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Beulah Walker Hardison's Bible

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A Family Bible is defined as a Bible that is handed down through a family, with each successive generation recording information about the family's history inside it. As a self-appointed family historian, I am always delighted when I happen upon a past relative’s Bible – either on-line or at some heritage center. I will spend hours and even days, adding the gems of information written on the Bible’s registry pages to our on-line family tree. And then, it occurred to me that I had failed as the ‘successive generation’ to continue to record my family’s history in a Bible. Am I depriving some future self-appointed historian from finding gems of information about my family, perhaps hundreds of years from now?

I believe there are two kinds of Family Bibles. There is the “Exhibit” Bible and then there is what I call the “Working” Bible. The Exhibit Bible is large, sometimes three or four inches thick and can typically be found displayed on the coffee table. Family births, deaths and marriages are documented on gilded, colorful, and elaborately scrolled framed pages. Within the pages one will find newspaper clippings of important family events, letters, pressed flowers and occasionally a treasured photograph. It is normally in pristine condition with extraordinarily little wear or tear.

Beulah Walker Hardison's Working Bible

The Working Bible on the other hand is much smaller and compact. It is the one you will find in the Church pews on Sunday morning and at Bible study on Wednesday night. It is the one used to search for guidance and comfort during troublesome times. The pages are worn and dogeared, some falling loose from the binding. You may find when opened, it automatically flips to a specific page where a certain verse with a particularly meaningful verse for the owner is displayed.

This is a picture of Beulah Walker Hardison's (my Grandmama) working Bible or at least it was until September 30, 1960. On that date, it became my Bible. It is a small, black book bound with a zipper casing that can be opened or closed with a small gold zipper pull in the shape of a cross.

Presentation Page

Dad was a career soldier and in the fall of 1960 his duty assignment was Frankfort, Germany. He reported his new assignment as directed. My mother, brother and I stayed behind in Arapahoe, Pamlico County, North Carolina with my Grandmama Hardison while we waited until we could join him in Germany. Within a few months, we received our military travel orders and we were scheduled to fly to New York City on October 4, 1960. There, we would go aboard the USS Randal and sail to join my father in Germany.

A few days before our scheduled departure on September 30, 1960, Grandmama gave me her Bible. On the presentation page, she had written that it was presented by “Grandmama Hardison” on September 30, 1960. She handed me a pen and told me to write my name on the ‘presented to’ line. “Now, it is your Bible,” she said. She had done her part in recording family information and was handing the Bible down to a successive generation. Now, it was my turn to step up and do my part.

Frost and Beulah Hardison's matrimony information.


There is a poem titled The Dash by Linda Ellis. The poem is based on the simple idea of how we view a tombstone, an obituary, a death notice, or the registry pages found in a Family Bible. We make note of the year that a person was born and the year they died, which really say nothing, when its more about what is between those dates, the dash, which represent that person’s life. Inside the covers of my little Bible that had traveled with Grandmama Hardison to church on many a Sunday morning is the “Holy Matrimony” registry page. She had filled in Granddaddy Hardison and her wedding date – November 18, 1927, the location, and witnesses. Even back when I first received it, the ink was fading, and I presume the information had been entered around the time she married Julius Frost Hardison.

It is interesting to note that Grandmama did not enter any of the birthdates of her own children on the “Births” registry page but each of her Grandchildren’s date of birth is documented in her own hand. My brother Coolidge Anderson “Andy” Ross was born in 1962 while we were in Frankfort, Germany and after the Bible had been passed down to me. Recognizing my mother’s (Opal June Hardison Ross) handwriting, you can see where she brought the Bible up to date by adding him and Judy Dawn Hardison who was also born in 1962. And so, the little Bible sat abandoned for fifty-seven years until today when I had my epiphany. I rescued it from its resting place in my dresser drawer and started updating my family history. After entering cousins that were born after 1962 – Michael Barry Hardison and Jack Marlon Hardison, Jr.; I documented my marriage, my children’s birth and marriages and my grandchildren’s births.

Birth's Registry Page
BIRTHS
Name Date of Birth
Beth Walker July 6, 1947
Margaret Susan Walker April 19, 1950
M. Faye Walker December 27, 1952
Jean E. Willis April 6, 1949
Donna K. Willis August 24, 1952
J. B. Willis, Jr. January 15, 1954
Catherine Ross March 1, 1950
J. Frosty Ross March 7, 1954
J. E Hardison, Jr. January 19, 1955
Timithy E. Hardison July 8, 1858
Stewart Gray Hardison July 28, 1960
Jacqueline Denise Hardison February 21, 1960
Judy Dawn Hardison March 1, 1962
Coolidge Anderson Ross August 2, 1962
Jack Marlon Hardison, Jr. December 14, 1966
Michael Barry Hardison May 7, 1965
.


One may think it strange when I write that I smiled when I turned my attention to the “Deaths” registry page, but I did when I saw the entry for “Aunt Sister” - no date was visible, just simply “Aunt Sister”. Eugenia Elizabeth Willis (eventually becoming a Walker) was Grandmama Hardison’s daughter by her first marriage. Her three brothers and one sister – my mother – all called her ‘Sister’. This is the only name that all the Grandchildren ever heard her referred to as or called so naturally to us, she became Aunt Sister. Sadly, she was only thirty-eight years old when she passed away in 1964. I don’t recall exactly when I entered her name into the Bible or why I didn’t include the date. I do recognize the handwriting is that of my youth. I was only fourteen at the time of her death. I also recall attending her funeral and ‘sharing’ my one and only tissue with my cousin – Jean Willis. But that is another story. My smile faded and many fond memories rose from my heart as I completed Aunt Sister’s entry and inserted my Grandmama Hardison, my mother and my father onto the “Deaths” registry page. For me, each of them made their “dash” count.

Deaths Registry Page (also continuation of births)
DEATHS'
Name Date of Death
Julius Frost Hardison April 7, 1956
Aunt Sister
Eugenia Elizabeth Willis November 4, 1964
Beulah May Walker Willis Hardison September 4, 1985
Opal June Hardison Ross March 17, 2002
Coolidge Ross, Jr. May 14, 2004
.
.
BIRTHS (cont.)
Name Date of Birth
Cameron Felix October 14, 1992
Ashley Nicole Brewer August 23, 2002
Cooper Ross Spence March 5, 2004
Mattie Claire Spence August 17, 2006
Griffin Cole Spence May 6, 2008
.
.

I fear the significance of the Bible registry pages may dwindle in the shadow of the internet and software that is readily available for tracking and documenting one’s family tree. Certainly, modern technology has the advantage of superior access and a seemingly endless quantity of information. However, there is still something to be said of the sense of excitement one feels when they hold in their hand the same Bible that their ancestor held. The same ancestor who meticulously put pen to the registry pages to ensure the history of their loved ones would be preserved.

That concludes the update for Beulah May Walker Hardison’s working Bible for now. Additionally, all the names, dates and relationships found on the registry pages have been recorded on-line in our family tree and this document will be added as a source for that information.

And so, my little Bible is ready to be returned to its resting place in my dresser drawer until one day one of my children or grandchildren will find it and enter my resting date. For now, I am going to focus on making the most of my “dash”.


Sources

  • Beulah Walker Hardison Family Bible, 1960-,; privately held by Cathy Ross Brewer, Richmond Hill, Georgia, 2023.




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