©Copyright 1987

The family Bible has been in the family for well over two hundred years. There is no publication date and the American Bible Association was not able to provide an answer to the question regarding exactly when it was published. The Bible was passed to Mary Jane "Polly" Steele Wysor, when her mother, Rosannah Fannin Steele died in 1860.

At Polly’s death the Bible was passed to her daughter, Serena Cordelia Wysor. Serena Cordelia never married. Upon the death of Serena Cordelia Wysor in 1950, the Bible descended to J. Robert Wysor, who had it in his possession until 1989, when he surprised me on my Birthday, with this very special family treasure. Bob kept the Bible, along with important family documents in a shoe box that looks to be from the 1930s or early 1940s. The Bible was wrapped in dark blue tissue paper to protect it from harmful light. Much mis information has been printed and circulated about this priceless treasure, but no tribute has ever been paid to the Wysor family who protected it and cherished it , as I do today. Thank you, Tazewell County, Virginia cousins for caring.

I wish to say "Thank You" to these two wonderful people who had no children and who will be forgotten in family histories of the Steele families, but they were Steele descendants, much closer in blood line than the majority of us living today.

THANK YOU BOB WYSOR, SYRENA CORDELIA WYSOR AND POLLY STEELE WYSOR for caring enough to preserve this for us. If not for you, many descendants of George and Elizabeth (Ratcliff) Steele would not know who their Steele ancestors were, because the extant records for dates of the children of George and Elizabeth are in this family treasure.

The only extant dates for the children of George and Rosannah ( Fannin) Steele are recorded here, as well as death dates. The next generation is for some of the children of Ralph A. Steele, son of George and Rosannah who was the first Steele settler of Logan County, West Virginia.

There was a later entry in the Bible for Mary J. Ball, the great grand daughter of George and Rosannah.

Apparently the last entry was made by the child of Sharlotty/Charlotty (Steele) Ball, who was presumably the daughter of Samuel Steele (son of George and Rosannah) and his second wife, Sharlotty/Charlotty Steele, the daughter of Richard and Elenor Marlow(e) Steele. The earliest entry in the Bible has the date 17 April, 1774, the date that Richard Steele, the oldest son of George and Elizabeth (Ratcliff) Steele was born.

The last entry was that of Mary Jane Ball, the great grand daughter of George and Rosannah. It is not clear whether she did not know when she was born, or if she made an entry every time she went to visit her great Aunt Polly for whom she was named. There are three dates - 1867, 1868, and 1869. In this genealogy of the Bible, we can see that there were five generations of Steeles represented here. Thank you again Bob Wysor, you had no children of your own, but now you have your place in the Steele Family history. This page is in your honor, my old friend and cousin.

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