THANKS Doyle for your input on the little Bible books! One bit of info I would dispute is that this book we have is one that was distributed for Union soldiers since our great-grandfather was Confederate, unless of course he removed it from a soldier and later entered the info?
We do know that the Bible came into the possession of our Ford between April 1866 to late 1920's so it wasn't purchased sometime later. Since all of the info in it was on James G. Ford's children,YET nothing is mentioned about him, vitals etc., I tend to think it was prepared for him to carry. Whether he did or not cannot be conclusive. Since his wife was also deceased by 1866 (proven by Benton County AR. probate records awarding the couple's 5 orphans to next of kin [their grandfather Reuben Ford], I can understand how one of their orphan children ends up with the Bible in his possessions.
What I cannot understand is if James Ford had the Bible with him, and he died from illness while in the Confederacy, how did this possession get back to the family?
There are two stories on his death, and both passed down by descendants of his 2nd oldest son. The first is him dying of illness (2 or 3 muster sheets on him show him sick and one in hospital sick all the way up to last muster in late 1863) but the second story tells of James "being home to work his land and help his wife get a crop going in NW AR." when bushwhackers came up on the cabin, and James hearing a noise outside, peeked out the window and was shot. The bushwhackers then allowed his wife and the little boys to get out of the cabin before they burned it.
Now if this second story is true, I don't see Catherine being able to get her little boys out then remembering to also get the little Bible book out also in her state of mind. After this, she walked to Missouri with the 5 boys to live with relatives there. Of course the scenario here may be the cabin didn't burn to the ground and she then removed the book from James's body or a relative may have done so later on because the Fords had many living near them?
To me it seems unlikely that one of the surviving orphans entered information in the book at a later date without writing something about their father in it also. Nothing is mentioned about him; not even his name!
Gee, again thanks for your input. I always have more questions but am grateful and consider us fortunate to have the newly discovered info that was in the family all along! It just took the 'right or interested' cousin to sift through all this data in the trunk! Our search now is still on finding out Catherine's last name. Wouldn't you know that the one blurriest and faded part in book is where her surname is written? All we can make out is a blank containing a little squiggle, an a, n, e, and possibly y or Z and no more?
Glynda