Heirlooms: The Family Bible & a Lundberg Coincidence
Early on in my genealogy career I sought after the family bibles of various members of my family and my husband’s as well. I was able to photograph a couple and there were a few more whose existence was talked about, but they had mysteriously disappeared. The ones I did photograph– were over 50 years ago– before I had much idea what I was doing. I am glad to have what I have although where those bibles ended up, I am not sure.
I only have one Bible that previously belonged to a family member [photo above] and it was pictured in my last blog post. That’s what got me thinking about bibles and the treasure that they are. The one I have belonged to my grandfather Roy Sidney Lundberg and as it turns out it was given to him by his paternal grandparents Johan Solomon Lundberg and his wife Anna Olofsdotter who immigrated to America in April of 1880 with their five children. This family is my most recent immigrant family.
The following is a photo of the inscription of Roy’s confirmation Bible. The date of publishing is 1903 in Orebo, Sweden and as you can see given in 1905.
Transcription: Ett minure från farfar och farmor till Roys Sidney Lundberg På hans confirmation day 11 Juni 1905 i Bethania Kyrken af 22nd gatan & 36th ave söder Minneapolis Minn. Lâs flitigt i desna bok. Sôk först efter Guds rike och hans rättfärdighet så faller diy allt annat till.
Translation: “A token from [paternal] grandfather and grandmother Lundburg to Roy Sidney Lundberg on his confirmation day 11 June 1905 in Bethania Church corner of 22nd street & 36th ave south Minneapolis Minn. Read this book frequently. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Everything else will fall into place when the timing is right.”
Well just after I started this blog post i got an invitation from a distant cousin in Sweden Casja Lundburg to a new group for our Lundberg family on Facebook. Whereupon another cousin posted this lovely painting that was likely done in remembrance of Johan Soloman Lundberg’s Parents Johan Petter Lundberg and Catharina Jacobsdotter’s marriage. They the great-grandparents of Roy Sidney Lundberg and parents of his grandparents who gave him the bible!
A heartfelt thank you to Erik Feldt who not only gave permission to use the photo but also provided the following transcription and translation:
The text in archaic Swedish:
Jag eder ständig wälgång önskar
O må ni allltid lycklig bli
Må eder framtidsbana grönska
Och gledje blomsterstrå er stiga
Må ni många sälla dagar levfa
Med lugn och gledje intill varandras bröst
Och älskade barn er ömt omgifva
Med gledje uppå åldrens höst
In English it should be something like this:
I wish you constant prosperity
And may you always be happy
May your future path flourish
And joy like flowers rise
May you live many cheerful days
With calm and joy next to each other’s chest
And surrounded by beloved children
With happiness in the autumn of your age.
Rebuilding a Family History
It drives home the point that we all have bits and pieces of the family puzzle that get passed down through various branches of a family. Sometimes when we are lucky those pieces are shared and we all become the richer for that sharing. In that regard my earlier piece on the Misattributed Heirloom is another part of the story.
Kelly Wheaton © 2022 All Rights Reserved
Wheaton Wood 
Hi Kelly,
I hope you are doing well. I loved your account of your family Bible. I have a few that have ended up here with me. A couple of them are in Swedish. I have some of the ornate family pages that were removed from my great-great grandparents’ Bible including a temperance pledge the parents and all the children signed.
I have a few things that I wanted to run past you.
My latest updates of my DNA from ancestry.com seems to have removed all my Irish ancestry and made it Scottish. Do you have any thoughts about that? That would include the Paden part.
I was wondering what you do in your family tree when children are adopted. Do you mark them in any way? Also my niece’s son is via in vitro so it’s a donor egg and her husband’s sperm. I’m not sure if it should be marked in any way or let future generations figure out the story.
DNA sure creates its own mysteries these days in family trees.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Malia
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Malia—that’s super cool. I have photos of my husband’s Swedish Bible but still don’t know where they immigrants were from.
Everytime Ancestry updates its Ethnicity breakdowns it improves some and ruins others. I fall into the latter category. They also get it wrong regarding which parent is ascribed which breakdown. Yes Scottish and Scandinavian seem to be overly represented on newest version.
Yes I mark them as adopted. In FTM you can ascribe a relationship between child and parent and I note it there. ALso on Ancestry in upper right is edit relationship. So I would put it there. You can create your own tags but they won’t show up publicly.
Yes with donor conceived it is already very interesting. In Iceland everyone has an app on their phone so they can see how closely related they are. It can get problematic. Especially in those cases where and unscrupulous doctor donated sperm that became 10”s of children….
Kelly
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