FAMILY BIBLE OF BURLIN MONROE THOMPSON
Submitted by Cheryl Desforges
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.