Family Bibles - Photocopies of pages

By RobynR on Sat, 07/18/2020 - 23:11

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Dear Editor,

I am struggling how I should cite different examples of Family Bible records that I have. I have read 3.26 (p. 139-140) and 3.27 (p. 141).

The first one is a digital image of one page, that I received from another researcher. He received these by email from the descendant who holds the original bible.

This is what I have come up with:

[Surname] Bible Records, 1872-1887, family pages; digital images made by [person (owner)] held by [person (sent to)], [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] [town], New Zealand, 2017. Entries suggest that the earliest owners of this bible were possibly James [Surname] (ca. 1843-1918) and his wife Margaret [Surname] (ca. 1845-1907), who married ca. 1870. The bible was passed onto their daughter [name] and then handed down to [daughter name]'s granddaughter [name], who is still in possession of the original bible. 

My second issue is a number of "photocopies" I received from a descendant of my own family.

Hossack-Somerville Family Bible Records, 1852-1993, The Holy Bible (Glasgow and London: William Collins, Sons, & Company, n.d.), “Childrens Names”; privately held by [name], [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Keiraville, New South Wales. Comparison of penmanship and ink indicate that the earlier entries dated  1876-1919 were written by 2 or 3 people, so it is likely that these were entered around the time of the event. From 1920 onwards, all others appear to have been added by the current owner. Photocopy held in personal family archive.

I have a photocopy of this Bible's title page, but there is no apparent date of when it was published - thus n.d. I have uploaded this so you see what I mean.

Am I on the right track, or not?

Many thanks for any input.

Regards

Robyn

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Submitted byEEon Sun, 07/19/2020 - 09:43

Hi, Robyn

Bible 1

EE would add one thing to your citation, as per 3.26:

[Surname] Bible Records, 1872-1887, family pages from unidentified Bible; digital images made by [person (owner)] held by [person (sent to)], [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] [town], New Zealand, 2017. Entries suggest that the earliest owners of this bible were possibly James [Surname] (ca. 1843-1918) and his wife Margaret [Surname] (ca. 1845-1907), who married ca. 1870. The bible was passed onto their daughter [name] and then handed down to [daughter name]'s granddaughter [name], who is still in possession of the original bible

Bible 2

Since you do not actually have the Bible for examination and someone else has provided photocopies, telling you that it came from this Bible, your note should indicate that photocopies of pertinent pages were provided by [Whoever]—as you did with Bible 1.  (Yes, this is being 'nitpicky' in the views of many casual gatherers of data; but once you've been burned by someone fabricating Bible data, you learn to be critical and specific.)

As for the date, the title page is wonderfully explicit. Have you searched for that title in a catalog such as Worldcat.org? That would give you a first publication date to assist your evaluation of the contemporaneousness of the data.

 

Submitted byStampergirlon Mon, 05/15/2023 - 13:01

May I ask another question regarding the above subject?  (I have the book but due to knee surgery will not be able to search it out for a while).  My uncle has my grandmother's family bible.  Almost all of the handwritten information was by my grandmother.  Since her death my aunt and uncle kept adding information such as marriage, births and deaths.  I have black and white photo copies that I made prior to these additions, and pictures that I recently took.  Should I just keep the B&W copies and use/reference the information taken from the color photos now?  I am a notary, should I certify the copies as true and exact copies of the original held by my uncle?  Should this be a separate sheet added? 

Thank you.

Melody Foutty