Bible Records: 148 Year Old Bible of Joseph Jefferson Jordan, Winn Parish, LA
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From: August 10, 1977 Winn Parish Enterprise News-American

Bible Stored In Dresser Drawer Has Long History

Old family Bibles seem to contain tangible traces and memories of the
generations who owned them and passed them down.  So it is with a Bible owned
by Joseph Jefferson Jordan, 70, if 1205 Ogden Street.  The Bible is 148 years
old.

The leather cover is worn, scribbled notes made by his have faded, there are
water spots and the thin pages are dry.  But otherwise the book has withstood
the passing of time.  "Not a single leaf is missing," Jordan said.

The title page inscription reads:

The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, Translated out of the
Original Tongues, and with the Former Translations Diligently compared and
Revised, Stereotyped for the American Bible Society, By D & G Bruce.  D.
Fanshaw, Printer, New York, 1829

John Jordan, the present owner's great, great grandfather, was the original
owner.  He was also a Methodist preacher and also ran a "fire boat" on the
Sabine River, carrying wagons and supplies to Texas at a time when river
barges were the only means of transportation.

John Jordan, 3rd, his grandson, also ran a barge, and became the Bible's
second owner.  During the Civil War, Confederate troops caught him in the
woods.  Believing he was a draft dodger, they had his hands tied with a noose
around his neck, ready for hanging, when relatives proved he was still too
young for military service and saved his life.

At the age of 84, John Jordan, 3rd, visited the Bible's present owner at his
home.  He spent the night with his grandson Joseph and his wife, Quenie.  The
following morning he presented Joseph with the Bible and had Quenie write her
husband's name in full on the title page.  A month later Joseph's grandfather
died.

This was in 1931.  Jordan has owned the Bible ever since.  His wife kept it
safely wrapped in a dresser drawer so even a dried carnation of unknown origin
is still in the page where it was pressed.

Despite the apparent intrinsic value of the family heirloom, Jordan and his
wife have decided to sell the Bible.