For this week’s post, I decided not to continue discussion of my grandmother’s old recipe book; there is not a very substantial chain of ownership, and when I asked my mother, she was uncertain as to whether the recipes themselves had been passed down or if my grandma simply made them up on her own (or, possibly, just copied them out of a cookbook)!
Instead, I am going to focus on an object that I forgot even existed until this week (after a great deal of time spent bothering my mom, asking if we had any other heirlooms): the family bible. I do not currently have possession of the family bible, but it was the object I was able to discover the most history about, as it literally holds a record of the history of my mother’s side of the family back to the 1800’s (albeit a limited history of names, and the dates of births, marriages, and deaths). After my grandfather passed away, my Aunt Linda, my mother’s oldest sister, took possession of the family bible and provided me with some information and photos about it for the sake of this post. When I have the time, I would be curious to go to her house and see it in person (apparently I have seen it before, when I was very young, but I do not remember). Pardon the quality of some of the pictures – my Aunt Linda is technologically challenged and did her best.
The duct tape is an unattractive necessity; it takes away from the overall fantastical and grandiose appearance of the family bible, but was put on by my grandfather when the book started to fall apart. The bible was bought and started by my grandfather’s parents – William and Myrtle Johnson, my great-grandparents – in 1912, the year they got married. They were able to document back as far as William’s great-grandfather, Theodore, and his marriage to a woman named Martha Cosgrove in 1869. In terms of births, my great-grandparents were able to trace the Johnson lineage as far back as Stephen Johnson, who was born in 1798.
After my great-grandma passed away, the responsibility of the bible fell to my grandpa and grandma, and after their deaths it fell to my Aunt Linda. Interestingly enough, the deaths of my grandma and grandpa are not written on the Deaths page, even though they both passed away quite a few years ago; Aunt Linda told me she could not bring herself to do it. My mom said perhaps one day, when she is over, they can do it together. The more recent births and marriages within the large Johnson family could not fit on those pages and my Aunt Linda had to start writing on additional loose papers that she keeps with the family bible.
This item did not necessarily have a very extensive chain of ownership – only one generation more than the recipe book – but I felt that it unearthed so much. I am a Cavallucci, not a Johnson, and I have always identified more strongly with my father’s Greek and Italian side of the family, but I had never known very much about my mother’s side. It is both astonishing yet deeply bizarre to see your heritage written down, and the sheer number of people within the Johnson clan. The family bible actually inspired one of my older cousins to delve deeper into the Johnson lineage using Ancestry.com a number of years ago, revealing supposed connections to infamous horse thieves and even ancient Scottish royalty. I was young when he did this research and was disinterested at the time, but am certainly much more interested now to learn more about the people upon people that are my ancestors.
Although this book only contains names and dates, I loved learning about it as I gathered information from my aunt and my mother for this week’s post. I love seeing how the handwriting on the pages changes as the family bible was passed down – a testament to its continual inheritance. Heritage and family history are something that I have become quite fascinated with in recent years, and the family bible is something I think I hope to have one day, and to write and record the legacy of our family in, ugly duct tape and all. The object will continue to be weathered with time, but as my mother jokingly told me of the family bible: nothing can break the bonds of family.
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
Katie,
I was instantly drawn to this post due to how beautiful and antique-like your object looked. I agree, that Bible does look like something straight out of Harry Potter! For that reason, I think it is a wonderfully fascinating family object to have possession of. I specifically love the page where past to present relatives had signed their names and dated their post. It must be amazing to be able to physically hold and feel where you relatives once wrote their signatures. I also found that page particularly fascinating due to the change in hand-writings over time. Script was the only way people used to write, and looking at it now, I feel a bit saddened that we don’t use script much anymore. It looks so elegant. Needless to say, I found this entire post incredibly compelling!
This is a beautiful book, this is something irreplaceable. I feel like this is something I have only seen in museums. Although the bible is the most reprinted book, there is something one of a kind about your family’s copy. I was immediately drawn to the intimate cover of this copy. This is something valuable that connects your entire family. I think it is beautiful that your family has kept the tradition up. I couldn’t even imagine the feeling of continuing the tradition of writing in this book. It must bring you so much closer to those who came before you. The noticeable green duct tape may be a distraction but also a reminder of how long this has been around. You are lucky to have something this beautiful to continue using in your family.
Katie, your discussion on your family’s bible is fascinating. When I first saw the images of your family bible, I immediately thought of the bible President-elect JFK used when he was being sworn in as President of the United States in January of 1961. I found it intriguing how the bible has served a religious role, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, and a genealogical role, documenting family members date of births, date of deaths, and their signatures, over the course of the 20th century. While I have a family tree that dates to the 16th century on my mother’s side of the family, it is not nearly as detailed as your family tree. The farther back my family tree goes, we start to lose specific information such as date of births and date of deaths; as a result, we only have estimates of when my ancestors lived. Additionally, my family tree is mapped out on a Microsoft Excel file, holding significantly less sentimental value than your family bible. Even though we do have accurate information, it is not nearly as satisfying as having the information in the original bible your great grandparents bought over one-hundred years ago. I wish my family owned an heirloom along these lines. Overall, well done!