Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-10-27
Che family Circle.
A Look into our Old Family Register.
BY UNCLE NED.

The family register is usually kept in
the Bible anil it is interesting to read
But the register that am writing about
is not between the Old and New Tesla
ments. 1t is near the beginning of the
Bible And it is the most interesting fam
The oldest and will be the longest pre-
served
1t is singular that it gives no names Of
the mothers and daughters and seldom
gives the name of more than one son in Il
family There must have been some spr
cial reason for mentioning only father and
one son by name III a family. and conin
ung so partial for about 1888 years.
And what old people. Here are the
names of ten men in one chapter.and seven
of these lived to be over nine hundred
wears old. and another one has never died
When Enoch was born there had been only
one mans funeral in the line of his own
par, ntage Seth. the son of Adam, Enoch'>
grandf.thrr's great grandfather. did no
die till Enoch WIS twenty years old Peo-
Pile did not need written histories in those
lays. Enoch's father and four GRANDPA
Tiers could tell him all aAybody knew.
Adam and Eve had probably told Seth
md their other children AL about the gar
den of Eden. and Adam lived to tell the
story thousands of times to his children
.,,J ~, Ia, ,rr,nJ al, ,,r,, =, ,.l,;l,lr.p AMI
with So mrny generations living at the
same time ana all living SO long, there
would be no chance to alter the story after
it was once told.
Think of four men, Adlm,' Calnan.
Methnsclah and Shcnl, whose ages aggrc-
gated 34O9 years. whose lives spanaed
3lO9 years, including eleven generations
of men and coming down to a time tiv,-
hundred years after the flood. And tw"
other men, Ebcr and Serug. SPAWNED the
time 726 years, from a date twenty-nnc
years before the death of Sheen to the fifty
first year of the lite Of Abraham. Abra-
ham belonged to the twcnly-tirst genera
ton of men. but in point of history onlp
fire generations intervenel between Adam
and Abraham.
Abrah,m's father died at o05 years of
are , and we have no record in the Bibl,.
md probably not elsewhere Of any person
since Tcrah who exceeded two hunIrcu
Years of life on the earth. Human life
wa, much shortened in the time of Abr,-
ham. He died forty years after his father
death, and though the Bible tells Of no
man before whose life WAS so short. Vet it
does say of Abraham At Us years that he
.'.licd in good old age, an old man and
full Of years.
In this old family register we have the
only historical dates for several thousand
years The chronology of human history
until one thousand years after the flood is
preserved only in this record Of births,
deaths and ages of father and son.
A wonderful thing is written in this old
document 1t is said of all but one he
lived he died" but Of one it is written
he was not for God took him." He
was lust renlored from this world to the
:. Fathers house" of many mansions. :"
The world had but one grave yard thcn-
ut least there were but few graves. Per-
haps men were beginning to doubt and
questi' about the future. 1t may be that
a translation was the way to reveal knowl :
eeee of the world to cOme-the life that is
to be
And this "Enoch walked with God -
a volume of 365 years in four roras.
Was Enoch holier than any other man
that has lived? Cannot any person today