Champion family,
A family bible belonging to a pioneer Central
City, Colorado family
that had fallen into the
hands of an estate sale auctioneer
has been
returned to me, a great great grandson, 99 years
after the death of the owner. This was such a
heartwarming event that I want to share it with you.
I recently published my grandmothers manuscript
telling of the hardships of her grandparents,
Hugh and Levinia Champion, who came to Central
City from Cornwall, England in 1863. They had ten
children
all born in Central City. They and 6 of
their children are buried in the Knights of
Pythias and City cemeteries. Weaved into this
story of births, deaths, floods, fires, feast and
famine is considerable Central City history of
the period 1863 1912, when Levinia died.
Now back to the family bible. The book tells of
the disposition of many of Levinias
belongings
including the Champion family bible,
with all its clippings, photos and pertinent dates.
According to the book, Edith Champion, the child
who was initially entrusted with the Champion
family bible moved to Sacramento, California
shortly after Levinia died in 1912. There she
married, moved twice, lost her husband then
finally moved to Mill Valley, California, where she died.
Amy Hoskin Hill, my grandmother, who was Ediths
niece and the author of the manuscript, was
charged with settling Ediths affairs. The
Champion family bible was not part of her belongings. Where did it go?
About the time I was announcing the publication
of No Wealth for Levinia, a woman in
Roseville, California was selling many items she
had collected over her life time
most of which
were purchased from estate sales. One item in her
possession was the Champion family bible!
She searched and found my genealogy website
(
www.casamayfield.com) and realized there was a
match of names and dates. She e-mailed me.
What followed was an exchange that filled me with
such emotion that I was nearly in tears. She told
me that she held the bible for more than 18
years, always wondering why someone would let
such a valuable bit of family history end up in
an estate sale auction. She vowed she would not
sell it without first trying to find its family.
She mailed the bible to my sister-in-laws house
in Centennial, CO where it waits for me to pick it up.
The bible is now just 30 miles from where it
started. I will take it to the Champion family
gravesite so that the family will know that 99
years after Levinias death, it is home with
family that loves them and a member that knows
the most of their lives and their descendants.
Along with the mailing of the bible was a note
from the donor. Dennis, I did go to the website
where your grandmothers story of Hugh and
Levinia is previewed and read the afterword you
wrote and it made me feel that YES, I did do the
right thing, and am very confident that this is
YOUR legacy. I would be honored to have a copy of
the book as a reminder of a little piece of
history I lived with for more than 18 years. I
do not want anything for the bible as this is not
about the monetary value, but the emotional
value; and you can't put a price on that!
I am ecstatic that I found the bibles home. That
is worth more than money to me. What a moving
story and what a fantastic closure of another
piece of the puzzle, and I am moved to be a small part of that story.
Dennis Mayfield