A group of strangers met in the parking lot of a family-owned business, Jones Boys Boats, to give a gift that was at least 150 years overdue — the Latham family Bible. This Bible had traded countless hands as it journeyed from Great Britain to Canada in order to be reunited with the descendants.
The return of the family Bible marked the end of a three-year hunt that started in Scotland and ended in a British Columbia FamilySearch Library. Many researchers, hours and prayers went into this hunt for the Latham family descendants — all driven by the Holy Ghost and the call to gather Israel, say the researchers.
An impressive start
Latter-day Saint James Peden moved into a house in 1978 in Wigan, England, and found the Latham Bible. After 45 years of keeping it safe, Peden gave it to his friend and fellow ward member, William Dunbar from Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 2022.
Dunbar had a reputation of doing exceptional family history work after he helped transcribe the journals of Alexander Wright, a Latter-day Saint missionary who assisted the first emigration of Scottish Saints in 1840.
“I was impressed that the Bible had been kept safe for a reason,” Dunbar said about the research process. He started with the last family name mentioned in the Bible — Peter Latham, born in 1850, of Ormskirk, Lancashire, England — and researched between shifts as an ordinance worker at the Preston England Temple.
Added Dunbar: “I was inspired to find the direct descendant and often felt the guidance of the Holy Ghost during the research process.”
The unwavering search
Dunbar described a couple of moments where he would dream about the next step in his research. He tracked down many gravesites in England — leaving behind notes for descendants to reach out to him.
The search stopped short with Peter Latham’s daughter, Ann Latham, emigrating to Canada with her husband, Harry Walmsley Jones, somewhere between 1912 and 1915.
“Even when faced with negative conclusions, I had faith that Jesus Christ was in control,” Dunbar said. He contacted a FamilySearch library in Osoyoos, British Columbia, and sent them all the information to continue his research.
A monumental handoff
The volunteers at the FamilySearch library took on the challenge with “great excitement,” Sandra Leavitt said in an article from the Church’s Canada Area website. Pam Ruschke found the Latham descendants within two days of receiving the information.
The key to it all was using the information from FamilySearch and the Jones Boys Boats website. Peter Latham’s descendants had started a boating business in Ainsworth, British Columbia. This family had shared their story on the website, which Ruschke used to double-check that her information was correct.
She reached out to Chad Jones, the great-great-grandson of Peter Latham, who told her his father and uncle would be anxious to receive the Bible.
The reverent reunion
Leavitt reported that the meeting with the Peter Latham descendants was filled with gratitude and reverence. Dunbar joined via FaceTime and said it was “an emotional give away.”
Three Latham generations came to the meeting — brothers Terry and Lex Jones, Lex Jones’ kids Chad and Casey, and Casey’s baby, Tanner. The family was rewarded not only with the family Bible with handwritten notes from ancestors but also with a binder full of Ruschke and Dunbar’s findings dating back seven generations.
“We didn’t need to travel to find our family; they came to us,” Casey Jones McKinnon said at the event.
A takeaway
“Is there anything more important than families and the human connection?” Leavitt asked. “Why does finding out about our ancestors touch our heartstrings so profoundly?”
Leavitt equated it back to the importance of gathering Israel that President Russell M. Nelson has talked about.
The first thing Dunbar checked when he received the Bible from Peden was if the temple work had been done. When he realized it had, he knew that the only thing left to do was to connect the ancestors back to their descendants.
