Andy Smith has been quietly going about the work of helping to reconnect people with their old family Bibles, for more than a decade.
The Laker/Lutz News first profiled Smith and his unusual hobby three years ago, which led to feature stories about him broadcast on two local television stations.
The coverage resulted in people coming forward to ask the northern Hillsborough County man to help them reconnect Bibles — that had come into their possession — with descendants of the original owners.
Since The Laker/Lutz News story was published on July 27, 2016, Smith estimates he has helped reunite more than 100 old Bibles with family members.
The buyers of those Bibles lived in such places as Alabama, California, Florida, Colorado, Indiana, New York, Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas, Texas, Maryland, Illinois, Washington, Arizona, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Ohio, Smith said.
And, the family origins in the Bibles he has tracked down include places such as Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee, New York, Indiana, Texas, Maryland, Iowa, Delaware, Ireland, England and Scotland.
“The greatest separation in generations was a man in Vero Beach who purchased a Bible that belonged to Daniel Layton and wife, Jane Vorhees – the man’s seventh great-grandparents,” Smith said. “Remarkably, he was able to purchase the Bible for just $15, which is far less than the selling price for most of these Bibles.”
Typically, the prices for family Bibles on eBay range from about $50 to $350, or more, Smith said.
Smith, who spent decades working as a newspaper professional, noted that his personal interest in old family Bibles stems in part from the Bible he inherited from his grandmother.
The sacred book originally had belonged to his great-great-grandparents, dating back to the 1870s, he said. Pages within the book help tell the story of his family.
After receiving the family heirloom, he decided to see what he could find out about his ancestors, and the more he delved into it, the more fascinated he became.
Smith came to realize how much can be lost, when a Bible is separated from its family.
So, he decided to see what he could do to help reconnect families with Bibles that were somehow, over time, disconnected from them.
Smith devotes a portion of his spare time tracking down Bibles on eBay — with some dating back to the 1700s.
He records names and dates from the Bible’s registry pages and then searches for potential matches on family trees listed on Ancestry.com.
When he finds one, he reaches out — sending an email. It goes something like: “Greetings. No, we’re not related, but I’ve come across something that I think might be of interest to you.”
Then he shares the information that he copied from the registry pages.
He makes it clear that he doesn’t own the Bible and doesn’t know the person selling it. He merely acts as conduit, passing along information that may be useful to the recipient.
It’s entirely up to them, if they want to pursue the lead, he said.
His primary goal is to help families salvage information that, in some cases, may not be available anywhere else.
For instance, families typically were larger in previous generations, and there also were more childhood deaths from disease, he said. So, it’s possible that younger children whose names were recorded in the Bible, were never recorded in a census because they were born after one census was taken and died before the next one came along.
Smith said he doesn’t make a dime from his pastime, but enjoys the gratification that comes from helping make a connection.
“The responses that I get are so cool,” he said.
“It’s not how many people respond — it’s that one response that you get. You can just tell how much it means,” Smith said.
If you’d like to reach out to see if Smith can help you reconnect a family Bible, email him at .
Published September 04, 2019
