Goodwill Reunites Family With 1812 Heirloom Bible

A centuries-old heirloom Bible has found its way back into family hands thanks to a dedicated Goodwill employee. After the 1812 Bible, originally published in England, turned up in a box of donations at a Denver location, Goodwill's Chief People Officer Joyce Schlose knew she had to track down the rightful owners. A genealogy enthusiast herself, her only clue was the Bible's inscription: the names and birth and death dates of two people who lived in the 1800s, "Wm Burbidge" and "Grace Ann Burbidge," inscribed in an elegant black script, KUSA reports.

Schlose took her search online and traced the family back to a Burbidge descendant living in London, and that relative then contacted his brother, Roy Evans, of New Jersey. Though Evans hasn't a clue how a family Bible made its way from England to a Denver Goodwill store, "Our great, great grandfather was the nephew of William Burbidge, born in 1812," he says. "I intend to take good care of it for future generations." Click to read about another unusual thrift store donation: a big bag of pot. (More uplifting news stories.)