A handwritten poem found in a pre-World War I family bible

in #familyhistory • 6 years ago (edited)

Sorting through some old books today I found a family bible given to me many years ago by my father.

Like many old family bibles this one has several generations of family birth, death and marriage details written inside the front and back covers.

This used to be a popular way of recording family history. Do people still do this these days or is it all ancestry.com and Facebook postings these days?

I can't find an actual date the bible was produced but it is definitely old!

I love the phrase on this title page :

Translated out of the original tongues; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by his Majesty's special command.

The bible cost 2 shillings, which was 10p or about US $0.14.

Alongside the births, deaths and marriage details that are always useful to have to hand was this page.

On it is a handwritten poem, which on a separate sheet my father writes :

The 'ditty' is said to be written by my mother's brother, Leslie W... F..., who died in the navy in the First World War.

The poem is titled 'Going to Church'...

Some go to church for a walk
Some go there to laugh and talk
Some go there the time to spend
Some go there to meet a friend
Some go to learn the Parson's name
Some go there to ?wound? his fame [not sure about 'wound' - ideas?]
Some go there for speculation
Some go there for observation
Some go there to dose and nod
But few [go] there to worship GOD

I am guessing this was written shortly before the First World War, pre 1914.

This is just a little nugget of my family history - particularly for @ravenruis and any other family historians on Steem.

You might also be interested in some of my other posts :

[ images by pennsif ]

#genealogy #history #religion #poetry
6 years ago in #familyhistory by
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     6 years ago 

    Gosh, what an absolute treasure you have there! <3

    Nothing other than what you hazarded about the word 'wound' seems to formulate.

    I think it would be quite rare for people to have continued such a tradition as recording b.d.m's in a family bible (assuming they even have one these days).

    I find even the handwriting, knowing it was done by family members, is a lovely tangible link to them.

    (sorry if you've done this research already, but I couldn't resist trying to help date the bible)
    From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_Foreign_Bible_Society

    On average between 6–7,000 volumes were sent out every working day for fighting men, the sick and wounded, the prisoners of war, exiles and refugees. That's over four copies distributed each minute, day and night, for the duration of the war.

    There is a little about the printers, but not relating specifically to the Bible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyre_%26_Spottiswoode

    I would imagine there was some frantic production going on during the war to get those bibles out and distributed.

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     6 years ago 

    Thank you for all this extra information @ravenruis - most interesting.

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       6 years ago 

      The number reason we go to church is to worship God, but it is the last on the list. It may a trick. For we remember first what the speaker says last.
      Thank you for the poem.

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         6 years ago 

        What a beautiful treasure. We still write the traditional birth, death but I add weddings to mine. Thanks for sharing this little piece of family history.

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           6 years ago 

          Thanks for sharing! What a great piece of history. I love finding handwritten things like this, so special.

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             6 years ago 

            A beautiful piece there. Historical writings are so special, thanks for sharing

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               6 years ago 

              How lovely, and now I'm fascinated by the possible phrase "wound his fame," which I'll be trying to figure out...

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                 6 years ago (edited)

                Wow! This is amazing, I think the missing word may be something along the lines of 'Wouu at his fame'. Looking closely at the n on 'speculation' and 'observation' the n's almost created a v, the unknown word doesn't have it. Possibly an '&' or 'at' before his fame, maybe an old English word that I don't know. I recently discovered something very similar in my grandmothers children's bible she was given prior to WW2, also with a poem of the same sort. You've lit the spark and I'll be posting it sometime later today (Sunday). Thank you for sharing and God bless.

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                   6 years ago 

                  I am going to take a stab at interpretation: "Sound his fame"? that would be a strange "s", but it would make better grammatical sense.

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