Dear Listers
I have no idea what the odds are of locating an ancestral family bible from
the other side of the world but that is just what I've done!
Trawling through eBay looking for items connected with Barmouth (my father's
family home) I came across a Welsh bible dated 1883 which had belonged to
Jeanie
RICHARDS, Barmouth. Well, all my family history bells rang at once!!
My Nain was known as Jane/Jennie and her maiden name was RICHARDS (b 1878
Barmouth) so I asked the seller for a photo of the inscription inside the
bible and
back it came showing: "Jeanie Richards, Tal y Don, Barmouth". I nearly fell
off my chair with excitement as Tal y Don was where she was living in 1901
with her mother, stepfather and two half-siblings! Sadly, her own father,
John
RICHARDS had died of TB in 1880 (aged 31 years) as had all her younger
siblings (also of TB). Her mother, Anne (nee GRIFFITHS) had remarried in
1886 to William OWEN, grocer of Barmouth.
Having told my brother in England of this incredible find, he kindly offered
to bid for the bible, which he did yesterday. So, somehow this old
Welsh family bible ended up in England, was found on eBay by myself (living
in Australia), and is now safely back in family hands. I'll have to make
sure we put a page in the bible telling this extraordinary story for future
generations!
Lizzie (still pinching myself)
Canberra, Australia