Stories from a Bible

 

It all started when a friend dropped by my house to show me an old Bible she had picked up at a thrift store. She carefully handled the small leather bound book as she showed it to me. The leather binding was intact, and all of the pages seemed to be there. The Bible itself was small, approximately 3 and 4 ½ inches, and it contained just the New Testament and the book of Psalms. The cover, definitely showing the effects of wear, appeared to be a tooled leather design, and the brass hinge on the side was still operational. I could see why my friend was so pleased to add it to her collection.

 

The Bible was published in Glasgow, Scotland in 1853, given to someone in Massachusetts in 1863, and purchased from a Georgia thrift store in 2022. Surely there were some interesting stories relating to that Bible. I was hooked and knew I wanted to learn more about that Bible and the name written on it so I started taking pictures of the Bible as we talked. Later I spent the afternoon researching Henry Bailey and trying to find a few answers to our questions.

 

Left front end page

Question 1: Who was Henry Bailey and what was his role in the Civil War?

 The starting place for me was reading the left front end page which had these two inscriptions: 

"Henry Bailey, Co I, 45^th Regt, M Voll, Milford, Mass, 1863" 

"Fort Macon, Beaufort Harbour, NC"

Imagine my surprise when my initial Ancestry search for a Henry Bailey in Milford, Massachusetts, turned up some very helpful information. The first reference was from Ancestry’s database U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865. This record provided a wealth of information about the Henry Bailey who had owned or been given the Bible, including:

• Birth date and place
• Enlistment and discharge dates and places
• Military unit (Co I of the 45^th Massachussetts Infantry)
• Death date (1922) and burial place

It was enough information matching the inscription on the Bible’s front end page that I felt I was on the right track. It was also specific enough for me to start a Family Tree Maker tree for Henry Bailey so I had a place to record any information I found about him.

 The Ancestry search also had references to years of US census records, enough for me to learn the names of his parents (George and Harriet) and that of his sister (Ella). In addition, the 1920 US census entry indicated that Henry immigrated to the United States in 1849 and was naturalized in 1868, more parts to the story of Henry Bailey. This meant that Henry came to the United States as a young child of three, enlisted to fight in the US Civil War although he was not yet an American citizen, and chose to denounce his English citizenship after fighting in this war.

 I was also interested in learning more about the military union in which Henry served, Co I of the 45^th Massachusetts Infantry. The Action Memorial Civil War Library had a short piece of Henry’s unit.(1) It was clear that Henry enlisted in the early days of the unit, traveled with the unit to Fort Macon, Beaufort, NC, and stayed with the unit until it was mustered out of service in July of 1863.

 A second period of action for Henry in the Civil War showed up on the 1890 US Census Veterans Schedule on Ancestry.com. Henry apparently enlisted a second time in December of 1863, staying with Co A of the 1^st Massachusetts Battalion until the end of the war.(2)

Question 2: Who is the “Emma” who inscribed the Bible on the right flyleaf?

 

Inscription: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Emma"

Alas, I did not seem to find an answer to this question. From US census records, it was clear that Henry had a younger sister, Ella. There is no indication that Henry was married in 1863 when the Bible was apparently in his possession, probably eliminating the chance that a wife named Emma has given him the Bible. When he did marry in 1872, it was to Ella Jeannette Morse, another Ella, not an Emma.(3)

Question 3: How did that Bible get from Massachusetts to a Georgia thrift shop?

Finding a possible answer to this question took some searching and, admittedly, some speculation. Using US Census records and FindAGrave memorials, I found a descendent of Henry living in Georgia in the 1980s. Her obituary listed a grandson living in the Atlanta area. A few quick Google and social media searches showed an individual with the exact same name as that grandson living just a few miles from the thrift shop where my friend purchased the Bible. Is this the answer? A coincidence? Maybe, maybe not, but it at least seems to be a possibility.

So, it turn out that my friend picked up a real treasure, that small Bible over 160 years old with its leather binding and brass hinge both still present and functioning. Researching shed some light onto a family who emigrated from England and established themselves as Massachusetts business owners, a family whose son enlisted to fight in the Civil War, a family where both father and son eventually become American citizens. Had this been part of my family, I definitely would have included it in one of my “Coming to America” posts for events such as these are common to many of our families.

Now back to researching my family, helping to transcribe the 1950 US Census, and indexing patriot records for the DAR, at least until some new treasure catches my interest.

1. "Forty-Fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia (Infantry) Nine Months", Action Memorial Library Civil War Archives, https://www.actonmemoriallibrary.org/civilwar/index.html.

2. "1890 Veterans Schedule, Massachusetts, Worcester, Milford, p 7, entry for Henry J Bailey", accessed www.ancestry.com.

3. "Milford, Births, Marriages, and Deaths", image 779 of 2038, Massachusetts, U.S. Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, www.ancestry.com.

Coming to America: Cyprian and Margaret Prou, Indentured Servants

Sample Indenture Contract
source: http://www.virtualjamestown.org/indentures/sample_indenture

Several years ago I came across an interesting book on FamilySearch.org, Anderson, Cockrill, Moffett, Smith & Allied Families of Northern Virginia. I was actually looking for another ancestor when I stumbled across a chapter about Cyprian/Cyprien Prou, my 7th GreatGrandfather. For once, I actually downloaded the information about Cyprian and then returned to my original quest.

Fast forward to several years to 2021. I was now a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, thanks to my 4th GreatGrandfather Enoch Benson. I was now living in Georgia, close to where Enoch lived and a number of relatives were buried. Covid days gave me the opportunity to spend a lot more time learning about Enoch and his ancestors. And this lead me to Enoch's 3rd GreatGrandfather and my 7th, Cyprian Prou.

I was surprised at the pieces of information I had found over the years about Cyprian, some for which I had actually recorded a source. The thing that peaked my curiosity right away was a notation that Cyprian Prou had been an indentured servant. I wanted to know more about this circumstance, what lead to it, and what happened after he arrived in America. Looking for these things definitely took me back in time and introduced me to a variety of resources, all helping Cyprian become more real to me.

The first sourced information I found about Cyprian was a marriage record for Cyprian and his wife Margaret. According to the Vestry Register for the Collegiate Church of St Katherine by the Tower in London, Cyprian Prou and Margaret Vensanden where married there on 16 Jul 1683.(1) Another source concerning their marriage was found in Ancestry's "Virginia, Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800". This entry provided the same date and place of their marriage and also included that Cyprian Prou had been born about 1663 in France. Cyprian's name suggested that he was of French descent while Margaret's suggests that she may have had Dutch or other European ancestors. Trying to verify their births and ancestors will have to wait for other days.

I found several records indicating that Cyprian had been an indentured servant as was his wife Margaret Vensanden Prou. The Virginia Colonial Records Project accessed through the Library of Virginia had online transcriptions of "Quarter Sessions Records, Plantation Indentures 1682/3 - 1684.(2) Report #2152 provided the following entry:

Margaret Prou(?), about 24, to Richard Bray. 4 years, "working in the ground excepted". 28 August 1684.

Cyprian Prou(?), about 21, to Richard Bray. 4 years, "working in the ground excepted". 28 August 1684.

What an entry! Name, age and probable birth year, length of the indenture, and a date to explore.

The records of Virtual Jamestown presented similar information but with some important clarifications.(3) The records were in table form and indicated:

• Margaret and Cyprian were going to Virginia.
• The date of 28 August 1684 was the date their indenture was signed.
• The normal indenture period was four years.
• Richard Bray of Maryland was the agent to whom they were indentured.

A bonus on the Virtual Jamestown web site was the transcriptions of two indenture contracts. Both contracts provided interesting information about the indenture process. In the 1755 contact for William Buckland, he was referred to as a "Covenant Servant" who was to serve the Executor on the "Plantation of Virginia beyond the seas" for a period of four years. It also mentioned his skill as a carpenter and joiner.  Furthermore, the contract stated that Buckland would be paid the standard annual rate of "20 pounds sterling, payable quarterly". From the entries for Margaret and Cyprian, it seemed that they would not be farming or "working in the ground", as they were excepted (exempted) from that type of work. Perhaps this meant that they, too, had some special skills.

The contract for Richard Lowther, written over 100 years earlier, provided more details about the person to whom Lowther was indentured or covenanted, Edward Hurd. Mr. Hurd as to "provide sufficient meate, drink, apparrell, and other necewaryes for his livelihood and maynetence dureing the said time", and at the conclusion of the contract, Hurd was to give to Richard Lowther "fifty acres of land in Virginia" for Lowther, his heirs, and assignees forever. Both documents were actually signed in England but apparently came with them to the Virginia colony.

I stumbled upon yet one more interesting part of Cyrprian and Margaret's story. On 8 Jun 1684, Marie Prou, the daughter of Cyprian and Margaret was baptized at the French Huguenot Church on Threadneedle Street in London.(4) This meant that they were embarking on a new life, one that would require significant labor on their parts, with a two month old infant. I cannot imagine what that experience would have been like.

Admittedly some of the journal articles I found concerning the status of indentures servants suggested that life may not have turned out to be as they had expected, but one record for Cyprian points to a more successful life in the Virginia Colony. In April of 1704, 20 years after Cyprian and Margaret arrived in the colony, Cyprian and several others petitioned the Virginia House of Burgesses to become naturalized citizens.(5) His naturalization petition was then approved in the House of Burgesses on 8 May 1704.(6)

"And upon consideration of the report of the said Committee upon the Petitions of John Gill, Stephen Gill, Samuel de Monville Teleije Alverton, Isaac Garret, Peter Rucks, and Clypian Prou praying to be Naturalized. The House agreed to the report of the Committee - That it is reasonable the said persons should be naturalized when they are qualifyed by taking the Oathes Enjoyned by Law."

Through the years Cyprian apparently acquired property and was able to support his growing family of five daughters for he wrote and signed a will on 16 Oct 1712.(7) Were he still indentured or without any property or other assets there would been little reason to draw up such a legal document. In his will, one page of which appears as a picture attached to an Ancestry Tree, Cyprian left some furniture to his daughter Frances (my 6 GreatGrandmother). He also named three daughters, Margaret, Susan, and Frances, as executors and stipulated that the remainder of his estate to be divided equally among the three.(8) All of this points to Cyprian having a sizeable estate at the time of his death. For Cyprian Prou, coming to the Virginia Colony seemed to have enabled him to have a prosperous life.

Tale of the Timeline shows the following

• 1683 - living in England
• 1683 - married to Margaret Vensanden
• 1684 - birth of oldest child, Marie
• 1684 - signed contract to be an indentured servant in the Virginia Colony, came to the Virginia Colony
• 1704 - petitioned for naturalization and was approved to be a naturalized citizen of the Virginia Colony
• 1712 - died, his will filed for probate on 5 Nov 1712

Learning something about an ancestor causes me to want to know still more about that person. Things such as what caused Cyprian and Margaret to decide to come to the colonies?  I would be thrilled to find the actual indenture contract that he or Margaret signed, especially if it explained why the couple was "excepted from working in the ground". Perhaps I can locate and read Cyprian's complete will and additional probate documents to get a better picture of the life that he had made for himself and his family in the colony. There are also some unsourced suggestions that Margaret may have died before Cyprian and that he later remarried. After I learned that Cyprian Prou's name appears in the "List of Qualified Huguenot Ancestors" of the National Huguenot Society, I need to look into their research materials. Then I saw several online trees that suggest that another ancestor, Thomas Benson, was also an indentured servant, coming to the Virginia Colony at about that same time. 

And, the list goes on ...

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#indenturedservants #immigrantancestors #ProuGenealogy

1. London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online]. "Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812", records from City of London, Collegiate Church of St Katherine by the Tower, 1680-1695; record accessed through Ancestry.com.

2. Library of Virginia. Virginia Colonial Records Project, Middlesex County Record Office, "Quarter Sessions Records, Plantation Indentures 1682/3-1684." Indentures for service in Virginia, 1684; record accessed through www.lva.virginia.gov

3. Virtual Jamestown [web site], "Registers of Servants Sent to Foreign Plantations, 1654-1686; record accessed through http://www.virtualjamestown.org

4. "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975" database, FarmilySearch.org

5.  Whitley, Edythe Johns Rucker. History of the Rucker family and their descendants. Hermitage Printing, 1927; accessed through www.hathitrust.org

6. McIlwaine, H R, ed., Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia 1702/3-1705, 1705-1706, 1710-1712, p 74, accessed through www.ancestraltrackers.net.

7. Burgess, James A. Anderson, Cockrill, Moffett, Smith & Allied Families of Northern Virginia; record accessed through FamilySearch.org.

8. Ancestry Tree 168705053, person 212209830156.