Early Owners of an Eliot Algonquian Bible

The following post is by Andrew Gaudio, Classics, Medieval Studies, Linguistics specialist in the Researcher Engagement & General Collections Division and currently on detail in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

 

The first Bible printed in British America was not printed in English. Puritan missionary, John Eliot (1604 – 1690), with the help of local, Indigenous linguists translated the entire Bible into the Wampanoag, or Massachusett language, which is a dialect of Algonquian. First printed in 1663 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the work became the first complete Bible printed in the Western hemisphere. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division has three copies of the Eliot Algonquian Bible (also referred to as the Eliot Indian Bible, and the Massachusett Bible): one copy is the first edition from 1663, and two copies are the second edition that was printed in 1685. Upon superficial inspection, the Library’s copy of first edition does not appear to have any connection to the local history of the Washington DC suburbs in Maryland; however, a closer examination of the historic inscriptions within book reveal its ties to the city of Gaithersburg in Montgomery County, Maryland. 

The Gaither family was prominent in the Middle Atlantic region from the 17^th-19^th centuries. Their origins in America began with John Gaither I (1599-1652) who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in the 1620s. As we shall see, one of his descendants was Benjamin Gaither (1764-1838) of whom Gaithersburg is the namesake. John Gaither I married Joan Morley and had one daughter Elizabeth Gaither, born in 1632 and one son John Gaither II (1635-1702). Before his death in 1652, John Gaither I migrated to Anne Arundel County, Maryland with his son John Gaither II, thereby planting the roots of the Gaither family in Maryland.

John Gaither II had eight children with his wife Ruth among whom was Benjamin Gaither (1682-1741) who married Sarah Burgess (1690-1769). The couple had 14 children including Henry Gaither (1724-1783). Henry married Martha Ridgely (1730-1798) and had four children. Benjamin Gaither (1764-1838) was one of the four and the person from whom the city of Gaithersburg takes its name.

Having drawn up a rough outline of the Gaither family, let us take a look at the inscriptions in the Eliot Algonquian Bible and contextualize the names listed therein.

On the back of the title page for the New Testament there is a list of names of various members of the Gaither family. These include:

Rachel Gaither Daughter of John Gaither and Ruth his Wife was born April 19^th 1687.
Rachel Tucker Daughter of Richard Tucker and Susanna his Wife was born October the 6 in the year 1744.
Susanna Daughter of the above said was born 29^th of October year 1746.
Elisabeth Tucker Daughter of the above said was born October the 31 1748.
Richard Tucker son of the above said was born May the 21 in the year 1750.
Rebeacker Daughter of the abovesaid [was] born august the 20 in the year 1753.

On another page in the book (shown below) are more inscriptions stating: “David Whittle the son of John Whittle and Rachele his Wife was Born in the year of our lord and savour [sic] July 4^th 1760.”

Who are these people and how do they all relate to the Gaither family? How did the city of Gaithersburg derive its name from someone in this family? The family tree depicted below will answer these questions.

The names of the people recorded in this Bible are indicated in red. They all descend from Rachel Gaither, granddaughter of John Gaither I, the progenitor of the Gaither family in America. These inscriptions show that the Eliot Indian Bible was owned by the Gaither family and was held in Maryland since the family had settled in Anne Arundel County in the middle of the 17th century.

On the right side of the family tree is the name Benjamin Gaither (1764-1838) whose great-aunt was Rachel Gaither. He is the one from whom the city of Gaithersburg was named, even though he was not the first to settle in the region. Beginning in the early 18^th century, land patents for hundreds of acres were issued to wealthy planters while there was a concurrent increase in the number of farmers and woodsmen coming to the area to cultivate corn and tobacco.

The area that came to be known as the city of Gaithersburg stands centrally between the city of Frederick, founded in 1745 northwest of Montgomery County, and Georgetown. Due to its placement halfway between these two fledgling cities, the Gaithersburg area saw its fair share of travelers going back and forth between those locales. This strategic position led to an increase of settlers. As the region became more populated in the latter part of the 18^th century, various names were employed to refer to this new town. Early names included Log Town, Forest Oak (a name which can still be seen in the names of buildings in the city today), and Germansburgh—even though at that time there were only a handful of German families living there.

Sometime in the late eighteenth century, Benjamin Gaither made his way to the area. His wife Margaret Brookes inherited 229 acres in an area known as Deer Park and in 1802 he built their home on the property. He also established a tavern, a general store, and a blacksmith shop on his land. He became a distinguished resident and soon afterwards the surrounding environs came to be known as Gaithersburg. In the 19^th century, the name Gaithersburg competed with the aforementioned names, but it was Gaithersburg which eventually won the day. On April 5, 1878 Gaithersburg was incorporated as a city by the Maryland General Assembly.

The red arrow superimposed on the 1879 map of the city (shown below) points to the general site where Benjamin Gaither built his house and established his businesses. The present-day location is in the Old Town neighborhood near the intersection of MD 355 and East/West Diamond Avenue and is close to the Gaithersburg train station and train tracks.

At this point we leave the city of Gaithersburg and the Gaither family behind and return to the Eliot Algonquian Bible. Sometime between the life of David Whittle – born in 1760 and the last family member listed in the Bible – and 1873 the Bible ended up in the possession of James Hammond Trumbull (1821 – 1897), a scholar of Native American languages and the first librarian of the State of Connecticut.

This Bible was instrumental for Trumbull in his works on Algonquian languages. He published numerous books on the subject including The Composition of Indian Geographical Names, Natick dictionary : a New England Indian Lexicon, Indian Names of Places in Connecticut. When or for what amount Trumbull acquired the Bible, or whether it passed through the hands of others between the Gaither family and James Trumbull is not known. Yet, on May 3, 1873, Ainsworth Rand Spofford, the sixth Librarian of Congress purchased it from Trumbull for the sum of $800.

In the Library of Congress Archives, a collection of records created by the Library of Congress in the course of its operations, activities, and initiatives held by the Manuscript Division, there are records in the hand of Spofford himself showing the purchase of the Bible from J. H. Trumbull for the aforementioned price. The pertinent records have been marked in red boxes.

Thus ends the journey of this copy of the Eliot Algonquian Bible from its printing in Cambridge, Massachusetts to its acquisition by a Maryland family with later connections to Gaithersburg, then by a Connecticut librarian and scholar, and, finally, by the Library of Congress in 1873, which has been its home ever since.

 

Sources and Further Reading:

Doty, Eva (1986). Descendants of John and Susanna (Johnson) Gaither. Self-published.

City of Gaithersburg (1978). Gaithersburg, the Heart of Montgomery County : a History Commemorating Gaithersburg’s Charter Centennial. Gaithersburg.

Hysom, John (1991). Gaither. Hercules, CA. Self-published.

Scharf, Thomas (1882). History of western Maryland : being a history of Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett counties from the earliest period to the present day; including biographical sketches of their representative men. Philadelphia. L. H. Everts.

 

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