This afternoon I received a delightful phone call from Ellie Johnson in Las Vegas. She has been the family member in possession of the Elizabeth Degen Bushman Bible for many years. This last week she attended the BYU Education Week. After learning that the Church Archives in Salt Lake were not interested in housing the Elizabeth Degen’s Bible (they don’t have room to archive family Bibles), she approached the BYU Library Special Collections. When they learned that Elizabeth Degen Bushman was a midwife in Lehi, delivering more than 300 babies, they were interested.
Ellie is now 91 years old and has graciously decided to find a safe and permanent home for the family Bible where all family members can have access to it. Here is the information she sent to me today:
The picture above is of Gregory Seppi accepting the Elizabeth Degen Bushman Bible from Eleanor Law Johnson to be placed in BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS!
19 August 2026
The other picture is Eleanor (Ellie) Johnson with two daughters, Ruth Elizabeth Johnson Mummey on left and Jean Lenore Johnson Clark on right! I’m holding Elizabeth Degen Bible!
My husband, Charles Wm. Johnson, was called on mission to East Germany. A Bushman relative had Elizabeth’s Bible which was all in German! He thought it would be nice for Charles to have it! That’s how the Degen Bible came into our hands!
He stamped his name in it and took it with him to the East German Mission in 1951! He studied and taught the gospel to the German contacts!
The Bible has been in our possession since that time!
It’s a great blessing to me and my family that it is now in the hands of the church and BYU where it will be available for all the Bushman family to see and handle! I felt their presence as I handed over the Bible and could feel their happiness. There were tears!
God bless dear Elizabeth, one day she will have her Bible again!
Love to all the Bushman’s and
Descendants!
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It thrills me to see family heirlooms preserved and made available to family members. This was a real act of love from Ellie. I’m grateful to her for keeping the Bible safe.
There are some photos of Ellie showing this family heirloom Bible at our 2018 Bushman Family Reunion.
A Bushman Family Reunion
About Ann Laemmlen Lewis
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