The title of the specific volume was "family bible records and other family records."
I had hoped that the entry was to a DeMoss family bible.
It wasn't.
It was a copy of a 1975 extract of the will of John DeMoss that was admitted to probate in Harford County, Maryland, in 1820. The extract was performed by a DAR member who lived in Pennsylvania which is why it was included in the Pennsylvania materials and not in the Maryland volumes.
I already have a copy of John DeMoss' will so the it wasn't a huge discovery and it certainly was not the bible record that I was hoping it was. As often happens in research, we may find the same document or record in different ways.
There are a few things to keep in mind.
This extract included all the names mentioned in the will. The original record book only indexes the name of the testator, not all the names of those mentioned. If I had only had the name of Christianna Rampley and not known her parents' names, this would have been a significant find. These research reports index materials that may not be indexed anywhere else.
I'll keep using the research reports of the DAR because sooner or later I may make a discovery there that I've not made anywhere else.
You don't know what something contains unless you look.
So what are the lessons from this exercise:
- material in the DAR reports may be included in a geographic location that is unexpected
- material in the DAR reports may index items that are not indexed elsewhere
These reports (in other volumes) also contain some tombstone transcriptions made over fifty years ago-perhaps from stones that are no longer legible.
So while this wasn't a "new" discovery on Christianna, it did provide me with some reminders. And I would not have known what the item contained had I not requested it.
