The Weaver/Street Family Bible
An amazing thing happened to me today. I was united with an old Family Bible which I hadn’t known existed until recently. Three days ago, a lady emailed me through my website, having matched up some of my ancestral names to the names written in a Bible which she’d had in her possession for over 25 years. The book was originally discovered in a loft when she moved into a house in Plymouth in 1993. How and why it was there is a complete mystery.
The first few unprinted pages contain the names and dates of birth (and even times of birth) of the children of my 4 x great-grandparents, Robert Weaver and Sarah Street, together with the birth dates of Robert and Sarah together with their parents’ names. Discovering that Sarah’s father and mother were John and Betty Streett was news to me and I was struck by the spelling of their surname with two t’s at the end of Streett.
The Weaver/Street Family Bible
Robert and Sarah had eleven children but Jane, their eldest daughter who was born in about 1822 and died aged about six months, was not listed. Another daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in 1829 and died two years later, was named amongst the ten children recorded in the Bible.
Pages from the Weaver/Street Family Bible (click to enlarge)
Pages from the Weaver/Street Family Bible (click to enlarge)
It’s some coincidence that the book should have turned up in Plymouth, where I live, when the Weaver family resided in the Somerset village of Curry Rivel. I doubt it would have come down to my maternal grandmother, Phyllis Grace Geake nee Weaver, who was born in Tavistock, Devon, because she lost touch with her father’s family after being orphaned at a young age. She visited members of her family just before the Second World War but I feel certain that she would not have given the book away or sold it if it had been handed to her as an adult. I’m not currently aware of any other family links down this way either.
The Bible was printed in 1831 for the British and Foreign Bible Society and there is a handwritten note inside the cover as follows, “Langport Ladies Bible Association”. Langport is the nearest town to Curry Rivel and the Ladies Bible Association would have been part of the Bible Society. I am speculating that either the Bible was purchased direct from the Langport division of the Society or offered back to this organisation at some stage.
Langport Ladies Bible Association Inscription
I feel so privileged to be in possession of such a treasure and I am so grateful to Denise who has been a worthy custodian of the book in recent years and took the trouble to return it to a family member who I can guarantee will definitely appreciate it.
The Weaver/Street Family Bible
