Chesterfield group offers new service reuniting family Bibles with relatives

In Victorian times, people would purchase a Bible in which they would record the births, deaths and marriages of their family, and the Bible would be handed down from generation to generation.

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Now, the Friends of Spital Cemetery is trying to give such family Bibles back to their rightful owners.

Ed Fordham, of the group, runs a second-hand stall on Chesterfield market – Brockwell Books.

He purchases bundles of books at auctions and clearance sales – and on occasions, a family Bible is among them.

When he finds a family Bible, the Friends of Spital Cemetery will try to trace the relatives in question and offer it back to them – in return for a contribution to the group.

Andy Miles, from the group, said: “Our first successful find is a Bible belonging originally to the Rathbone family of Warwickshire and dated from the late 1790s.

“I found a family member from Ancestry.co.uk and she agreed to contribute to the Friends of Spital Cemetery.

“The family Bible will soon be on its way to the family.

“We hope that this service reuniting family Bibles with families will be a successful new venture.”

Andy himself has two family Bibles.

“One is from the Eyre branch and the other from the Higgins branch of my family tree,” he said.

“As they are handed down the family they do tend to get battered, and some are much grander than others.

“The Eyre Bible was given to my great-great-grandfather, George Eyre, in 1843, and the details of the births, and sometimes deaths, of his children are noted. My great-grandmother altered her year of birth as she wanted to prove to a friend that she was older than she was.

“My family is not related to the Eyre family of shop fame, but my great uncle, Willie Eyre, worked for them for 54 years, latterly in the perambulator department!

“The Higgins family Bible was given to my great-great- grandfather, Thomas Henry Higgins, by my great-great-great-grandfather, Peter Higgins, in 1874,” he added.

Visit http://friendsofspitalcemetery.co.uk for more information about the Friends of Spital Cemetery.

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