Agatha Burkey Bushu's Bible

Recently I met with Martha Burtschi Cavanaugh, daughter of Eloise Thorpe Burtschi who is the daughter of Myrtle Bushu Thorpe, the sister of my grandfather, Herbert Bushu. Two years ago, Fr. Blaine Burkey mentioned to me in an email that he heard Agatha Burkey had a bible, and he thought one of her daughters's children had it.

Agatha Burkey Bushu had two daughters who were candidates as bible-holders: Ellen Etta and Myrtle. I contacted the names Fr. Burkey supplied and eventually determined that Myrtle had taken possession of her mom's bible, and it was now in the hands of her daughter, Martha. I contacted Martha, who married James Cavanaugh, who said that upon her mother's death, one of Martha's son's had claimed the bible. She said she would try to get it back so I could see it.

A year passed and then I got a voicemail message from Martha saying she had the bible. We made arrangements for me to visit her in Decatur, IL  to photograph the bible.

Of course I made that trip. The bible itself is a stunner, massive with serious metal latches that don't quite keep it closed any longer but are lovely to behold. The bible, with a substantial embossed cross on its cover, is personalized with the names of Francis and Agatha Bushu and the section between the Old and New Testaments contains family records. I took photos of everything and Martha gave me a handwritten note listing persons and dates.

This bible was printed after 1878, when Pope Pious XIII was elected Pope, so the entries for sacraments before that date are not contemporaneous. There was no indication of when the bible  purchased. However, the first eight births listed appear to have been written with the same pen at the same time. But the last birth, that of John in 1888, while with the same hand, seems to be written with a different pen. I'm guessing the bible was purchased between 1885, the date of the last of the similar entries, and 1888, the year of John's birth. But that's a big guess.

At present, Martha's daughter, Judith Cavanaugh Clark, is keeping the bible for her brother. But I took photos of the recorded sacraments and of the bible itself. It was quite humbling yet satisfying to touch the pages that Agatha had written in 140 or so years ago. She bore 9 children, seven of whom survived. And she watched, as we mothers do, as her own children suffered huge losses: Otho's sight, Herbert's wife, Melvin himself. I have no sense of Agatha, but in the bible itself were a ribbon, a receipt for a donation for a memorial to Sr. Bernadine (Gertrude, Francis's sister) and what looks like a "holy card."

Now to me, holy cards (mass cards) were issued when someone died. But this card is smaller than the Mass card I know, and its inscription is in German and French. On the back, in pencil, someone has written "Herbert." I have no idea what it is or what it means. Did they commemorate baptisms with cards? Is this card associated with some sacrament of our grandfather? Or is this a random piece of paper on which someone wrote "Herbert?" Who knows?

I like to imagine Francis and Agatha, the children of immigrants, ordering this bible and, upon its arrival, Agatha carefully inscribing the pages with the important moments of their lives. And I see Agatha sliding into the pages these small remnants of lives lived, people who mattered. Those small acts -- probably incidental in her challenging world -- resonate with me; I don't know her, but I think I'm pleased we share genes.