Holy Bible of “Lawrence C Michaelis October 1, 1932”

Question

Hi Wikitreers,

In my collection is a vintage Bible with inscriptions and I’d like to connect the genealogy of Lawrence C. Michaelis. There is no date of the printed Bible but pre 1932 and was inscribed during the Great Depression era. The dates and name matches to this memorial but is it him?  See also this memorial of a possible son 

Any collaboration is appreciated 

Note: see profile for more images of this vintage Bible from the 1930’s im still sifting through maybe more clues to follow up later. No print date of this Bible found yet. The Billy Graham clipping I’m not sure of the date maybe 1950’s as I doubt was 1930’s

Thank you 

Answer 1

I believe that Bible belongs to my husband's family. My father-in-law is Lawrence Carl Michaelis who died in 2009. His mother was Mae.

My husband is Mark Edward Michaelis (54 years old) and he has an older bother Lawrence Carl Michaelis who recently turned 60 years old. There are 4 Michaelis grandsons and one granddaughter as well as  5 great grandchildren in the family now.

Comments

Hi Christine 

Thank you for responding. It’s very likely and a wonderful family Bible it’s still in wonderful condition considering the aging. Maybe we can connect the family lineage he needs parental connections  

Edit: it’s been a while since I worked on this profile but he died fairly young at age 37 in 1942. 

I haven’t gone through every page as it’s fragile but the last page struck a chord with me how better to end the book with 2 Corinthians 5:1 

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 
King James Version (KJV)

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I was able to confirm with my MIL (Mary Frances) that my FIL had family in Ashtabula. I know that my FIL's father passed away when he was very young, and that Mae remarried, as mentioned in another comment. Their son, William Lindsley (my FIL's 1/2 brother), is in his early to mid 70s now. I believe my FIL was about 16 years old when his brother was born.

Answer 2

I think the first memorial you suggested is the most plausible owner. He had a son named after him.

Lawrence C. Michaelis Sr. (1904-1942)
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LR1Q-RM4

Comments

I think so as well I doubt too many duplicate names. Interesting back to Ohio again like another Bible I have with the Storier family.

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I wonder if that church is still in operation?

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Updated profile to match this FindAGrave memorial. Interesting is the cemetery is possibly Catholic? I also added a research notes section. Thank you for collaboration

Answer 3

1) I do think you have the correct person.  There's a 1910 census image that shows a Lawrence Michaelis and brothers with mother Barbara Michaelis (born in Germany) in Cleveland, Ohio.  1910 Census  She is listed as married with 6 children, but the date of her marriage (acc to the FamilySearch tree) is 1894. Where are the other children?  There aren't any birth records for Michaelis in Ohio with Barbara as a mother and Otto (again from the FamilySearch tree).  There are a bunch of birth records for Otto Michaelis as father in Ohio but again, not Barbara.  I'd be the first to suggest that the FamilySearch tree is wrong. I'm perplexed that there aren't more Ohio birth records.

2) My theory -- having seen some of these thin covered bibles, is that it was given to Lawrence when he was completing classes/marriage classes/being baptized before he married Mae in 1934 (marriage date from FamilySearch tree).  The church listed is probably in Erie County, Pennsylvania, as that was where he supposedly died and also where his son, was born and died.  1940 census  I didn't see a church with that "...ington" christian church name in Erie County currently.

3)  I do think that Saint Boniface is a Catholic cemetery, but it would seem that the family would have belonged to that parish to be buried there and the church bible (which looks like a protestant bible) doesn't match that scenario.

By the way, Mae (the widow, remarries before 1950) and Lawrence Jr. is found as a stepson.1950 census

As usual, more questions than answers... 

Comments

Thank you very interesting