A Legacy of Bibles from my Motherline

Laura (Jordan) Goff’s Bible, Leora (Goff) Wilson’s, and Doris (Wilson) Neal’s

In addition to my own Bibles dating from my childhood, I’m the keeper of King James Bibles that belonged to the women in my motherline.

Emelia Ann (Moore) Jordan

My great great grandmother, Emelia Ann Jordan, was married to a lay Baptist minister. She gave a “New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” to her oldest daughter, Laura (Jordan) Goff September 30, 1890. Laura was pregnant with her first child, Leora, born that December 4.

Laura (Jordan) Goff’s Self-Pronouncing Bible

Written on a black hard-to-read page inside the one on the left in the photo is “Laura Goff, Key West, Minn.” Looks like she paid $1.35 for it. The Goff family moved to Minnesota with eight children 1903, and moved back to Iowa in 1905 with nine.

Inside are the military ID numbers for Laura’s three sons (Jennings, Merl, and Wayne Goff) who served in WWI, also the two who served in WWII (Rolla and Clarence).

Next is her daughter Leora’s note, “Mother read this Bible twice when she was with Clarence in Omaha.” (That would have been in the late 1930s.)

Under that is Laura’s signature and a notation that she joined the M.E. church at Dexter, Iowa, March 14, 1937, and was baptized there on March 28, 1937 (Easter Sunday) by Rev. J. H. Freedline. This is interesting because she’d moved to Omaha in 1935 and was living with her sons and two motherless grandchildren. She must have been visiting Leora’s family in Dexter when she joined the Methodist church and was baptized there (where she’d attended during the late 1920s and early 1930s while still living in Dexter).

Leora (Goff) Wilson’s Bible

The one in the middle was “presented to Leora F. Wilson, Minburn, Iowa, R.F.D. #1 by Clabe D. Wilson” of the same address, for Christmas 1942, the second Christmas of World War II. “WILSON” is stamped on the front.

Between the Old and New Testaments, Leora recorded family births, marriages and deaths. She also tucked bulletins inside as well as bookmarks and clippings.

There’s no underlining, but it looks like she read it often. Leora also had a smaller Bible, dated September 26, 1952, a Revised Standard Version, which is probably the one she carried to church.

Leora was a member of the First Christian Church in Guthrie Center for decades. She wrote in her memoir, “I also belonged to the Methodist church in Dexter, Iowa, for several years in the 1930s and changed my membership to the First Christian Church in Perry, was baptized in 1946, and transferred to Guthrie Center, Iowa, in 1948.”

Doris (Wilson) Neal’s Bible, Red Letter Edition

Leora’s oldest daughter Doris attended the Presbyterian Church as a child, while the Wilsons lived SE of Dexter. After they moved into town, they attended the nearby Methodist Church with their Grandmother Goff. After Doris married Warren Neal, who was Presbyterian, she joined his church.

Leora’s mother presented Warren and Doris a Bible in 1946, the one on the right in the photo. “NEAL” is stamped on the front. I don’t remember this Bible from my growing up years, but Mom also had a smaller Revised Standard Version which was handier.

*****

I’ve been blessed by several versions of the Holy Bible. My first one was from Grandma Leora, for Christmas 1952, a King James Version. I received a Revised Standard Version (RSV) on Pentecost 1959 (May 17, I was almost 15), presented by the Women’s Association of the First United Presbyterian Church at Dexter on becoming a Communicant Member. These days I’m rereading my English Standard Version (ESV) journaling Bible, which has room for notes.

Each generation must make their own profession of faith. I became a follower of Christ at a junior church camp, and was baptized in 1987 with my husband and 12-year-old son.

How precious it is to have this legacy of faith in my motherline.

—–

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17