Family Bibles First on everyone's list of family or home sources is the traditional family Bible. Many, if not most, immigrant families had a family Bible, and they dutifully recorded many family events in it. However, the greatest problem with most family Bibles, including those of immigrants, is that places were seldom recorded, although dates and names are always listed. Be cautious in reading any handwritten information. Immigrants from northern Europe (as opposed to Britain or southern Europe) used a much different handwriting style that may be difficult to read. Some letters are easily confused for other letters. You may need to find someone familiar with the old handwriting to insure you read any place names correctly. In the absence of places in an immigrant's family Bible, note the publication place. While this certainly does not indicate the city where the immigrant lived, if it was published in a foreign country (and particularly a foreign language), it is still a clue. Sometimes there is a notation regarding the bookseller, which is a better indication of a town near where they lived. Always consider the publication date in evaluating the information. If the Bible was published after the immigrant left the home country, he may have obtained it in America, despite it being published overseas.