Monday, March 28, 2011

Book Sale Bible


About 25 years ago at a Whittier Public Library Book Sale I purchased a bible for 50 cents. I bought it because I was so moved by the entries of  the family births and deaths. Godfrey Engstrum died only 4 weeks after his birth at 2 am; very sad. There is no surname listed in the bible.  Now with the help of the internet I am able to learn more about the family who owned this bible :). The inside cover reads "To Victor from Mother 1880." Using the name Victor, the childrens' names and their place of residence I was able to find the family on the 1900 Census and discover their surname Engstrum.  I found a biographical sketch for the Lawrence Emmanuel listed above at rootsweb.com

I have also found Victor and his wife's tombstone picture at find-a-grave






3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi - Charlesphine Hammer Engstrum (Godfrey's mother) was my grandfather's first cousin. I stumbled across your posting of the Engstrum family bible about six months ago while I was searching for the family. I knew about all of Charlesphine's children - except for Godfrey. And when I saw this post, I nearly jumped out of my seat. I'm so glad to have Godfrey remembered in the family records.
I was then able to find his tombstone http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=40221242

and poignant obituary for him: http://pluto.state.wy.us:80/awweb/awarchive?item=2794644

I have two questions:
1 - Is there another page or pages in the bible with the births of the other children?
2 - Is it okay with you if I download the bible image for the purpose of sharing with other interested family members?

Thanks so much!

Annette said...

Very Nice to hear from you Vauna! Certainly you can copy and share the bible in any form you would like! I will post the rest of the pages. Sad the bible ended up at a book sale. Hope that as many interested family members as possible eventually see it all. Also, thanks for the additional info! Annette

Barbara Johnson said...

My grandfather was Laurence Emanuel Engstrum. My grandmother Laura left the Bible behind in Whittier when she moved to Missouri. I'd very much appreciate having copies of the family pages, or even the Bible itself if that's possible. Contact me at xchange45@gmail.com. Thank you.