The first reference to the Hancock Bible, that has been so much discussed, was made by Professor William Preston Johnston (1831-1899) in his book 'The Johnstons of Salisbury.' Johnson was a Colonel in the Conferderate Army during the Civil War and served on the staff of Jefferson Davis. After the war, he was a professor at Washington and Lee until November, 1880 when he became president of LSU. When Tulane was founded in 1884, he became its first president. He published a number of scholarly works in addition to his own family history, which included Hancock connections. The "Bible" received further publicity when J. Rives Childs published his genealogical research in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography beginning in 1925. Childs was a native of Lynchburg, VA and a graduate of Randolph-Macon College in 1912. He earned a graduate degree from Harvard in 1915. He served for 30 years in the American Foreign Service, during which he published an enormous volume of writings on a variety of subjects. The works of J. Rives Childs are housed in a Special Collections area at Randolph-Macon College. The Bible in question is that of Simon Hancock (1717-1791) who married Jane Flournoy. It is often referred to as the Simon Hancock-Jane Flournoy Bible - but J. Rives Childs referred to it as the Hancock-Brown-Childs Bible. There can be no doubt that this Bible existed and that it was accurately quoted by Johnston and Childs. It is unfortunate that it can no longer be located by the librarian at Randolph-Macon. In January of this year I was in Washington for the inauguration of President Bush. The next day I drove down to Asheland, VA to visit the library and to try to determine what may have become of the Bible. It was not my day. It was between semesters. The library was closed and the campus was nearly deserted. Finally, I want to say "many thanks" to all of you who have sent me birthday greetings. This one was a big one. The Bible (Psalm 90) says: "The days of our years are threescore and ten; and if by reason of strength they become fourscore years, yet is their strenght labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." That's the Old King James Version. A more modern version says: "Seventy years is all we have - eighty if we are strong; yet all they bring is trouble and sorrow; life is soon over, and we are gone." Some consider seventy years to be a life sentence on this planet. If so, I have served my time. 'Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.' I have been trying hard to retire from the genealogy business. Thanks to many of you, I'm not having much success. Love and Blessings, Arvil