From Mrs Ethel Jewel at Marsh Bank, Holsworthy, Devon, to Lewis Court.
She was very interested in the letter which appeared in the M R of 24th March regarding Court's collection of Bible Christian manuscripts. She has a number of items including the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th volumes of the Bible Christian magazines, giving William O'Bryan's account of the rise of the Connexion. It would be a joy for her to discover if the 1st volume was still extant as all her enquiries trying to trace it have so far proved fruitless.
She will send Court a list of what she has, and she would very much like a copy of Court's list in due course.
Jewel has always had a most affectionate regard for the old Bible Christian Connexion. There is no particular reason for it, except that her grandfather owned the copy of the old magazine (volumes 2 and 3 bound together) and in early childhood she can remember him reading from it. In later years she was given the book, and it became the first item in a collection which she amassed over the years. It is difficult to explain as all her family roots were in the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion, and it was left to her own children's time before a link with the Bible Christians was forged - her second daughter married a grandson of [William Blake] Lark.
The second volume mentioned above, belonged originally to [Thomas Charles] Jacob, with whom she had a very interesting correspondence in the last years of his life. She had sent enquiries through various Devon and Cornwall newspapers for any books or papers belonging to the old Bible Christian Connexion. Jacob replied, and after his death his widow sent her some items which he had owned relating to the Connexion.
Jewel has a number of copies of the magazine both bound and unbound. Jacob had previously sent her the second volume. She was always very interested in the fact that William O'Bryan had copied the frontispiece of the old Wesleyan Methodist Magazine for his own publication and also included various items from the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine.
Also enclosed is a list of Bible Christian books and other publications in the possession of Ethel Jewel.
Notes .
- Thomas Charles Jacob entered the Bible Christian ministry in 1876 and served for nearly forty years in home circuits. He resigned from the ministry in 1915. Source: Beckeriegge