Samuel E. Hall and his wife Belvedora Hall had Daniel Fox draw some folk art in the front of their marital Bible in addition to filling out in a beautiful hand, the beginning of their Family Record. In 1880 the families were close neighbors in District 12, Washington Co., Tennessee.
I don’t know what this is or what it stands for, but it was important enough to the family to have it done and it was important enough to Daniel Fox to draw it and label it, so there is some significance. He took such care to draw, date, and sign this artwork, I think he being a teacher, spelled Belvedora correctly. It has been spelled many different ways. Fox, a Maryland native, lived in Tennessee for more than 60 years by 1884. The calligraphy on the names and date is even handed. Fox also wrote the marriage of Samuel Hall and Belvedora (Maden) Hall, and the births of their first five children. There is a correction in different ink on the marriage date,
The publication date 1869 works with the 1875 marriage date and the 1884 date from Dan. Fox. The calligraphy on the names and date is even handed. Fox also wrote the marriage of Samuel Hall and Belvedora (Maden) Hall, though there is a correction in different ink on the date, and the births of the first five children.
The very first time I read this I got distracted by the Laura Dyer entry as one of my distant cousins, Mary King married Alexander Dyer, lived in the Holsten Valley in Tennessee and had ten children; William Adolphus, Thomas Leander, Susan Sharp, David, James Allen, John, Sarah Elizabeth, Mary Amanda, Robert Anderson, and Samuel. I had to check out the connection to be certain this Laura Dyer wasn’t related.
Then I read this page and knew for certain that a cousin from Piney Flats married Cordelia E. Hall. So I stopped again to rummage through some information and found that Cordelia Eldridge Hall married Robert Edward Lee Dyer, son of John Alexander Simon Boliver Dyer and Mary (Allison) Dyer on Christmas 1907 in Washington Co., Tennessee.
Deaths
At least three different writers compiled this page.
Though the pen and ink change frequently, I see only two different penmanship styles on this page.
The pen, the handwriting, the ink, and the word choice all point to several different keepers of the flame for this Bible Record, perhaps as many as five.
One interesting feature of this Bible Record is the information included about family members from elsewhere. Most Bible Records do not have a geographical aspect even if the family and the Bible moved. In addition to the Upper East Tennessee, Washington Co., area, this Bible records deaths of family members in the states of Georgia, Oregon and Washington and even Beryl Lamont Martin in the Canal Zone in 1942.
The other interesting feature is the artwork by Daniel Fox and the date of the work by his hand in 1884, proving beyond a doubt that he not only lived after the 1880 census, but also past the 1881 date listed on several linked genealogies without sources on the Internet.
The current holder of this Bible, a granddaughter of Verna Ada (Hall) Huff, Kim Livaditis has supplied the annotated transcription which follows:
Page 1 Miscellaneous
