52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
May 6 -12, 2024
Preserve
There are a number of ways that I could have written about this prompt. Canning vegetables and fruit, and preserving meat was a necessity in earlier generations. Like most of us, our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and earlier ancestors in our family found it necessary to preserve food for the winter. But, instead of going about this prompt with a special “canning” recipe, I decided to write about how our ancestors preserved their family members’ names to pass down to the next generation.
Family bibles were the place our ancestors often chose to record the names of so many individuals that were part of their families. In previous generations bibles were used to record vital dates and events of importance. They were also used to “prove” some family events in trying to secure benefits such as military pensions. The family bible, especially a recently discovered one, might provide hints to unknown or “missing” ancestors, fill in gaps on dates or provide new information like geographical locations, church memberships, or possibly one of the more difficult family facts - to uncover the dreaded maiden names of our female ancestors!
As much as family bibles can help you to create or add to a more detailed family history they can be difficult to transcribe or decipher. Many years ago, more than a few of our ancestors were unable to read or write. Or, if they could, the writing may be illegible, the ink may have faded and the spelling, at times, was atrocious. Luckily some of the handwritten script on the pages was beautifully written in the calligraphy style of the day. In case of my great-grandmother, Elsie, she was mostly illiterate. Unfortunately, it was not important that children, especially girls, attend school causing several generations of illiteracy in many families such as mine.
Usually Protestants recorded information in bibles, making them extremely valuable genealogical records. Since the paper in the bible as very thin and fragile sometimes the record did not survive intact. That was the case in my family. I have two fragile, and thin pages from a family bible that belonged to the Goble lineage in my family tree.
Elsie Goble circa 1910
Among pictures and documents from my Great-Grandmother Elsie’s estate are the two pages that I referred to in the last paragraph. Elsie Goble was born in Vernon, Pennsylvania, a small farming community in the far northeast area of the state. She was born in 1880 on New Year’s Day to her mother, Margaret Huffman Goble, and her father, James Goble who were also born in the general vicinity of Vernon in Centermoreland (previously spelled Center Moreland), Pennsylvania.
The first page that I am lucky enough to have in my possession is a record of two marriages and one birth. The backside of the first page includes a few births. The ink is quite faded, and it took a lot of time to transcribe but once I did the transcription it helped to fill in some missing information about a few of my Goble ancestors. The pages must be from the Goble family bible although the bible itself has been lost or destroyed years ago.
In the first photograph of the “Family Record, Marriages” I found the recorded dates of marriage and names of my maternal 3X great-grandmother and grandfather. You will notice that there are at least two entries, possibly three, written in the same hand. All the entries seem to be written with a fountain pen. The first entry reads, “Joseph C Goble Married Wife Catherine M Weaver January the 29th 1835.” That entry was much easier to read and transcribe than the next one that reads, “Lewis Goble married Marta M Beam August the 18 1866.” Finally, the last entry on this page reads, “Joseph (L?) Goble was born January 12, 1868, in Provendence (Providence) Lackawanna Co Pa.” Obviously this last entry is not a recorded marriage date but a recorded birth date. Along with the family records of marriages and births are some mathematical calculations that were recorded in pencil that may signify the years of and ancestor’s age or the length of a marriage.
The other side of this page is more difficult to read as the ink has faded and bled through in some places onto the Marriages side of the page. The first entry on the Births page reads, “Catherine M Goble was Wed in Exeter Township born January the 26th 1816.” The next entry reads, “Angeline Goble was born in Northmoreland Town March the 4th 1836.” Next, “Fany Jane Goble was born in Northmoreland Town March the 20th 1838.” The last full entry of a birth on this page reads, “Laury Goble was born In Northmoreland September the 19th 1842.”
Recorded on the second page is the birth date and location of “James Wile (sp. Wiley) Goble was born at April the tenth 1878.” The next entry is that of my Great-Grandmother Elsie. It reads “ Elsie Goble -------- born January the 1st 1880 at Center Moreland township Wyoming Co., Pa.” I’m fairly sure that the “----------” was left that way so as to add a marriage date at some further time which was never recorded. She actually did marry in 1898 to Irvin O. Lord in Binghamton, New York. So it seems plausible that the records on these pages must have been written before 1898 since her marriage date was never added. James Wiley Goble was my great-grandmother’s older and first brother.
Under the “Births” area on the back side of the first page the faded writing reads, “Catherine M Goble Wed in Exeter Township, born January the 26 1816.” That information led me to her maiden name (a bit of a task!) of “Weaver.” The Weaver surname then led me to another interesting character in my family tree, that of Mathias (Matthew) Weaver. He deserves a blog post of his own, so more on him in another blog post! The final two entries on this page are those of Angeline Goble, Fany Goble, and Laury Goble, three of my 2nd great-grand aunts. Those two entries were written in an old, yet evenly spaced, spidery handwriting with the correct spelling.
The information that I gleaned from these old family bible pages has led to further discoveries in my family tree. Even though I do not have the original bible, or know what happened to it, these pages have been helpful in piecing together my family’s history.
The preservation of old family documents has some genealogists in a quandary. Some seem to think that digitizing the documents and saving them on their computer or a thumb drive will suffice. Others keep the old documents, organize, and digitize them as well. I’ve got to say that I espouse the latter school of thought. I just think that actually touching the old paper and seeing the original ink has much value, as long as one has the area to store them.
Actually, touching the paper or any other heirloom I that my ancestors wrote upon or handled has a magical feeling for me. I love old and antique papers and I have done my best to preserve these pages by storing them in archival pocket sheets in one of the genealogical binders that I have created to honor my ancestors and family members.
Comments