For a genealogist, family bibles can be a tremendous source of vital family information, although these details are not as easily accessible as civil or church records, which are generally available to the public at large. Family bibles, in addition to the Old and New Testaments, contain a center section to record family events, such as births, marriages and deaths. Since entries are handwritten, a family bible is a unique repository of family data. If a family had been religious in its entries, this book would hold a wealth of family history. The disadvantage, however, is that the audience is limited, since the book is kept by one family.
When family bibles became a common household item is not known. One website mentioned that they became popular during Victorian times in England, but from my research it seems that in the U.S. the family bible had been around in this country for a long time. Many families attended church, and for those that didn’t own much, the family bible might have been one of the few—if not the only—book they had. For a newlywed couple, a bible would make a significant wedding gift; sometimes a certificate was in the pages where the couple could record their marriage, as well as information on their family as it grew. These certificates were sometimes used to show proof of marriage. When the original owners died, the bible would hopefully pass down to one of their heirs, and continue to grow with information, rather than be discarded to a second hand store, or worse, the garbage can.
A little while ago I came into the possession of a bible that a friend’s father had bought at a sale many years ago. It had no relevance to his family, and my friend, now in possession of this large bible, wanted to get rid of it. He gave it to me, as he knew I enjoyed genealogy and would be a good steward of the information. I took it with the plan of finding a descendant of the original owners so the bible could be returned back to its rightful family.
The bible is the typical weighty tome—over 13 pounds—with John C. McClelland engraved in gold on the front cover. In the event pages, the ink and penmanship were identical for the information on the first few pages, indicating that the entries were all done at the same time, rather than when each event occurred. Most of the births happened prior to 1859, the year the book was printed by Blackie and son in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. The bible was probably purchased somewhere in Pittsburgh in the 1860s.
The first entry in the Family Register page listed that John C. McClelland and Maria Welsh married February 7, 1839 in Allegheny City, PA by Rev. John T. Pressly, D.D. Below this entry and on the next page were eight entries for the births of their children; all were born in Allegheny City, except for Sarah who was born in Lowell, Ohio. The children were: William Welsh, June 27, 1840; Sarah Jane, April 21 1843; Mary Ellen, May 11, 1845; Anna Eliza, March 8, 1848; Isabella Herron, August 29, 1850; John Crawford, September 10, 1853; James Bradford, March 1, 1857; and Josephine Campbell, January 16, 1864.
Several marriages for their children were listed: William married Maria Theresa Sproat on August 8, 1862; Anna Eliza married Hugh M. Henderson on May 9, 1867; Sarah J. married Alexander T. Cameron on February 25, 1869; John Jr. married Amanda Wallace on April 9, no year listed. On the following page, deaths of three children were recorded: James, October 25, 1871 aged 15 years; Mary, February 2, 1874 aged 29 years; Josephine, April 25, 1874 aged 10 years 3 months.
Turning the page revealed information on smaller pages and closer examination showed that these were loose pages from another bible, probably one that was older and falling apart. The entries on these pages were in different ink and were not all of one hand. Some of the information was a repeat of the neatly entered births of the other bible, but there were a few new names. It appears that these pages were from the family bible of Maria’s parents. Besides Maria’s marriage, Sarah Welsh was recorded as marrying Thomas Callahan on March 13, 1844 by Dr. Pressley, the same pastor that married Maria and John. Five of the Welsh children’s birth were listed: James Graham, November 12, 1825; John, October 2, 1828; John, September 4, 1831; Maria, February 2, 1821; Sarah, April 11, 1823. Several deaths were included as well: John, September 3, 1830 aged 1 year 11 months 1 day; John, November 16, 1832 aged 14 months 12 days; Nancey [sic], September 29, 1855 aged 62 years; Davidson, April 29, 1867 aged 75 years.
A quick search of the census for Allegheny City PA during the last half of the 19th century showed the Welsh and McClelland families beside each other in 1850. Subsequent census have the enumerations of the McClelland family with children and ages well aligned to the information in the bible. In 1860 John was a machinist. By 1880 John and Maria were living with their daughter and her husband Alex Cameron. John appeared to have served in the Civil War for 3 years, as his widow was enumerated in the special 1890 census for veterans; he must have died during the 1880s. These corroborate that the bible data is indeed for these families.
Sometimes other items can be discovered in the family bible, such as funeral cards. Among the pages of this bible was a temperance pledge card from Third United Presbyterian Sabbath School Allegheny, PA, indicating where the family worshipped. Stuck in the beginning pages of Joshua is a torn piece of newspaper from August 25, 1908; if this had some significance, it is hard to tell as no apparent article is completely intact. A program for a church celebration for Pittsburgh’s sesquicentennial was also found. Along with these tidbits, the information contained in this bible is priceless, as this might be the only place this information has ever been recorded.
Now that I have a sense of who this family was, I hope to make contact with one of John and Maria’s descendants so the bible can be restored to the McClelland family. In the meantime, I have scanned the bible pages so I can submit those to the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society’s Family Bible Pages Project. WPGS is taking submissions of scanned bible pages so those entries, normally viewed by few, can reach a wider audience as a genealogy resource and be preserved for future generations to appreciate. If you are in possession of a family bible, or know someone who is, I encourage you to photograph the family event pages, along with the title page and submit those to a local historical or genealogical society in the area where that family lived. It just might be the missing clue that some distant cousins needs to further their research.
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