Hood County Texas Genealogical Society
FAMILY
BIBLE
BURLIN MONROE THOMPSON
The records in the Burlin Monroe Thompson Family Bible were
retroactively started by B.M. sometimes in the 1880's. This is the Bible
he said he used in his ministry. After being "lost" for many
years, it was re-discovered during 2003 after a circuitous route through the
family. What follows is mostly a paraphrased recount by my Mother,
Dorothy Louise Killough Desforges (B.M.'s Great-Granddaughter, Thomas
Jefferson's Granddaughter, Nannie Francis Thompson Killough Keller's Daughter).
After B.M.'s death, the Bible was kept by his son, James ("Uncle
Jim"). Sometime before Uncle Jim's death, Elizabeth ("Lizzy")
Odom borrowed it. When Dorothy asked to borrow it, Uncle Jim said Lizzy
borrowed it in order to get her Mother, Theodosia Thompson Odom, a birth
certificate, but had never returned it. Apparently, Lizzy said she
returned it to Uncle Jim, but he insisted it had not been returned. When
Uncle Jim passed away (1971) the location of the Bible remained a mystery.
It
was not until the early 1990's that the Bible resurfaced. After Elizabeth
passed away, her son, Floyd ("Snooky") Smith found and kept the
Bible. After Snooky died (around 1982-84), his wife found both the Thompson
Family Bible and an Odom Family Bible in a closet. Sometime after that,
she gave the Thompson Family Bible to Burlin Thompson, B.M.'s Grandson, who
lived in Fort Worth. Around 1990, Burlin brought the Bible to his
sister's (Nannie) home in Houston after she mentioned Dorothy wanted to see
it. Nannie kept the Bible, since her Uncle Jim had passed away.
In 1995, I moved my Grandmother (Nannie) and Mother (Dorothy) into my home to
facilitate caring for my Grandmother. This was required due to the
debilitating stroke she experienced during 1991. The Bible was one of their
many belongings stored in my home. My Grandmother passed away on August
17, 1999.
The
Bible was re-discovered in the top of a closet during 2003 and sparked my
interest in documenting the Thompson Family genealogy for my children.
While surfing the net, I found the Hood County Texas Genealogical Society web
site with some information
about the Burlin Monroe Thompson family. My Mother recognized this as
being her family.
Realizing that the paper in the Bible was rapidly deteriorating, I decided to
scan the marriage, birth, and death records in the Bible. The attachment
with this note includes the scanned pages that have been put into an Adobe
Acrobat document.
I am in the process of
amending the genealogy I found on the Hood County web site for the information
contained in the Bible and obtained from my Mother and Grandmother. I
will forward it when I finish.
Family Bible of Burlin Monroe
Thompson
Adobe Acrobat – Loads a little slow, but well worth the
wait
2003
HOOD COUNTY TEXAS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY