The Family Bible referred to in Aunt Nonie's Letters and Notes, the Dexter Family Bible originally belonged to Nellie Estelle Gardner and Charles A. Dexter. They were married in Enfield, Massachusetts*, 1 May 1882. According to Aunt Nonie's Letters and Notes, Aunt Nonie's cousin, Oswald or Oz Lewis was in possession of the Bible in the mid 1960's. I wondered if the Bible were still around and who might have it as this time. In March 2008, I found Oz's 2004 obituary online, giving the names of his surviving relatives. His half-brother, Stuart French had predeceased him by many years, but Stu's wife, Marjorie or "Peggy" was listed in the obit as living in East Windsor, Ct. I looked her name up on the internet, got an address and sent off a letter explaining who I am etc, along with some of the information I had on Stu's ancestry she or her children may be interested in seeing. Within a few days, I received an email from Peggy informing me that not only is she a family history sleuth herself, but she does indeed have the Bible! According to Peggy, the Bible passed from Nellie and Charles to their daughter, Mabel, and she gave it to Peggy, sometime in the late 1950's before Mabel's death in 1959. At some point before 1962, Peggy gave it to Oswald Lewis, Stuart's half brother, for safe keeping since she had small children at home. Then, over 40 years later, a few months before Oz's death in January 2004, he gave the Bible back to Peggy and she still has it today. She scanned the Family Records pages and emailed them to me in March 2008, which I then included here. In May 2008, Mom, Dad and I went to visit Peggy and I got to see the Bible first hand. I am very pleased to be able to include the photos I took on this site. According to the "presented to" page, Charles and Nellie presented this Bible to themselves in May 1898, making this Bible at least 110 years old. A priceless treasure indeed.

All photos are available for higher quality download at the bottom of this page.

*This is a correction; I used to have it as Enfield, Connecticut.

BIG difference, and shows the value of these family records.