EVALUATING A FAMILY BIBLE 

What Does It Really Say?

What do records written in Family Bibles tell us? Are they always reliable, primary sources? What do they really say? Let’s examine a page of deaths and dates to help us answer these questions.

photo: Hanlon Family Bible

When you look at a Bible’s “Family Records” section, keep this question in mind: Is the handwriting identical in every entry? 

If it is, chances are good that the person entering the information was copying an older list; transcribing what another person was telling him/her; or, writing names and dates from memory. Such a list would be a secondary source. 

If it is not, there is a strong possibility that the entries were made by several different people, each entering a name and date at the time the event occurred. Entries on the “Deaths” page above appear to have been made by four different people, indicating that some of the entries may have been made at the time of the event recorded. These would be primary sources but, be careful—note that the date of “Sept. 10—1900” written next to “Leo M. Hanlon” is in the same hand as the last two entires which occurred many years after 1900. That date was probably added at the same time that the last two entires were made; and, it may not be correct. 

A Family Bible is like a roadmap. Its death records page may point us in the right direction, but we need death certificates, obituaries, prayer cards, burial records, and other civil documentation to prove what it tells us is true. For more information about how to use Family Bibles for genealogy research, read Thomas Jay Kemp’s article on his “GenealogyBank” blog at 

http://blog.genealogybank.com/family-bibles-for-genealogy-research-what-to-look-for.html.

RESEARCH TIP: Always examine a Family Bible’s title page carefully, keeping this question in mind: What is the publishing/copyright date? If the publishing date occurred after dates recorded in the Bible, those records are not contemporary with the events described and must be proven true.