Do you have any hand made sources of family information? 52 Questions W10

This week we will focus on the question -

Do you have any hand made sources of family information?

Good follow-up questions that go with this question are:
Do you have or know of a family Bible?
Do you have old books with the family name noted?
Do you have letters (especially before 1900) from or to family members?
Do you possess or know of diaries, notebooks, or samplers kept by family members?

Years ago, many Mothers and Grandmothers kept Family Bibles, where they wrote information about Family members, such as births, christenings, marriages, deaths and burial information These Family Bibles are very valuable and when hand written as the events occurred are most usually very accurate. Many Family Bibles are in the family for several generations and contain some information that may not be found at the local court house.

Other items, such as letters, newspaper cuttings and photographs, might also be placed inside a Family Bible. In the United Kingdom, they were common in the Victorian period, and are also found in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. They are often used as sources for genealogical research. Family Bibles that are no longer in the possession of the family may be at a historical or genealogical society. They are sometimes transcribed and published in genealogical periodicals.

 

The above image is a record of births as recorded by Polly Benson. The first line of the page reads Children born to Joseph and Polly Bartholomew.  These records appear to have been written all at the same time and with the same ink. These records are not considered as accurate as those that are entered as they happen. 

This is the Benson family bible that Polly recorded the information from for the previous bible record above.

The book is well worn and shows its age but is an invaluable resource for our Family History and genealogy.

The above letter is from my 3rd great grandfather James Facundus from Magnolia Louisiana. These type of documents are wonderful resources for your Family History.

The above is a letter from my children's 2nd great-grandfather to their great-grandfather written in 1957.