I possess a book that belonged to Elizabeth Sweet Briggs VanScoter (my great great grandmother) and her son Frank Miles VanScoter (my great grandfather).

Read more about Elizabeth Sweet Briggs VanScoter here. She is on the right in this photo (cabinet card), likely taken in the 1870s.

Below are their two children, Frank and Eva, and this photo is from 1872-1875, going by the fact that Frank looks in the range of 12-15 years, and Eva looks 15-17 years.

Since these photos were taken in a similar time frame, you may think the parents look a bit old to have teenagers? Merritt and Elizabeth married late in life, when he was almost 50, and she was 37. When Frank was born, Merritt was almost 54 and Elizabeth was 41. Therefore if Frank was 12 and Eva 15 in the photo, Merritt was 66 and Elizabeth was 53. I think they look about those ages in their above photo.

But the book! The book I possess was published in 1849 and is entitled:

Proverbial Philosophy, a Book of Thoughts and Arguments by Martin Tupper.

Elizabeth Sweet Briggs signed her name to the book along with the date of August 2, 1854 or 1859. Since she married Merritt in 1855, I think the date is 1854 since she signs it Briggs. The name and date is fading and getting hard to read.

She apparently passed the book to her son Frank (my great grandfather) or he acquired it when they died, and he signed his name to it also: Frank VanScoter and the year 1892. His signature is still clear and readable.

Here is a photo of Frank VanScoter when he was 33 years old in 1893, about the same time he signed the book.

It ended up with Frank’s daughter Leota, who was my grandmother. Then on to my father, and now I have it. It is mildewy, not surprising for such an old book which was unfortunately stored in a basement for a long time. I’ve taken measures to keep it preserved now as well as possible.

I’m glad they signed their names and date to the book as it gives it personal significance for me. I have other photos and items that belonged to Frank, and there will be more posts to come.

Finally, here is a photo of myself holding the book.