Update on the Bible of Thomas Bolles: I sent a request for help deciphering the early handwritten entries to the curator of the rare books collection at West Michigan University. It was shown to several specialists and they were able to decipher a partial transcription, which in context with the known history, makes perfect sense, and we can get the gist of what is being said.
So, lets take the upper portion first. Remember that spelling had not been standardized and that in the 17th century spellings were phonetic and there were letters and abbreviations that are no longer used today.
At the top we have clearly, "Tho Bolles His Bokk". There is no date, so it wasn't clear at first if this was Thomas Bolles 1576-1635 or grandson Thomas Bolles 1644-1727 inscribing the book twice, with differing spellings of Book and Bokk.
Now we know that the line below it says "That som (or Son) Sayest givves of s---igence Ld." What you need to know here is that "Ld." is the old abbreviation for "Lord" used in the 17th century. So loosely translated, this appears to say "Tho Bolles that son says (or some say) given of significant lord."
This would make sense since Thomas Bolles 1576-1635 was "landed gentry" in England, owner of a large estate in Osberton, Nottingham England and in his second marriage, married Mary Wytham who later became a barontess and heir to her father's estate. Upon Thomas' death, his lands and Osberton Hall passed unexpectedly his younger son Joseph Bolles. Joseph had moved to New England and was the father of the later Thomas Bolles (b.1644). Joseph decided to remain in America and sold the estate. Mary Wytham Bolles survived her husband Thomas (b.1576) and went on to live at Heath Hall (her fathers home) and is rumored to haunt it today. The clear inscription on a nearby page of the bible that says "Mary Bolles Her Booke" may be Mary Wytham Bolles wife of Thomas or Mary Howell Bolles wife of Joseph. Both survived their husbands and the book apparently didn't pass to the younger Thomas Bolles (1644-1727) until 1696 and this date does not match any death dates for Thomas or Joseph.
Moving down to the lower portion, reading around the text that says "Tho Bolles his Book 1696" written by Thomas Bolles 1644-1727 we have this:
"John (B?) (stricken out)"
"John (or Folow?) ----- good his ----
God gives him grase -----
fond so loke"
John Bolles is the son of Thomas Bolles (1644-1727). He was the sole survivor of a terrible axe murder.
A sixteen-year-old boy in the settlement where they lived in New London CT named John Stoddard, came asking John's mother (1696 Thomas' wife) for something and she refused him, knowing that he was a troublemaker. He went and got an axe, came in and struck her in the head as she was sitting by the bed holding her baby John. John Stoddard then went out and killed her two children who were playing outside at the time. For whatever reason, John Stoddard spared the baby John, who was found clinging to his mother. (It is a sobering thing to realize that an entire family line, not only me, but hundreds of people, all hinged upon that moment when a disturbed teenager stood over a baby with a blood-soaked axe and decided not to kill him!)
When baby John grew up, he felt very strongly that his life had been spared for a reason and he had a purpose in life to fulfill and he became intensely religious. He joined a religious movement called the Rogerenes that believed in living life by the Old Testament. This group would go to other churches and disrupt their services, so consequently, John spent a fair amount of time incarcerated for his activities. So I think the lower inscription is John Bolles, talking about God giving him grace, having spared his life.
So there we have it. Not precise transcriptions I'm afraid, but I think we can understand the gist of what our early ancestors were saying.
