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Ancestry Daily News
8/5/2003 - Archive
Honoring Our Ancestors: Help the NGS Rescue Family Bibles
By now, many of you are probably familiar with this ongoing series aimed at
rescuing stray family heirlooms by doing the necessary detective work to get
them into the hands of descendants of the original owners (if not, please visit
honoringourancestors.com/library.html#nine
for links to previous articles). Several months ago, in an article entitled
"Bible Rescue Insurance," I shared information about various organizations
(e.g., DAR, NGS, NEHGS, etc.) that have initiatives focused specifically on
the rescue, preservation, and dissemination of information contained in family
Bibles. (www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=A712401
)
The Cheney Bible
In that particular article, one of the efforts I highlighted was the National
Genealogical Society's Orphaned Bible and Family Record Rescue Project. Through
a variety of means, the NGS gathers family heirlooms, digitizes them, and then
attempts to locate rightful owners.
Shortly before the NGS conference in Pittsburgh this year, I volunteered my
services to try to trace the families of some of the Bibles and other items
already in the collection. Dereka Smith, who manages the project, sent me some
details pertaining to a Bible owned by a couple named Walter and Della Cheney,
who had married in 1879 and resided in Manlius, New York in the late 1800s and
early 1900s. A little Internet surfing quickly brought me to the homepage of
the Manlius Historical Society. Much to my surprise, the website revealed that
the society's office and library are contained in a small building known as
the Cheney House!
Since the site included the email of the society's genealogist, it was easy
to make contact and confirm that we were dealing with the same Cheney family.
Apparently, the family had been quite prominent in the local area, owning a
mill that was one of the town's primary employers in its day. The building that
now housed the society had acquired its name because it had been donated by
the Cheney family to a local school. The Manlius Historical Society was only
too happy to accept the Bible from the NGS in order to make it easily accessible
to future generations of Cheney's in a building fittingly named after the same
family.
Surprise Addition
This was an unexpectedly quick and successful first case, but at the NGS conference
itself, my involvement became a little more direct. Pam Cerutti, who assists
Dick Eastman with his online newsletter, directed my attention to a booth where
a vendor was selling family pages that had been removed from Bibles by antique
dealers. Apparently, the vendor had been purchasing them from such dealers for
several decades.
I immediately went to the booth with the thought of buying several of them for
rescue purposes. When I got there, however, I learned that there were four actual
Bibles and 119 sets of family pages, each priced from $15 to $150. I couldn't
possibly afford to buy all of them, but how could I choose?
Since the NGS booth was nearby, I found Dereka Smith and asked her about the
situation. As it happens, she was a step ahead. An arrangement had already been
negotiated with the vendor. The NGS could take the collection back to its Arlington,
Virginia headquarters after the conference, provided it agreed to pay $3,500
for the collection within six months. If the money is not raised by then, the
collection will have to be returned to the vendor.
A Chance to Help
After each of the articles in this series, I typically receive an influx of
emails. Among them are usually a few from people wishing they could help in
some way, but explaining that they don't have the time or the skills necessary
to contribute.
If you should happen to be one of these would-be good Samaritans, here is another
way to lend a hand. Send a donation to the NGS (make checks out to "NGS"
and indicate "Bible rescue" in the memo line) to help raise the necessary
$3,500 by the end of November 2003. I have attempted to jumpstart this fundraising
by making this project the recipient of my July 2003 Honoring Our Ancestors
grant (www.honoringourancestors.com/grants.html
), but another $3,000 remains to be collected. Each donation will take this
mass rescue—the preservation of these irreplaceable records—a step closer
to reality.
As I work on each of these rescue cases, I like to imagine what it would be
like to be on the receiving end. I optimistically tell myself that my turn is
coming—that ones of these days I will get a call or email from a stranger offering
to return some family treasure from one of my lines. In the meantime, I do what
I can to bring this little fantasy to life for others. If you can spare it,
please consider making a small contribution to help bring this experience to
123 families. Who knows? Maybe one of them will be your own!
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, author of Honoring Our Ancestors (HOA)
and In Search of Our Ancestors, can be contacted through: www.honoringourancestors.com.
Resources for rescuing orphan heirlooms can be found at honoringourancestors.com/orphanphotos.html
and information about Megan's monthly HOA grants can be found at www.honoringourancestors.com/grants.html
Upcoming Events
In upcoming weeks, Megan will be at:
--- Family History Fair
(12 October 2003, New York City)
--- New York Genealogical & Biographical Society
(14 October 2003, New York City)
--- Peter Montague Quadricentennial Celebration
(7 November 2003, Williamsburg, Va.)
--- NGS Gentech04
(22-24 January 2004, St. Louis, Mo.)
Details and links to upcoming events are at: www.honoringourancestors.com/schedule.html
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