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Bible hunter pieces together history

GREENFIELD, Ohio — Clad in a brown, animal-hide cover spider-webbed with cracks, the Bible gives off a musty smell as Earlene Scott gently leafs through its fragile pages yellowed with age.

The 178-year-old book gives clues about its original owners — not only names and dates of births, deaths and marriages, but also two locks of hair, a handwritten poem and several pressed leaves, possibly from a funeral floral arrangement.

Scott bought the Bible at an auction in this southwestern Ohio town. She finds old Bibles at auctions and estate sales and then — armed with today’s computer-search powers — uses them as treasure maps to track down the modern-day descendants of their original owners.
Read entire article at AP