Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Family Bible Index

To many, Family Bibles are considered the Holy Grail of genealogy research. For those few lucky researchers who are able to find one, these can be a very thrilling and useful discovery. 


"Index to Early Bible Records" currently lists over 6,000 Bibles that have been placed online from a variety of locations or are available from the Family History Library or the DAR Library.

Bible records are not always the "Gospel" truth when it comes to family information. It must be evaluated with the same scrutiny as any other source of information. The first thing to check is the copyright date of the Bible. If it is later than some of the information included in it, then even a "Bible record" is NOT a primary source. Those events were not recorded at the time or near the time of the events it lists. It is a good sign if the entries appear to have been made with different pens. That is one indication that events were recorded at different times--hopefully as each event occurred. With those caveats in mind, explore this Index, and good luck in finding one for your family.

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