More than a decade ago, I came across an archived newsletter in which a person named Cula Katzky  indicated that she was in possession of a “Yerks” family bible with several dates in it. She was not a Yerks family member and was seeking to return it to someone in the family.

The newsletter was titled “SOMEBODY’S LINKS NEWSLETTER: Genealogical Treasures Found” and was published on September 23, 2000.

“I have two Bibles with a small amount of family history in them. One is dated circa 1838 and has a marriage date, seven birth dates, and three death dates of the William YERKS family, of New York, I think. “

SOMEBODY’S LINKS NEWSLETTER: Genealogical Treasures Found

There was an email address for Cula, so I decided to try to contact her to see if she still had it.  I knew that it would be a longshot, because the posting was close to a decade old.  Sure enough, an immediate error message for the earthlink mail server confirmed my suspicions that the email address was no longer be valid.  Googling Cula’s unusual name din’t help me discover any alternate email addresses or contact info.

Close to two years passed by since my original attempt to track down Cula.   But last week, Cula’s name appeared on an LDS website in California.  So I emailed the webmaster of the site and explained my situation.  I was hoping that the webmaster may know how to contact Cula.  

Sure enough, several weeks after my email, a representative from the web site emailed me back and told me that she had contacted Cula about my request.  Cula told her to give me her phone number so that I could call and give her my shipping address.  I immediately called Cula who lived in California.  She was very pleasant and nice.  We spoke for several minutes. She promised to send the Bible to me just as soon as she finds it.   I offered to pay the shipping charges, but she insisted it was not necessary.

A week or so later, the Bible arrived. I immediately dug in and did some research. I discovered that the people mentioned in the Bible descend from John Yerks Jr,, the man who organized that scouting party that captured Major Andre. William E Yerks was a BIG lumber merchant and well-known Yonkers business man.

If I ever discover any living decendants of the family, I will be happy to pass it on to them.

I believe Kula may have passed away since my interaction with her, but I will be eternally grateful for her effort in returning it to someone in the family.