Ask anyone interested in genealogy and family history and they will tell you to first look to the sources you have in your family before venturing out in the world to seek information about your ancestors.
This is the family Bible that belonged to my Stewart [2nd great] grandparents. It was passed down to their son, then to his son [my grandfather] and then to my mother. Now that they are all gone, it belongs to me. The title page reads 1859 and since that is the year their oldest child was born, I assume it was a celebration of his birth.
In the center are several pages of handwritten entries of births, marriages and deaths. On the pages for births there are two names, Edward Stewart and Rebecca Noyes with no dates after their names. Since the Bible belonged to this couple's son, I wondered why he did not know the dates of his own parent's birth! The handwriting on the page is that of his wife, so maybe he wasn't home when she began the process of filling in the vital records.
But, there was a very tiny envelope with a folded, fragile document which is the marriage certificate of Edward and Rebecca.
February 15, 1801, which was 207 years ago! I have researched every name on these pages and each one has been proven to be correct.
It was this tiny bit of information that send me on a search of Edward and Rebecca's resting places which is in North Stonington, CT.
Some journeys end in the cemetery and some begin....
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