Carrie Robinson has traced part of her family tree — the Church branch — back to 1600s England.
The Stockton, Calif., mother of three has spent eight years poring over boxes of documents and photographs, scouring the internet and mining the memories of older relatives.
Even Robinson was surprised, however, when she started getting emails that a Georgia church more than 2,000 miles away had her family's 147-year-old Bible.
At first, she thought it might be a scam. Then she started hearing from more people about the efforts of 12Stone Church in Lawrenceville to find the Bible's rightful owners. There was even a video on their Facebook page.
Before then, Robinson didn’t know the Bible existed.
“I get such a thrill finding new clues to my family’s history that I couldn’t wait to dive in,” Robinson, who is in her 40s, wrote in an email.
Robinson and the Bible were united in April when several members of 12Stone Church in Lawrenceville flew to California to return the heirloom. This is the first time Robinson is discussing the Bible's return.
“It felt like my ancestors were reaching out to me and that I could almost feel them around the Bible.”
Several years ago, Donna Whitten, the communications director of 12Stone Church, was browsing in an antiques shop in Chattanooga, Tenn., when she happened upon the brown leather Bible.
She said it sat on a shelf in her Buford living room for years.
Then this past Easter, members of the church were talking about the prodigal son and how far God went to get us back when we were lost.
“We put a spin on it and asked: How far would you go to give something back to someone who had lost it?” she said in a previous interview. “I feel like I own a part of someone’s family history. It’s a family heirloom and I feel like they should have it. It should be in their family.”
Bibles have long been considered important repositories of family history. People record births, deaths and marriages.
Could this Bible help fill in the missing pieces for some family?
A call went out on social media to find descendants of the Church family. Within days, they had several hits about possible relatives in California and Ohio.
“I think we were in shock,” Whitten said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen. People really got invested in this project.”
Word spread among the church’s nine campuses.
“History buffs and genealogists just started eating it up,” said Andrew Draper, 12Stone’s social media director. There were more than 620 shares and 34,000 views on 12Stone’s Facebook page.
Once it was confirmed that Robinson was indeed a relative, Whitten and others started thinking about how best to return the Bible.
They decided they wanted to do it in person.
She asked Robinson how she would feel about several members of the church coming to California.
“She was just dumbfounded,” said Whitten, who explained that the church had worked so hard to find her, they just didn’t trust putting it in the mail.
It was also a very personal journey for Whitten. She told Robinson that “I want to meet you. I want this to go from my hands back to your family. It’s so much more than just returning a Bible. I really believe God orchestrated this whole thing.”
Robinson felt part of her family history had been lost.
Her parents told her about their grandparents, but that was about it. They really didn’t know much more. Her grandfather Orval Hatch Jr. was the only child of Gertrude Church. He had inquired at some churches and libraries around Union City, Pa., about his family history. He sent her parents a few things he had discovered.
“He would be thrilled to have his mother’s family Bible back with the family,” Robinson said.
Next summer, she plans to visit family in Ohio and will share the Bible with them. Her brother is a pastor at a church in New Jersey and she thinks he will have a special appreciation for the book.
“I am eternally grateful that so many people took the time to look for me and my family,” Robinson said. “Very little of this family remains and I have always been especially drawn to them. Having this piece of history back in the family so it can be passed down through the generations allows the Churches to be tangibly remembered by my family. They will never be forgotten and neither will the good people of 12Stone Church.”
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