Local volunteer looking for owners of family bible and family heritage book found at Bismarck thrift shop

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - We first introduced you to LeAna Hug earlier this week as she spent her day volunteering, picking up and dropping off food to help people in need.

Now, she is on a new mission to help the community, this time by reuniting local families with lost heirlooms.

Every Wednesday, Hug volunteers at Seeds of Hope Thrift Store in Bismarck, organizing and adding donated books to the shelves.

The other day, while going through donations, she found a family bible dating back to 1944.

“It says in front Mabel and Kenneth, February 19th, 1944. And further in it says Kenneth L. Erickson and Mabel E. Short. They got married at First Methodist in Williston, North Dakota,” said Hug.

Hug is now looking for a member of the family so she can return it to its rightful owners.

“They’re our past, you know, my parents are gone, my husband’s gone. I wouldn’t want that stuff thrown away,” said Hug.

This week, Hug used Facebook to locate the family of another lost bible. She put up this post with the family information written inside and asked her followers to share the post.

“A friend of mine from Napoleon who is in Mesa, Arizona for the winter, saw it researched, it, found the family. They contacted me and I was able to return that family Bible and the Memorial book to one of their daughters,” said Hug.

So you may be wondering, how did the family bible end up at seeds of hope?

“They were donating boxes. She said lots and lots of stuff and it just got in there accidentally,” said Hug.

Now, Hug is hoping to reunite another family with their family heritage book.

“There’s a page in here. It lists the Conlan family, Blaine, Wells Conlan Grant, Jeremy Mason, Dean Carter, Lewis Cable, Jonathan Paul Conlan, all living in South Dakota,” said Hug. “It’s a history of this family and we would love to find the home for it. We don’t want to throw it out. Somebody took the time to write the whole ancestry of these, of these two people.”

Hug is just hoping the bible finds its rightful home so the families can have a treasured piece of their past, as they move into the future.

If you have any information on who the family bible or family heritage book may belong to, please contact Seeds of Hope at (701) 222-8895.

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