FOUND IN A FAMILY BIBLE
When Miss Geneva Grace Belle Bowman, 94, Macks Creek, MO died April 26, 2002, her personal belongings were passed down to her nieces and nephews.  I received a large old leather family Bible.  The front cover has fallen off along with some of the introductory pages.  It is difficult to identify the publisher or date of publication.  It contains subsections with copyright dates of 1879 and 1881.

Geneva Bowman, my father's sister, was born Oct. 11, 1907, in Belle, MO, the daughter of Samuel Franklin Bowman and Ida Damaris
(Ball) Bowman.  Samuel Franklin Bowman was the grandson of the Predestinarian Baptist preacher, Rev. Hiram Bowman, born in New Jersey in 1796 and died in Jackson county, MO in 1877.  My father & his siblings births were recorded in this Bible.  However, it appears that it belonged to another family first.  There is only one death recorded in it.  Birttie Pettingill, 6PM, March 15, 1877.  When going through the pages I found a rental receipt for "Breath's home" on Front Street which was being rented for one month up to January 30th 1885 for $10 received from Wm Pettingill.  I think it must have meant 1886 since it was dated Dec. 30th 1885.  I haven't been able to make out the signature;  E. Deli***- Agy or Agt.   Bay St. Louis was written in above New Orleans which had been struck through.  There was a William Pettingill born in New Orleans during the general time period.  I suspect there is a connection to that family.

  Name: William Hancock PETTINGILL
  Birth: 13 Jan 1882 in New Orleans, Louisiana

There was also a Breath family in the Gulf Coast area at that time, two men were name Charles.    A Charles Breath married Evelina Victoria Saucier on June 22, 1874 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

From :  BIRTH INFORMATION: RESIDENTS OF HANCOCK COUNTY IN 1917-18
Breath, Charles Alfred born 21 Jan 1874-White-Hancock MS

I found this information on the internet:

According to information from "Old Camellias of the Gulf Coast" by Edwina N. Mogabgab, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi (American Camellia Society Yearbook 1950), Charles A. Breath, Jr. had a home on North Beach in Bay St. Louis.  Mr. Breath's mother, who married Captain William Boardman, brought a young camellia tree from her home at Elmwood Plantation near Bay St. Louis and planted it at the North Beach home in approximately 1880.

According to other internet sites, Elmwood Plantation was a 550 acre cotton plantation with a private residence built in 1762, according to one source (Roosevelt Review) and in the early 1800's according to another (Hancock County Tourism Development Bureau).  The current address of the house is 900 North Shore, Bay St. Louis.

There was a younger Wm. Pettingill who was a preacher and Biblical Scholar/Author who, early in his life, was active with the YMCA.  My grandfather and two of my dad's brothers were charter members of a branch of the Y in Kansas City, MO in the 1920's.  These are a couple of possibilities to explain why my family has this Bible.  Perhaps my great great grandfather, Hiram Bowman, of New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, & Missouri was acquainted with this William Pettingill's family.  Perhaps my grandfather was acquainted with the younger William Pettingill.  I haven't found any possible family blood relationships.

Submitted by Shirley Brungardt
Rayville, MO
shirleyb123@worldnet.att.net