Submitted by Judith Olson. Described and transcribed by Charles Dobie.
This Bible is owned by Judith Olson of St. Cloud, MN. It is a large-format New Testament, with the Family Record pages being elaborately engraved frames arranged in two columns per page. The entries too, are so artistically engraved that some names are legible only with the greatest difficulty. In fact, the penmanship is spectacular, and reminds me of folk-art “love tokens” or engravings I’ve seen on old silver coins.
The owner says: “Leonard Wood is my great-great-grandfather. My grandmother was Claudia Emma Wood, a daughter of Guy Wood, who was a son of Leonard. From what I have learned, they came from the area around Cornwall, Ontario. This Bible came to MN with Guy. He had a number of children who lived in or near Crosby, MN. Guy was a blacksmith and a kind of a roamer . . .”
Transcript of the title page:
THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST TRANSLATED OUT OF THE ORIGINAL GREEK; AND WITH THE FORMER TRANSLATIONS DILIGENTLY COMPARED AND REVISED. ---------- AUBURN: PUBLISHED BY ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO. OGDENSBURG: CHITTENDEN & JUDSON. 1851. [Note -- I've listed the photocopies of the birth and death pages in date order] // First page Family Record MARRIAGES MARRIAGES Leonard Wood To Mgt Cook Febrary 22nd 1825 [rest of page has no entries] // Second Page Family Record BIRTHS DEATHS Leonard Wood Mary Wood January 21st 1805 June 24th 1827 --------------- ----------------- Stephen Wood Margaret Cook April 4th 1833 September 8th 1808 ---------------- ------------------ Sarah Wood Mary Wood November 23rd 1837 December 7th 1825 ------------------- ------------------ Charles Wood H O Wood December 31st 1827 February 1st 1851 // Third Page Family Record BIRTHS DEATHS N M Wood Benjamin Wood November 1st 1837 January 25th 1830 aged 25 years ------------------ ----------------- Stephen Wood April 4th 1832 ----------------- Sarah Wood February 27th 1834 ------------------ L E Wood April 18th 1836 // Fourth Page Family Record BIRTHS BIRTHS Wm W Wood Charles Wood June 10th 1838 September 3rd 1848 ----------------- ------------------- A B Wood G C Wood October 13th 1840 ---------------- June 8th 1851 Hiram Wood -------------------- Catherine Wood December 28th 1842 March 15th 1854 ------------------ Sarah Wood March 28th 1845 // End of Wood-Cook Bible Notes -- Several of the initialed names above were impossible to decipher. The initials used are those of people having matching dates in Judith Olson's records. These are: H O Wood, b. December 31 1827, matches Henry Osborne Wood (looks like H U Wood) N M Wood, b. January 25 1830, matches Nancy Margaret Wood (looks like P H M Wood) L E Wood, b. April 18 1836, matches Leonard Edmund Wood (both initials undecipherable) A B Wood, b. October 13 1840, matches Albert Wood (looks like R B Wood)