More about that Bible...

Front Cover

The photo in the previous post was from the Breton Family Bible passed down to Mike Breton by his aunt, Ann Ross Breton, the wife of the late Lynn Breton.  The Bible measures 14 1/2 inches long by 11 1/2 inches wide, is 5 1/4 inches thick and weighs 17 pounds!  It's a big load.  With a embossed cover gilt inscribed “John & Margaret Breton,” the Book documents early Breton  relationships, providing clues to events not otherwise known.  The usage of the Americanized "John and Margaret" rather than Jean and Marguerite indicates that it was purchased a while after their arrival in the U.S. There is no publishing date, but the publishers were Virtue and Yorston in New York.  The book can be seen in an early photograph taken in their house in Huron, Dakota Territory so we know it traveled with them as they moved around the country.  In addition to the Marriage page seen in the previous post, there are pages devoted to Births, Deaths, and Miscellaneous.  The earliest writing is probably the work of Marguerite as seen on the Marriage page, but others have made contributions on the later pages.