Dick Eastman Online
  Dick Eastman – 7/11/2001

Bible Records from the NEHGS Manuscript Collections on CD-ROM

The New England Historic Genealogical Society has received many family Bibles over the years and has kept them in their manuscript collection. These Bibles contain family records, often with information not available elsewhere. Some of the records have been published in the society's journal, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. However, most of the Bible records were available only to those able to visit NEHGS headquarters in Boston.

The society has just released a CD-ROM of the family records contained in its Bible Records collection. This week I had a chance to use this new "Bible Records from the Manuscript Collections of the New England Historic Genealogical Society" CD-ROM disk and found that it is an excellent collection of genealogy data.

Quoting from the introduction on the CD-ROM disk:

Transcription of the Bible Records was begun in 1991 by a volunteer, the late Henry Hallowell of Shirley, Massachusetts. After Mr. Hallowell's death in 1993, another volunteer, Joseph A. Bolster of Easton, Massachusetts, continued the project under direction of Scott Andrew Bartley, who was at that time Curator of Manuscripts at the Society. In 1996 Mr. Bolster finished transcribing all the records catalogued to that date.

The original plan was to publish the records as books in a series to be called Collections of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. However, the rapid advances of electronic publishing and the increasing cost of producing books have made CD ROM publication a more practical option.

The collection includes 2,536 separate files from the manuscripts collection, and many of these files contain records from more than one Bible. Each file has been given a sequential number, followed by its manuscript number (which serves as its call number at the Society) and the relevant family surname. Also included for each file are the name of the donor and/or transcriber, the date of donation, information from the title page, and the name of the last- known owner.

Numerous records include information on individuals who left New England and migrated to other parts of the country, including New York and the Midwest. The records on this CD-ROM contain mostly names with dates of birth, marriages or death. The transcribers recorded the information as it appeared in the original Bibles, so there are some variations.

Here is a typical Bible entry, that of the Fernald family from Mss C 158: Austin, Abbott and Fernald Families [Typed transcription. Given by N.H. Chapter D.F.P.A., Concord, N.H., 18 May 1936.]:

Fernald Family Bible records
Josiah Fernal [Fernald?] Junior and Mary Esther Austin, married Aug. 31, 1843.
Josiah Fernald born Dec. 20th, 1788.
Sophia Eastman (his wife) born July 7, 1799.
Josiah Fernald Junior born Jany 17, 1817.
Sophia E. Fernald born April 10, 1819.
Robert Fernald born April 1, 1821.
John Fernald born May 2, 1823.
Mary Jane Fernald born May 27, 1825.
Emily E. Fernald born May 4, 1827.
Lucy Elizabeth Fernald born Sept. 5, 1829.
Jacob E. Fernald born Dec. 20, 1831.
Persis C. Fernald born Feb. 4, 1834.
Lucretia E. Fernald born Feb. 4, 1834.
Charlotte M. Fernald born June 16, 1836.
Amanda F. Fernald born Feb. 14, 1839.
Benjamin Franklin Fernald born July 10, 1841.
Josiah Fernald Jr. born Jan. 17, 1817.
Mary Esther Austin (his wife) born Oct. 13, 1815.

Their children
Sophia Jane Fernald born May 20, 1844.
Frank Eugene Fernald born May 17 1846.
George Alpheus Fernald born Feb. 13, 1850.
Ella Maria Fernald born Jan. 1, 1853.
Josiah Eastman Fernald born June 16, 1856.

The CD-ROM was created with Folio Views, an excellent choice. Best of all, it works on Windows and on Macintosh systems. All the necessary software is included on the CD-ROM. Windows users will need 2 megabytes of hard disk space (minimum); a 4-speed or faster CD-ROM drive, a monitor with 800x600 pixel or greater display; 32-bit color or higher. It requires a Pentium I or better processor; Windows 95, 98, NT or 2000; 32 megabytes of RAM (64 megabytes recommended). While not mentioned, I suspect it will also operate with Windows ME. Macintosh users will need System 7.5 or higher (although Folio will not run on System OS X) and 40 megabytes of RAM memory (64 megabytes recommended).

It took about a minute to install the Folio Views software on my Windows 2000 system, after which I was able to search the database for family names of interest.

The software is simple to use: simply type in a name, and it quickly shows you all occurrences of that name in the database. Basically, the program searches for single words; a search for John Smith will find occurrences of each word and will show you all the Johns as well as all the Smiths. However, there are many search options that allow for more advanced searches. You may use Boolean operators (and, or, not, exclusive or). You may also use wildcards (single character, multiple character, word form, synonym) such as Sm?th? to find all occurrences of Smith, Smyth, Smythe, etc. You can also use proximity operators to specify how close terms must be. For example: "phrase search"/5 would indicate that all words must occur within 5 words of each other. As you begin to use the NEHGS Bible records more and more, you learn that you can quickly find the information you seek, even with more common surnames.

The searches are performed on all words in the database, not just on names of people. I found that I could search for towns as easily as for names. For example, I did a search for Bryant family records in Billerica, Massachusetts and found the following:

Mss C 46: Bryant Family
[Typed transcription. M. Carey & Son, Chestnut St., Phil., 1819. Given by D.G. Haines.]

Births
 Billerica, Foster Brooks Bryant born April the 15 1832
Billerica, Julia Ann Bryant born March the 19 1833
Billerica, Alice B. Bryant born March the 8 1834

Additional records displayed on the screen as well; I simply copied the records mentioning Billerica.

I was able to print and to export data easily from this CD-ROM disk. I could mark a record and then export it as a text file or Rich Test Format (RTF) file. I was then able to easily import the resultant file into my word processor or favorite genealogy program.

The "Bible Records from the Manuscript Collections of the New England Historic Genealogical Society" CD-ROM also features the ability to mark records as bookmarks so that you may quickly return to particular records in the future. You can also highlight records of interest or even insert "notes" into the database for your future reference. These bookmarks, highlights, and notes are actually written to your hard drive. The next time you go to the particular record on the CD-ROM, the Folio Views software will retrieve the applicable bookmarks, highlights, and notes from your hard drive and display them on the screen, along with the data from the CD-ROM disk. These bookmarks, highlights and notes will remain as long as you use the CD-ROM disk on the same computer. Should you ever move the CD-ROM disk to another computer in the future, the bookmarks, highlights and notes will be lost.

In summation, the new "Bible Records from the Manuscript Collections of the New England Historic Genealogical Society" CD-ROM is an excellent collection of high-quality genealogy material. It contains 2,536 separate files. These files cover mostly New England families although many of those mentioned later migrated westward. The included software is easy to use and operates both on Windows and Macintosh. If you or your family history association has roots in New England, this CD-ROM may reveal pertinent information that time and distance made inaccessible—until now.

The new "Bible Records from the Manuscript Collections of the New England Historic Genealogical Society" CD-ROM sells for $39.99. Members of the New England Historic Genealogical Society can deduct 10% from that price. For more information, or to order the new "Bible Records from the Manuscript Collections of the New England Historic Genealogical Society" CD-ROM online on a secure Web site, go to: newenglandancestors.org

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