Early History of Phillips County

The Land, the Legends and the Lore

by Patty Smith

Published 2020

The Lost Bible

The following Dallas, Texas newspaper clipping was found in the bible of Elisha Burke, friend of Judge Josiah McKiel.

SEEKING OWNER OF PRICELESS HEIRLOOM

Federal Soldier Stationed at Helena during the Civil War Found a Bible Near a Deserted Home and Desires to Restore It to Owner or Relatives. Belonged in Family Named McKiel.

“I have been an interested and delighted reader of the News now going on two years, and I begin to want to “butt in” too. I am very much surprised to find that through your columns lost things and friends and relatives have been brought together. I see some most remarkable discoveries have been made, and I must say you are doing a good work in furnishing this means of communication among the people.

Now, I believe I have a case for your help. I have a Bible in my possession which does not belong to me, and I did not steal it, either. I hope through your help the owner can be found, or his relatives, I will thank you again and again. During the Civil War I was in the Union Army, lying at Helena, Ark., in 1863. I picked up this Bible on the greensward of a country residence, where the household goods had been tumbled out in the vicissitudes of war. There are family records in the book, and by these I hope to reach the owner of others interested. The name on the Bible is Josiah McKiel, he seems to be the patriarch of the household. His wife’s name was Lydia and his oldest son was named William, born March 12, 1817. Harriet McKiel was born Sept.17, 1819, but died when 2 months old, Nov. 12, 1819. Another name I find in the book is Louisa C. Sullivan, June 9, 1848. Now, if by any of these marks of identification, we can find any of the relatives of the family, I shall be glad to turn over the Bible to them. In the preface I find the bible is the first American stereotype edition, copied from Edinburgh edition, and was approved by the ‘King of Scotland.’ It was printed at 27 William Street, New York, 1815, imprint of D. & G. Bruce.

When I found it at the deserted house near Helena, I thought of the fleeing inmates of that home and deplored the horrors of war. And because of such reflection I have treasured the Bible and wished many times that I knew how to find the owner. That book brings even the bitterest enemies together, and I hope your paper will reach the eye of a kin of McKiel.”

“Yours for ‘the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.’

“Nathan Moore, Box 38, Decatur, Ark.”

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Primary sources for these articles include the Phillips County Historical Quarterlies, Shinn's Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas; Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas; Down the Great River by Glazier; Arkansas Historical Documents and Land Grants; The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture; Courts and Lawyers on the Arkansas Frontier; Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi; USGenWeb; Ancestry.com; FamilySearch.org; Phillips DNA Project.