Notes of Births, Marriages and Deaths

   On April 6, 1886 Belle's sister Mary Bernice, died "after a long and painful illness."  Her obituary and the obituary of her infant son Edwin Clyde Pierce, who had died November 17, 1883, were glued together and pinned into the family bible. 

Obituaries of Edwin Clyde Pierce, 1883,
and Mary Bernice Tisdale Pierce, 1886.

Mary Bernice Tisdale Pierce c1870

Mary Tisdale married William Talbot Pierce on January 16, 1877. They had five children: Ruth, William, Mary Catherine, Lillie May, and Edwin Clyde. William died in infancy and Edwin died before he was 18 months old.

They were two of the many deaths in the family between 1875 and 1890.  Besides dozens of obituaries the old bible also held many yellowed newspaper clippings, telegrams, and handwritten notes with cryptic clues to family births, deaths and marriages. 

Perhaps it was during this time that Belle became interested in recording her family history. There were certainly many events to record.

In this note pinned to one of the pages she noted each of her children's births. It's interesting to see that she wrote after Belle's birth "She will be our last."