A long-lost Bible that dates back to the 1800s has been reunited with the descendants of the late Harvey and Catherine Glass, the Bible’s first owners.
The Bible found its way back to their family last month, when it was given to their great-great-great-grandson Dean Schwalbert, 50, of Imperial, who said he plans to pass it on later this year to a cousin.
Twelve years ago, an area church gave the Bible to former Imperial resident Joel Marie Glass, 51, because her last name was the same as Harvey and Katherine’s, whose birthdates were recorded in the Bible, along with their eight children’s birthdates.
“This is not just a handheld Bible. It is a 13 1/2-pound, huge family Bible and it is very old,” said Glass, who now lives in St. Louis.
She said she quickly realized the Bible did not belong to her family.
“The dates and the names just didn’t line up with any of the research that we’ve done in our family that goes back pretty extensively,” she said.
So Glass started her journey to find the rightful owners.
She said she spent “year after year after year of digging through tons of research into this family” to try to find them.
She said she quickly realized the Bible did not belong to her family.
“The dates and the names just didn’t line up with any of the research that we’ve done in our family that goes back pretty extensively,” she said.
So Glass started her journey to find the rightful owners.
She said she spent “year after year after year of digging through tons of research into this family” to try to find them.
“I had talked about it to just about anybody who would listen,” Glass said. “I had put it on Facebook, hoping that it would go viral.”
Her brother, Bob Glass, 58, of Farmington, joined the search this year and Googled Schwalbert’s late grandmother Dorothy’s name, which is noted in the Bible, and found an obituary that listed her married name as Schwalbert.
Joel and Bob Glass reached out on Facebook to a person whose last name is Schwalbert, and she ended up being Dean Schwalbert’s ex-wife.
She then pointed them in the direction of Schwalbert’s mother, Adrienne Bernsen, 73, of Imperial.
“(Bernsen) exchanged some pictures with us,” Joel Marie Glass said.
Glass said she knew “immediately” she had found the right family after talking with Bernsen about her family’s history.
Glass said she got the Bible after a man moved into a St. Louis County-area apartment and found the Bible left behind.
“He didn’t have the heart to throw it away,” she said.
The man turned over the Bible to the church that ended up giving it to Glass.
She said the search for the Bible’s owner has been an “emotional” one.
“It’s been in my living room, very well taken care of every year,” she said.
Glass said the Bible contains a lot of family mementos, including locks of hair, letters and notes about family events.
“There is some greenery, almost like from a funeral or something,” she said.
Harvey’s birthday, April 12, 1834, is the first notation written in the Bible, and Catherine’s birthday, June 5, 1839, was listed next.
Glass said the dates they died were not listed in the Bible.
One note written in the Bible from Sept. 28, 1956, indicates that someone named Elmer Hussen called to share she had walked for the first time in 11 years after being confined to a wheelchair.
Other notes detailed marriage dates and death dates of friends and family members.
Turning over the Bible
Glass said it was “surreal” to turn over the Bible to Schwalbert because she had worked so hard to find the right family.
“I wanted to make sure they were going to appreciate it, and they definitely do,” she said.
Schwalbert, a 1989 Fox High School graduate, said he was shocked to see how big the Bible was.
“I guess the first thought was how old it was,” he added.
Schwalbert said he found many familiar names written in the Bible, including his grandmother Dorothy’s.
Glass said she enjoyed watching Schwalbert perusing the names.
“When he started looking through it and seeing his grandma’s name, I think it really started to sink in,” Glass said.
Schwalbert said right now he is displaying the Bible on his mantel. He plans to turn it over to his cousin, Linda Weber Brabec, who lives in West Virginia. She used to have the Bible, and her daughter accidentally left it behind in her old apartment in St. Louis County.
Bernsen said the family has been searching for the Bible ever since.
She said Brabec started crying when she learned the Bible had been found.
“What a journey that the Bible has been on,” Bernsen said.
Brabec will be in town for a wedding in December, and the Bible will be returned to her then.
Glass said she misses seeing the Bible, but she’s happy it’s being reunited with its owner.
In another strange twist of fate, Schwalbert and the Glasses said they learned the two families had a connection beyond the Bible. They had grown up about 2 miles from each other in Imperial. Schwalbert previously lived on East Rock Creek Road, and the Glasses lived on Glass Lane, which is off East Rock Creek.