The Rock Wall

Few weeks ago we decided to clean out a small room (aka big closet) located in our studio. I do not know the madness of the method we used to fill it up, but when we cleaned out everything the stuff filled most of the hall which run east-west down the middle of our building. (Historical note – this building known as 125 N. Main was originally two buildings. The hall I’m speaking of separates 125 N. Main from 123 North Main.)

In the stuff was an old family Bible that I don’t ever remember seeing before. In it are recorded marriages and births of my paternal grandmother’s family. The earliest entry was a marriage in 1839 and the last a birth in 1893.

The book is large. Not something you could just grab as you dash out the door to church. It contains the Old and New Testaments, The Apocrypha, marginal notes, an index, an alphabetical table of all the names in the Old and New Testaments with their significations, tables of scripture weights, measures and coins, etc. It was published in 1841.

My kind of book. We’ve got several Bibles at home. My good friend and college roommate gave us a Family Bible for a wedding present 48 years ago. The lines are filling up. They include some of the same people that are in the 1841 book.

When I say, “my kind of book,” I mean history. Real people who came into this world who had loved ones that thought it was important to record that event. Also, to record their passing from this world. No one was famous or infamous. But here it was. Evidence that they were here.

Family Bibles are good for establishing facts such as that. What if you had heard that “Aunt Lizzy” was born in 1904, but the notation in the Family Bible says it was 1903 and her given name was Elizabeth? Newspapers are also good for things like that. The El Dorado Springs Sun has been around since 1890 and every issue has been preserved. Our archives are with the Missouri Historical Society Newspaper Library. Some of our issues are on microfiche at the Cedar County Memorial Library in El Dorado Springs.

Gary Vickers called and said he was very pleased with the Veterans’ Day assembly at the school, the 27 presented by the El Dorado Springs DECA chapter. He thought the school did a great job.

I like it so much that I have included a picture of my own dad, Adrian Snider, in the Philippines in WWII.

JKL