Phinney Bible Story

 Let me start off with the back story.  Mike is a treasure seeker and I am pretty sure he got this itch from his mother.  He loves to find old things or find "treasures" at garage sales.  We have even bought an abandoned storage unit to see if we could find any hidden treasures in there.  While we were in Paris, there was a man selling old Bibles along the Seine River.  Mike wanted a Bible so bad but, the guy wanted 2,000$ for it.  It was in French and we just couldn't justify spending that much money on something we couldn't even read.

One day, Mike was home working and had the impression that he should look on Ebay for an old Bible.  Mike loves Church history so, he went the route of looking for something that connected to Joseph Smith.  There were many of these Phinney Bibles for sale.  The Phinney Bible is the Bible that Joseph Smith used to translate the Bible for the Joseph Smith Translations.  Joseph Smith's year of Bible was the year of 1828.  Mike found this Phinney Bible was in excellent condition but, was published in the year 1829 so, it isn't worth as much as an 1828 Bible.  He told me about it and I was cleaning the bathrooms and just said, " Oh that is really cool" but, didn't' think he was really thinking about buying it.

One after noon he was at his Mom's house for Lunch and he was telling his Mom about this Bible.  JoAnn, who also loves old finds, ask to see it.  She then calls Mike's Dad and they both think it's unreal!  They convince him to buy it!  So, he did.  We bought the Bible from a rare book dealer in up state New York.  We think that this Bible has never left New York.

Once we got the Bible we were enjoying looking at it's old pages, and couldn't believe this Bible is 200 years old, and is in such great condition.  We then noticed that in the middle of the Bible there was a family history section where the family that owned this Bible for generations kept there family history.  As we were looking through the names, the spirit told us that we were suppose to get these family names in Family Search, and that these people wanted there Temple Work done.

The mood totally changed from what a cool Bible to hurry we need to figure out this family tree, and get this work going.  Mike was led by the spirit on so many occasions as he was trying to figure out how many kids they had, and who went with who.  We felt these good spirits in our home as we they would inspire us to look on different census,or enlighten Mike's mind to make it all come together.

We really believe that these are really good people and that the Lord used our means, and Mike's interest to get this Bible in our hands.  This family wants there work done and we are going to do it!  This has been such a neat experience for our family and one we will never forget.  The miracles that happen when doing family history are real.  Even though this family is not related to us, as far as we know, the work is progressing on both sides of the veil.  The thought has come to me that one of our grand-parents maybe has taught this family in the spirit world, and they need our help here on Earth to get these great families work done.

 Here is the Family Record

 When one of the pages would rip they would sew together the the ripped part.

Temple cards are printed out, and we plan on getting the work done for about 40 people that were listed in this Bible.  We love these people and hope to see them one day!