by Laura Freeman

Reporter

Hudson -- Patricia Daum, a 60-year resident, didn't know she was missing a priceless heirloom until a woman from Ellet called to tell her she had the Daum family's Bible.

Daum, 85, answered the call in silence. She didn't even know there was a family Bible, but Eilene Moore had tracked the history of ownership to Daum.

Moore found the 1889 bible at a flea market in Akron nearly 25 years ago with a note inside saying it belonged to a family named Smith that lived near a flower shop in Hudson.

Moore, a geologist and nature photographer, said she had been able to find the owners of old photographers in the past, but the Bible provided a new challenge.

"Sometimes [personal possessions] get out of the family's hands accidentally, and they don't realize it," Moore said.

The 1889 Bible is written in Swedish.

It is 13-inches long, 11-inches wide and 6-inches thick, bound in leather with two buckles, gold-gilded edges and elaborate lithographs.

Moore tried to find the owners, but no one she asked knew of any Smiths near a flower shop in Hudson.

Her search may have ended there, but among the pages in the Bible was a marriage record for Verner Carlson and Minnie Mork, who were married in Stark County in 1895 and a dance card with the name Viola Carlson on it.

"It was a clue," Moore said.

Moore, who had been interested in genealogy since a high school assignment about family history, began to research the family, but at that time census records were difficult to obtain.

The Bible sat in her attic for 25 years until a few months ago when Moore remembered it.

"I know it sounds insane but the Bible was calling to me from the attic -- 'Get me back to my family,'" Moore said.

She began researching the family online. Moore was able to discover that Viola married a man named Cyril Smith.

"Smith," Moore said. "I almost despaired."

Moore was able to find an address for the couple and searched the street in the 1930 census, hoping to find out about any children.

They had a daughter, Patricia, who was 7 years old.

"Patricia would be 85 now," Moore said.

Moore searched death records and discovered Viola had died in 1973 in Hudson. Cyril died in 1984 in Florida.

Moore contacted Gwen Mayer, archivist at the Hudson Library and Historical Society, who suggested she check for an obituary on Viola that might list Patricia's married name.

Moore found the obituary in a local paper.

She called Patricia Smith Daum, listed as the daughter of Viola Carlson Smith and Cyril Smith.

"I think I have your family bible," Moore told her.

Daum admits at first she thought it was a prank call, but the more Moore talked, the more she became convinced the story was real. She agreed to meet.

Moore and her friend, Donna Wurm, president of the Summit County Genealogical Society, took the Bible to Daum's home March 18.

"This Bible has a home now," Moore said.

Daum and her daughter, Susan Daum Watts of Westfield, didn't know how the Bible had been "lost" out of the family.

"I don't know how something like this could be around, and I had no knowledge of it at all," Daum said.

She speculated that after her mother died, her father remarried and may have donated the Bible.

Although Daum said she plans to keep the Bible in the family, she regrets that no one is alive to tell her more about it.

"You look back and think of all the wonderful things you could have known if you'd been more interested," Daum said. "But when you're young, you're more interested in the present than the future or the past. No one is alive to ask questions about this Bible, and it breaks my heart."

The Bible has sparked interest in her Swedish grandparents, Daum said.

"I visited Sweden once, and I didn't even know where they [grandparents] came from," Daum said. "Gwen [Mayer] has offered to help me get started in finding more about them. I think this is the beginning of an adventure."

E-mail: lfreeman@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3150