A group of eight adults and one baby pose with an heirloom Bible in front of a boat in Canada — Left to right: Lex Jones, Maryjoy Harris, Pam Ruschke, Chad Jones, Tanner McKinnon, Casey Jones McKinnon, Gail Semenoff Jones, Terry Jones and Sandra Leavitt. The Peter Latham family and the FamilySearch researchers take a picture at the family Bible hand off meeting in Ainsworth, British Columbia, Canada, at the Jones Boys Boats and Marina family business in 2025.

Provided by Sandra Leavitt for the *Church News*

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.

Read the full story at the Church News.

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