The binding is loose and the pages show moisture damage, but the clear handwriting neatly laying out births, marriages, and deaths causes me to gulp. the 1st entry says "Lovell Bass was born December 31st 1798." Most of the entries are for people with the last name of Reese. Other surnames are well represented, but the sense is that this bible was in the Reese family for generations. Men keep the family name going for a while, but the daughters' betrothals spawn children with a new last name. The names all stand alone. Nowhere does it say how these people are related to each other or where any of them were born, lived, or died. I'm sure this won't be too difficult to resolve. A little guessing at relationships should lead to U.S. Census documents that list the families.
For the genealogy research, I need a starting point, a "Home person". My brother, who loaned me the bible that he obtained decades ago, agrees that May Bell Reese, born in 1862, appears to be the matriarch. Using Ancestry.com, I begin a new family tree and commence connecting the names.
I start with a guess. Adam Reese b. 1818 could be May Bell's grandfather. Perhaps Charles Henry Reese b. 1843 is her father. More importantly, I assume that Adam Reese's wife Mary Ann b. 1824 is Lovell Bass' daughter. This is working, and in a few hours I have the outline of a family. But later in the week documents prove me partially wrong. Charles is May Bell's older brother. Adam is their father. OK. I can accept that.
I'm hooked on this now. I have a regular day job, but before a week is up I've put 15 hours into this, plus got the lawn mowed and took my wife to dinner.
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