where we take a break, visit and learn about genealogy and family history.
Places to Look for the Family Bible
The best place to start looking is around your own house!
Where you Can Find Family Bibles Offline:
- Reach out to close family and distant cousins, particularly female lines
- Archives
- Historical societies
I reached out to my cousin Carolyn. She relayed a strange story to me about the family bible that was in my Great Grandmother Lenora Herring’s home:
The Strange Story
“Many years ago, probably when I was in my 20’s or 30’s I was visiting at the Herring home in Oklahoma. Lenora had already passed but Jewel (her daughter) still lived in the house.
I was asking her some questions about the family history. She got out the Bible and said it contained the only information she knew about. It was a large Bible – I don’t remember much about its condition – and getting pictures of things certainly wasn’t the trend. But she opened it up to the pages where the family history was written and she proceeded to tear out those pages and give them to me!
A page torn from the family Bible.
Looking back on that, I kinda wish I would have stopped her! So, she kept the Bible and gave me the family info pages! The Bible itself didn’t seem to impress me much. But I was very interested in what was written on those pages!
So after Jewel could no longer live in the Herring house and my mother placed Jewel in a nursing home, my mother disposed of all the things in the house and the house was sold to help pay for Jewel’s care. I was not there in Oklahoma when this occurred, but I guess Janette must have picked up the family Bible.
Eventually, Janette and I got our heads together and realized who had what. I’ve attached images of the family history pages. Some of it is hard to read – I think most of it was written in pencil. And for some reason, I didn’t make sense of some of the info till recent years.
I think there were multiple people that wrote on the pages – including my mother.
There was a Herring / Jump family reunion several years ago at the home of one of the Jump cousins. I went and so did Janette. She brought the family Bible to show. It was in very, very poor condition and if I remember right, stored in an old cardboard box……….”
Where You Can Find Family Bibles Online
Here’s a list of free websites where you can find digitized family Bibles.
Family Bibles at Library of Congress
Search for family Bibles at the library of congress
Internet Archive: Archive.org
Click here to see the search results for “family bible” at the Internet Archive.
The Streepy Bible is a great example of variation in handwriting.
Click here to see Genealogical records taken from the family Bible of James Monroe Palmer : born 1822, died 1897 and Caroline Frances Bacon, his wife, born 1830, died 1899 of Boston, Massachusetts.
A good example of a transcription of the records from a family Bible.
Ebay
Search for “family bible”. Try adding a surname.
Premium Members: Listen to my Premium Podcast episode 76 that includes strategies for using ebay for genealogy.
Google
Search for the surname along with the phrase family Bible using the quotation marks search operator. Example: “Cooke” “family Bible”
Resource for Google search strategies: The Genealogists’s Google Toolbox by Lisa Louise Cooke
FamilySearch
Search both the Card Catalog and the Digital Books collection for “family bible” and a surname.
In the Notes section of an item, you may find a link to click to view the digital version if one is available.
World Cat
Catalogs approximately 2 billion items from 10,000 libraries around the world.
Archive Grid
Includes “over 5 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more.” Includes materials from over 1,000 different archival institutions.
Examining the Family Bible
- Check the title page
Is there a date that it was printed / published?
This may help you determine when it made its way into the family - Look through every page as things may be tucked in there.
- Look through the pages – look for markings. You may find passages that were particularly meaningful to them.
- Was the publish date after many of the dates entered into the Bible? There’s a chance the info may have been copied.
- Use a photo editor to preserve and even improve Bible pages. I use Snagit to invert the image. Get Snagit with our affiliate link and get a discount for a limited time. (thanks for supporting our free content!)
- In the menu: Image > Effects > Filters > Invert. (Learn more about using Snagit for genealogy with my video and article How to Use Snagit for Genealogy.)
Interpreting the Family Bible
Here are questions to ask and things to consider as you interpret the contents of your family Bible for genealogy.
Was the information copied? If so, who then has the original? Keep in mind that mistakes could have been made during the copying or entered by memory.
Could the information have been recorded by people over time?
Is the handwriting all the same? If so, it’s more likely some copying.
Different handwriting in the family Bible may indicate more first-hand knowledge, or it may be someone filling in years later.
Analyze all of the entries. Like a scrapbook, there is significance to the order and each entry has significance. Is anyone missing?
Was there an incentive for inaccuracies? Was a marriage date fudged to hide a pregnancy before marriage?
Cross reference with other genealogical documents.
Did a wedding occur around the time of the Bible’s publication? The Bible may have been a gift.
Restoring the Family Bible
My cousin Carolyn had a large family Bible from her father’s side of the family restored.
The family Bible in need of restoration
“The woman who restored this Bible did an awesome job. She had available the correct restoration materials. It’s not perfect, like-new. But still very good.”
“She also did something to the leather to renew it in some way. When I first acquired the Bible, the brass latch would not close, but now it does! The Bible can now be viewed and handled (carefully, of course!) without it falling apart. She also constructed a special storage box for it, using archival quality materials.”
Since there wasn’t a restoration expert available in her area, she reached out to a book restoration expert in Indiana:
Leonard’s Book Restoration, LLC
“Website was helpful and they were pleasant to work with…They put a new cover on my own personal Bible, and I was very pleased with their work. A few years ago, I also had them re-do a small hardback Bible that my mother used. ”
Resources
Listen to the Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast Episode 68 on the Family Bible, Google Search
Rodney McCulloh shares his inspirational story of the path that he followed that lead him to the old family Bible.
Bonus Download exclusively for Premium Members: Download the show notes handout
Become a Genealogy Gems Premium Member today.
Answers to Your Live Chat Questions
One of the advantages of tuning into the live broadcast of each Elevenses with Lisa show is participating in the Live Chat and asking your questions.
From Sian: Is Archivgrid US-based only or worldwide?
From Lisa: It’s worldwide. In the “Search for a Location” list you can scroll down to see all the countries. You can also hover you mouse over the map and zoom out to see the full coverage.
From Kimberly: Hi from East Aurora NY. I can’t wait to take take another look at my grandmother’s Bible! Is it ok to add my information to her Bible?
From Lisa: While in the end, it’s a personal decision, I think it’s a wonderful idea to add information to the family bible. They are meant to be added to over generations.
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15 Websites Under-the-Radar for Genealogy (Audio Podcast)
SHOW NOTES: Episode 294 of the Genealogy Gems podcast shines a spotlight on 15 under-the-radar websites that serious genealogists should know about. Lisa Louise Cooke reveals powerful resources like AI tools capable of deciphering old handwriting in unindexed records, clever ways to hunt for unique family artifacts and ephemera online, specialized digital libraries perfect for finding memoirs, how obscure fashion archives can help date your mystery photos, and cutting-edge map sites that let you search text within the historical maps themselves. Plus, stick around until the very end for a special bonus tech tip to make your research even smoother!
Listen to the Podcast Episode
To Listen click the media player below (AUDIO ONLY):
Download this episode’s show notes. (Premium Membership required. Join today.)
15 Websites Under-the-Radar for Genealogists
1. FamilySearch Full-text Search
You know how OCR technology lets computers read typed text on old documents? For years, which didn’t work well for handwritten records. But FamilySearch is changing the game! Their Full-text Search project, available through FamilySearch Labs, is training AI to decipher historical handwriting. The exciting part? More and more handwritten records that once required tedious page-by-page Browse are becoming keyword searchable. Dive in and explore the collections currently using Full-text search.
2. Calculating Cousins with FamilySearch
Ever get tangled trying to figure out if someone’s your second cousin once removed, or… something else entirely? Take the guesswork out of cousin relationships with the fantastic Cousin Chart blog post on FamilySearch. It pulls together some of the best tools – a handy visualization chart, a ‘Cousin Calculator’ tool, and even a math-based method. Bookmark this one – it’s a lifesaver!
3. Ancestry.com – Just How Far Back Can They Go?
We know Ancestry.com lets you filter searches way back, even to the 1600s. But is that the limit? Not even close! According to Ancestry themselves, their oldest documents are the Mühldorf Deeds from Germany, dating back to the 1300s! And thanks to modern tech, even these incredibly old documents can be surprisingly legible and searchable. Visit Ancestry.com’s Card Catalog.
4. Get Organized with Family Tree Magazine
Feeling buried under piles of papers or drowning in digital files? Getting your genealogy organized is a common goal, and Family Tree Magazine has a fantastic resource page to help you finally conquer the chaos. Their Organize Your Genealogy page gathers their best guides on everything from taming paper clutter and digital files to organizing photos and your workspace.
5. Newspapers – Veridian Collections
Many of us were sad to see the newspaper site Elephind.com go. But the good news is, the company behind it, DL Consulting, is still helping libraries digitize their collections using their Veridian software. Why does this matter to you? Because you can browse the fascinating, digitized content from their clients – including many unique and free newspaper collections – directly through the Veridian website.
6. In Search of Memoirs at FamilySearch Digital Library
Imagine discovering a detailed, personal memoir written by an ancestor born over 170 years ago! That actually happened to me. For decades, I knew my husband’s great-grandmother, Minna Boettcher, born in 1853, had written about her pioneer life, but the book was lost. Then, just recently, my sister-in-law found it while downsizing! It’s filled with incredible details. This experience is a reminder to talk to your relatives – you never know what family history treasures might be hiding in their homes! But while you wait (hopefully not 40 years like me!), try searching for memoirs in the FamilySearch Digital Library. I recommend using the Advanced Search, putting ‘Memoirs’ in the Title field and a surname in the Keyword field.
7. Shopping for Family History at eBay
Time for some retail therapy – genealogy style! You might be surprised what family history treasures you can find on eBay.com. Think beyond records – I’m talking about artifacts! Over the years, I’ve snagged things like catalogs and tools from my husband’s great-grandfather’s hardware store, an old stock certificate signed by an ancestor, photos, yearbooks, postcards, even a tablecloth embroidered with family names and dates! My pro tip: Run searches for family names, ancestral businesses, or hometowns, and save those searches. eBay will then notify you when matching items pop up!
8. Giving Back: Birth Parent Finder
Navigating searches related to adoption often requires specialized help. BirthParentFinder.com is a resource dedicated to this, combining investigative expertise with DNA analysis to help reunite birth parents, siblings, and adopted children across the US. They offer a fantastic free blog with strategies and success stories, and they’ve recently launched the ‘Finding Family DNA with Chris and Jay’ podcast. Don’t miss the episode featuring Family Tree Magazine’s own Andrew Koch!
9. The New Chronicling America
Next up, a long-time favorite that just got a major upgrade: The Library of Congress’s Chronicling America newspaper site! It’s always been a go-to for free historical newspapers, but the new Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers collection website is fantastic. It boasts a completely redesigned interface built to handle its massive, growing collection. Key upgrades include better search refinement, an improved image viewer, and updated advanced search options. But one of the coolest new features, especially if you’re a visual person like me, is the ability to explore newspapers geographically. The interactive map lets you zoom into specific areas and click blue dots to see available digitized papers. Plus, there’s a time slider to filter by date. They add new content weekly, so keep checking back!
10. MyHeritage’s New OldNews.com
Broaden your newspaper horizons with MyHeritage’s dedicated newspaper site, OldNews.com. Launched recently, this site already contains hundreds of millions of pages from small-town papers to major international ones, effectively doubling the newspaper content previously on MyHeritage. And they plan to add millions more pages monthly, so it’s a rapidly growing resource!
11. Fashion History Timeline
Those old family photos hold more clues than you might think, especially in the clothes! Fashion can reveal social standing, hint at activities, and crucially, help date photos. To decipher these clues, check out the free Fashion History Timeline from the Fashion Institute of Technology. It’s an academic resource with searchable databases of publications on fashion history, perfect for pinpointing that unfamiliar style in Grandma’s portrait.
12. The American Immigrant Wall of Honor Database
Did your ancestors immigrate to the US? You might find their names – or add them yourself – to The American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island. Originally started in 1990 for Ellis Island immigrants, it’s now open to honor any immigrant, regardless of when or where they arrived. You can search the existing database for free at the Statue of Liberty.org website and even add your own ancestor’s name to the wall through the Foundation’s heritage site.
Watch the Genealogy Gems video Find and Honor Your Ancestors at Ellis Island Wall of Honor.
13. Find and Identify Old Photos at DeadFred.com
How incredible would it be to find a lost photo of your ancestor online? Thousands of people have had that exact experience using the free photo archive, DeadFred.com! It’s a repository of user-submitted old photos, many unidentified or partially identified. Search by surname or location – you might get lucky! And if you find a photo of a direct ancestor that’s part of the DeadFred archive itself, they’ll often send you the original for free. It’s also a great place to upload your own mystery photos – maybe someone out there holds the key!
Watch the Genealogy Gems video The Secret to Finding Old Family Photos.
14. A New Way to Search for Free Digitized Maps
The David Rumsey Map Collection, already an amazing resource, recently launched a Machines Reading Maps tool. It has indexed 100 million words across 57,000 historical maps. Think about searching for terms relevant to your ancestors’ lives: ‘saloon,’ ‘lumberyard,’ ‘winery,’ ‘livery stable,’ or even a specific business name! The Advanced Search lets you combine text searches with map metadata. Hover over results to see the map snippet, and yes, all maps are free to download.
15. Primary Sources at JSTOR
Let’s enrich your family’s story with historical context. JSTOR is a vast digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. While you might not find your great-aunt’s birth certificate, you can find incredible materials that describe the world your ancestors lived in. For instance, I found the incredibly detailed WWII POW journal of Lt. Joseph ‘Ed’ Carter on JSTOR Daily. Reading accounts like this – journals, articles about local industries, social histories – can bring your ancestors’ experiences to life, even if they aren’t mentioned by name. Dive in and see what context you can uncover!
Bonus Tech Tips
Chrome Web Browser: Type @Gemini in the address bar, press the space bar, and then type your question. Press Enter on your keyboard for the answer!
Learn about creating and using Gemini Gems to automate your usage of AI for genealogy. Watch the Elevenses with Lisa episode Gemini Gems: How to Create Custom AI Research Assistants.
Resources
Download this episode’s show notes. (Premium Membership required.)
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Episode 211
The Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode #211 with Lisa Louise Cooke
Photo Credit: Beth Forester
In this episode, host and producer Lisa Louise Cooke talks with Barry Moreno, Historian at Ellis Island. Hear about the life cycle of this busy U.S. immigration station (1892-1954) and Barry’s research into thousands of Ellis Island employees who worked there.
More Episode Highlights
Archive Lady Melissa Barker tells us about the National Archives Citizen Archivist program and Lisa profiles a volunteer effort coordinated by the British Library to geo-tag thousands of old maps that are already online.
A giant genealogy lost-and-found! Two listeners write in about rescuing old artifacts and returning them to those who might be interested.
Military Minutes contributor Michael Strauss talks about Official Military Personnel Files for 20th-century US servicemen and women?files that were unfortunately partially destroyed. Hear what he learned about his grandfather.
Genealogy News
National Archives Citizen Archivist Project, reported by The Archive Lady, Melissa Barker
The British Library Georeferencing Project
Flickr Commons collection of digitized maps from the British Library Collections?mostly 19th century maps from books published in Europe.
Use Google Earth for genealogy! Check out these resources:
FREE Google Earth for Genealogy video
The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, by Lisa Louise Cooke. This book has 7 full chapters on Google Earth! Available in print.
Google Earth for Genealogy Video Training by Lisa Louise Cooke. Available now as a digital download.
Available in the Genealogy Gems Store
New Video for Premium Members
“Share Your Life Stories More Meaningfully” Premium Video
Every life is fascinating when it’s well shared! Learn from the author of Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy what stories you have that are worth telling–and several inspiring reasons to write them. Review different kinds of memories, why some memories are more vivid that others, and how to flesh them out. Learn tips for researching gaps in your memories, how to turn a memory into a good story, what to leave out and several ways to share your stories.
Genealogy Gems App Bonus Content
If you’re listening through the Genealogy Gems app, your bonus content for this episode is a preview of the new Premium video class, “Share Your Own Life Stories More Meaningfully” by Contributing Editor Sunny Morton. The Genealogy Gems app is FREE in Google Play and is only $2.99 for Windows, iPhone and iPad users
Mailbox: Roland’s Heirloom Rescue
Mailbox: New Listener Photo Rescue Project
What can you do with a collection of unidentified photos?
Return them to a loving home. In this case, it was a local historical society. Linda wisely kept the collection together because often there’s power in what some of the photos may tell you about others.
Get them digitized and online so those who want them can find them. The historical society put images on Find A Grave memorials and Iowa GenWeb. They even plan to display them for locals to look at personally and try to identify!
Historical and genealogical societies can also share mystery photos on their websites (or their local library’s website if they don’t have their own) or on their blogs, Facebook pages or even in their regular newsletters. These are great conversation pieces, especially when you can later report that you have solved the mystery! (Click here for more tips aimed at supporting genealogy societies.)
Photo mystery SOLVED: Savvy tips to identify old photos
Visit www.RootsMagic.com
Lisa Louise Cooke uses and recommends RootsMagic family history software. From within RootsMagic, you can search historical records on FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com. RootsMagic is now fully integrated with Ancestry.com: you can sync your RootsMagic trees with your Ancestry.com trees and search records on the site.
Keep your family history research, photos, tree software files, videos and all other computer files safely backed up with Backblaze, the official cloud-based computer backup system for Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems. Learn more at https://www.backblaze.com/Lisa.
MILITARY MINUTES: OFFICIAL MILITARY PERSONNEL FILES
The military service files for your ancestors who served during the twentieth century or later are located at the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis, MO as part of the National Archives. The files are called the Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) and are available for each of the military branches; namely; Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard.
Researchers should be keenly aware of the devastating fire that occurred on July 12, 1973 at the research facility that destroyed or damaged between 16-18 million service files from the United States Army and the Air Force. Remember that the Air Force wasn’t officially organized until September 14, 1947. Before this date Air Force records were part of the United States Army Air Corps, then part of the U.S. Army.
National Archives at St. Louis. Overview of the holdings, media articles and PowerPoint presentations (download as PDFs)
The 1973 Fire at the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis, MO
Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) Non-Archival Holdings
Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) Archival Holdings
Archival Research Room at the National Personnel Record Center (Request an Appointment, Availability of Records, Copy Fees, Hours of Operation, Hiring a Researcher)
Request Military Service Records (Online request for Veterans, Standard Form 180, or For Burials and Emergency Requests)
Mail Order Request for Record from the National Personnel Record Center (SF 180)
Zerbe H. Howard
Start creating fabulous, irresistible videos about your family history with Animoto.com. You don’t need special video-editing skills: just drag and drop your photos and videos, pick a layout and music, add a little text and voila! You’ve got an awesome video! Try this out for yourself at Animoto.com.
Watch the video below for an example of a family history video made with Animoto:
MyHeritage.com is the place to make connections with relatives overseas, particularly with those who may still live in your ancestral homeland. Click here to see what MyHeritage can do for you: it’s free to get started.
INTERVIEW: BARRY MORENO, ELLIS ISLAND HISTORIAN
Photo Credit: Beth Forester
Barry Moreno is a leading authority on the history of Ellis Island, the famous receiving station for millions of immigrants to the United States from 1892-1954. He has worked in the Museum Services Division at Ellis Island for more than a decade. He is the author of several books, including Children of Ellis Island, Ellis Island’s Famous Immigrants (including Bob Hope, Bela Lugosi, and Max Factor) and Encyclopedia of Ellis Island (which includes information on displaced persons).
Ellis Island: Historical highlights
Prior to 1890, immigration was handled by the states (primarily New York, as most passed through the Port of New York).
1920-1921: New regulations cut down immigration dramatically. Each country had quotas that could not be exceeded. New regulations were passed requiring immigrants to
- have a passport from their home country
- have medical examinations
- pay a tax to the American Consulate in their home country.
During the last 30 years, Ellis Island mostly handled immigrants who were “in trouble.”
Starting in the 1930s some immigrants arrived by air (Colonial Airways from Canada). After WWII, Air France started service, and German and Italian airlines came in the 1950s.
Ellis Island was closed in 1954 by President Eisenhower. Immigrants who were still detained when it closed were sent to jails.
After 1954, Ellis Island was still used by the Coast Guard for training and by the Public Health Services department.
Barry’s research on workers at Ellis Island:
Most employees were men. Interestingly, blue collar men tended to die before age 60, and better educated ones lived much longer.
Female employees were typically widows, unmarried or had husbands who did not support them. “Char woman” was a common role held by Irish, Swedish and German women. Char means “chores” (cleaning women). They worked often for about $400/ year with no pension, and lived to old ages.
A nursery was opened at Ellis Island; many Christian missionaries worked there. Ludmila Foxlee (1885-1971) was one of them, a social worker with the YWCA. Click here to read more immigrant aid workers at Ellis Island.
Three more great resources for discovering the stories of your immigrant ancestors:
What was it like to land on Ellis Island? Read this article and watch (for free) an award-winning, official documentary)
If your search at the Ellis Island website doesn’t retrieve your ancestors, head on over to Stephen P. Morse’s One Step Pages. There you will find dozens of links to search resources, including the Ellis Island Gold Form for arrivals between 1892 and 1924. Even the folks at Ellis Island refer researchers to Morse’s site. Listen to Lisa’s interview with Stephen Morse in Genealogy Gems Podcast episode #153.
In Lias’s free Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast (episodes 29-31), genealogist Steve Danko covers immigration and naturalization records in depth and even offers up some little-known tips about deciphering some of the cryptic notes researchers often find on passenger lists.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Lisa Louise Cooke, Host and Producer
Sunny Morton, Editor
Diahan Southard, Contributor: Your DNA Guide
Michael Strauss, Contributor: Military Minutes
Hannah Fullerton, Production Assistant
Lacey Cooke, Service Manager
Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting this free podcast and blog!
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