The Tradition of A Family Bible

Elisha and Mary Josephine Marley's Family Bible is a treasured family heirloom.  Although not in my possession, the copied Births and Marriages pages are treasures and important documents in the research of my Marley Family Tree.

I wonder which of my great great grandparents did the record keeping.  If I had to guess, it would be Mary Josephine, judging from the neat precise and somewhat feminine penmanship.  Regardless of which one did the entries, it seems only one of them did so, again, judging from the penmanship.

Elisha and Mary Josephine were married on January 5, 1876, and perhaps their Family Bible was a wedding gift, as was often the tradition in the 1800's.  However, I like to think it happened this way....

December 1876
As Elisha stokes the fire in the stone fireplace, he glances over at his wife sitting nearby.  Her legs and feet are warmly covered in an afghan she finished just as the first frost fell in Calhoun County, Arkansas.  He watched her as the light of the fire cast it's warm glow on her face...intent on the knitting in her hands.

Mary Jo looked up from her knitting and smiled at her husband of almost a year.  They sat in comfortable silence for awhile.  Mary jo continued to knit on the blanket and thought of the baby it would cover in just three months time. 

Her thoughts turned to concerns of a first time mother.  Things like would she have time to finish the baby clothes and blankets she had started.  What about the crib she knew Elisha was making.  What about a Family Bible to record this birth...the birth that would make them a family.  It was then she broke the thoughtful silence and spoke to her husband.  "Elisha, we should start thinking about our Family Bible".

Elisha and Mary Jo had plans to spend Christmas day at her parents home for the traditional family gathering.  This being their first Christmas together, they decided to start their own family tradition of trimming the tree, sharing a special supper and exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve.  It was a Sunday, that Christmas Eve of 1876, the perfect day and time for Elisha's gift to his wife and soon to be mother of his first child....a Family Bible.

And so it was written on the first three lines in a neat and precise penmanship:

E.S. Marley was born May 25, 1849

Mary Josephen Leatherwood was born May 6, 1856.

Marthy Janne Marley was born March 4, 1877.

by one who spelled like it sounded to him.

 

As the years went by names were added to the Family Bible's Birth records.  After my great grandmother Marthy Janne...aka Martha Jane or 'Janie', her brother's name John Henry was added on October 27, 1878.  Then William Samuel in 1880 followed by Annie Etter in 1882...who always spelled her name as Anna Etta.  On line #7 was penned Zack Rier Marley was born Dec 15, 1883. This third son was named after his mother's grandfather Zachariah Perry Leatherwood...another clue to who's penmanship recorded births in the Family Bible.  Forever more 3rd son's name would be written as Zachariah Andrew Marley. 

 

There are now six lines left to record births.  Elisha and Mary Jo's family numbers six, including themselves.  All but Martha Jane were  born in Jack County, Texas, where they settled along with Mary Jo's Leatherwood family.  Three years went by before another name was written...George Holbert's on one of the six remaining lines.  James Benjamin got the fifth remaining line, and Lue Ida the fourth...another who changed the spelling as soon as she could write...Lou Ida.  Next came Wardie Bell in 1892 and Jesse Simeon in 1894.  With one line left, I wonder if Mary Jo thought it time for the recording of births to end.  It was not!

 

The names Alta and Albert were recorded on the last line on November 30, 1896.  And since this was a page of Birth records, the twins death on the same day was not noted.  All the lines were filled, but there would be one more birth...that of Eugene Edgar on March 14, 1899.  His birth was written in the space above the filigreed border.  Baby Eugene died  at 17 months old in August 1900.



 

Thank-you Elisha and Mary Jo for carrying on the tradition of a Family Bible.

Spinster Seamstress Sisters

At age 15 Mary Jane was declared a spinster by Assistant Marshal E.K. Walsh, enumerator of Wilkes County North Carolina's 1860 Census.  She was listed with her family of father-occupation farmer, mother-occupation housekeeper,  older single sister-occupation seamstress, older brother-occupation farm laborer and brothers Elisha 11yrs and baby William.

One could say Mr. Walsh may have jinxed Mary Jane's chance of ever becoming a bride, a wife, a mother and a grandmother by labeling her a spinster at such a young age.   Jinxed or not, it was her lot in life to be a daughter, sister and aunt.  The same life was in store for the older sister enumerated as a seamstress.

Mary Jane and Martha were the daughters of Henry and Jane Marley and sisters of my 2x great grandfather Elisha Smith Marley.   By all indications and records, Mary Jane and Martha were devoted sisters and aunts to their brothers and to their nieces and nephews except for one...Elisha. 

Elisha left Wilkes County, North Carolina in the early 1870's, and as the story is told by his siblings descendants...never to be heard from again.  Although, Mary Jane and Martha did not contribute to the Marley descendant pool, their Wilkes County brothers did.  And so did Elisha in Jack County, Texas.

As devoted daughters and sister, Martha and Mary Jane lived with their parents and brother William until their deaths.  After mother Jane's death in the late 1870's, the 'Spinster Sisters' became housekeepers and farm laborers...according to the 1880 Census.  After their father's death at age 91, not long after being enumerated in the 1900 Census, Martha and Mary Jane continued to live on the family farm with their now 'Head of House' brother William, 42 years of age. 

William, apparently a bachelor, died sometime between 1900 and 1910 as the two sisters were listed together without William in 1910.  According to Wilkes County Deed Records, spinster Mary Jane Marley bought 100 acres of land from E.K. Walsh. (what an ironic/coincidental twist of Census takers labeling)

By the time the 1910 Census was taken Mary Jane (64)and Martha (69) lived on Mary Jane's farm keeping house and most likely doing what they had always done, sewing and handwork.  They were still close to family with their brother George's son farming the land next to Mary Jane's.   It would be several more years before they would learn of the whereabouts of their last living brother.

The contact would have been sometime in 1914 when Elisha corresponded with his sister Mary Jane.  (This piece of information was jotted down on notes about Elisha taken in 1972 by family historian, Aunt Irene.)

Mary Jane Marley died on March  28, 1915 at age 69.  Her death certificate lists cause of death as 'Lagripe' or what is now called influenza.  Although the certificate places Mary Jane in Wilkes County and correctly lists her parents, the informant was not a family member and incorrectly states her burial site.  However, and interestingly, says the Undertaker will be 'home folks'.  Her unmarked grave is thought to be in the same cemetery as her parents, siblings, nieces, nephews and other family members in Beaver Creek Advent Church Cemetery, Wilkes County, North Carolina.

Perhaps of all the people who attempted to label Mary Jane from spinster to daughter, sister, aunt, seamstress to farmer and housekeeper, the informant on her death certificate stated her occupation perfectly....

....Handwork.

 

Martha died July 16, 1921, at age 81.  According to her death certificate, the cause of death was gastro intestinal related with the contributing factor of old age.  For whatever reason, Martha was not buried in the same cemetery as her parents, siblings and other family members including her lifetime 'Spinster Sister'.  Her place of burial is Mt. Zion Adventist Church Cemetery.  Her nephew and namesake of her father and brother was the informant...he stated her occupation as housekeeper.   Surely he meant to state....Handwork!

 

Sadly, Mary Jane, Martha and Elisha were not to see each other again on this earth.  However, he did return to North Carolina in 1929 at the age of 80.  He would live another 12 years and rests in peace in Borden County Texas beside his wife Mary Josephine Leatherwood Marley.  No doubt he remembered fondly and missed his sisters as he named his oldest and first born child after the both of them....Martha Jane Marley...my great grandmother. 

Like her namesake aunts, she too, did Handwork!

 

Photo Disclaimer:  Photos from Old Photo Collection of CollectInTexas Gal.  Not intended to be representative of any person named in this post.  Used as representative of the period and in the interest of the story line.