The Vance Family Bible is one of those cumbersome old tomes meant as a showpiece on a mantle. Its dimensions are 11 x 13 x 4.5″ thick — not something you’d carry along to Church every Sunday. It was presented by Sam Vance to his wife Mary in 1883 and records their wedding date as well as the births of their two sons:
Allen Vance was born Jan 24, 1979
William James Vance was born June 9, 1887
Allen Vance was married Feb 6, 1907 to Emily Priscilla Turner
William Vance was married Dec 10, 1913 to Ellen Agnes Green
Their respective children’s names and birth dates are recorded.
Over the years different bits of information have been entered in the center pages, such as the accidental deaths of Samuel (I’ve posted this earlier) and Allen. This latter info was obviously copied from an obituary published by the Reorganized Latter Day Saints:
Allen Vance was born in 1879 at Molesworth, Ontario; moved to Spy Hill, Sask. in April 1900. Married Emily Turner in 1907. Baptized Jan 9, 1896. Brother Vance was killed Nov 16, 1921 by his threshing outfit being thrown over from some unknown cause, and he was caught under the engine, causing instant death. His mother, wife, and six children are left to mourn. Funeral from Methodist church, sermon by W.B. Richards.
Another entry reads:
Sarah Jane Savage, sister to Samuel Vance, was struck by a locomotive while crossing the track in a buggy and killed instantly.
This information is repeated in a newspaper clipping dated November 26, 1908:
The afternoon train from Kincardine (Ontario) was half an hour late last Friday. An old lady, Mrs Sarah Jane Savage, who was crossing the track in a buggy, was struck by the engine and almost instantly killed. The horse, however, surviving. An inquest is being held.
There are four slips of paper stuck in the center page that say Sam, Mary, Allen, and William were all baptized into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1896. There are also two receipts from Lamoni, Iowa
The one from Dec 31, 1898: Received from Mrs Samuel Vance of Arthur, Ontario, the sum of five dollars as tithing for use and benefit of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The one from October 9, 1898, almost identical, is for $1.
Vance Turner Connect 
Sarah Savage – sister of Sam Vance killed while crossing a train track in a buggy. Interesting clipping: “The afternoon train from Kincardine (Ontario) was half an hour late last Friday.” It is reading that this is an explanation why the train is late, rather than an item about the death of a lady. Are they saying that if this death hadn’t happened, then the train would have been on time? Fortunately, the horse survived.
Allen Vance – his funeral service was in a Methodist church. I assume that there was no Re-organized Latter Day Saints Church built at that time and that church services were held in people’s homes.
Mary Vance gave a $5.00 tithing to her church at the end of 1898. Grandma Jackman used to tithe as well, and her custom was to give 10% of her earnings to the church. I would assume that Mary Vance’s family had an income of $50.00 that fall from farming. (Sam Vance died Oct 29, 1899 and Mary received word of his death the following spring.)
I never thought of it from that angle. Seeing it was in her name, and if she donated $1 in October and $5 at the end of the year, this might also have come from her milk, egg, produce, &/or craft sales. Farm wives often got to keep that while the men kept what came from their labour.