I arrived home to find a package containing photo copies from my visit to the BYU Special Collections library. The copies were everything I had hoped for.
One of the items is a thin bound ledger book listing vital information about 44 different people baptised in the West Tennessee Conference when Elder Gibbs was there. Out of them, 41 were baptised by Elder Gibbs. The names and the labels in the ledger book are all written in the same beautiful handwriting, which I can assume is Elder Gibbs'
Names I have come to know well are included: John Riley Hudson, Malinda Conder, Rachel Ann Conder, William Winters, Eliza Ann Talley, William Sealy, Mary Ann Sealy, Josie Turner, Andrew Jackson Talley, William Martin Conder, Levisa Jane Rebecca Conder, and John Thomas Carroll among others. Of great importance are dates I could not find elsewhere, the correct spelling of some names, and parents' names. And it is great fun to see what is not there. Eliza Ann Talley (who was married to Bash Talley) would not provide her birth date.
At the end of the book are the names of 9 people who were baptized by the son of Elder Gibbs, John H. Gibbs Jr., when he was on his mission in 1906-7 in South Carolina. The handwriting is clearly different. I can only guess that he took the book with him on his mission. Notes about his mission in the LDS Southern Star describe him bringing along his father's missionary journal.
1 year ago
6 comments:
Very cool.
Awesome.
Thanks
Is maraget nomie church on this list? She was my great grandmother and lived in that area at that time. thanks
Can you tell me if this book mentioned the name of Margret Nomie Church. She married Robert Emmons Bryant. She was my great grandmother. Thanks.
Yes, Jules, she is in the book. If you send an email to me at bruce_crow@yahoo.com I will email a copy of the page. With all the checkmarks and other scribbling on the names, it is nearly illegible, but knowing her birthday made it easier, as the birthdates are still mostly readable.
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