Family bible returned to 93-year-old woman

ATLANTA - As soon as she saw it, Bertha Hamby Roquemore knew that the century-old Bible with its tattered binding was rightfully hers. <br> <br> ``That&#39;s my Daddy&#39;s handwriting,&#39;&#39; Roquemore, 93, excitedly told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday when presented with the leather-bound New Testament, published in 1888. ``The mystery is over.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> In January, the standard-size black Bible - with the name ``Hamby&#39;&#39; printed in silver on its cover and a family tree scribbled inside - turned up at a book drive at Rockdale Hospital. <br> <br> Since then, hospital staffers have been searching for its owner. <br> <br> After an article about the Bible was published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the hospital received more than 100 inquiries from as far away as Alaska and California from people claiming ownership. <br> <br> Only Roquemore could prove it. <br> <br> She knew about personal items tucked inside the book, including a newspaper article about her half brother, Luke, who was mangled in a Covington Mill accident in the early 1900s. <br> <br> Roquemore, who lives in a Marietta assisted-living home, also provided the hospital with a detailed register of births, deaths and weddings that matched those she says were handwritten by her father in the Bible&#39;s cover. <br> <br> ``I&#39;m so happy it ended up in the right place,&#39;&#39; said Kesia Curtis, the physician referral line operator who spotted the book in a collection bin. <br> <br> After Curtis found the Bible, she passed it on to hospital chaplain Steve Austin. He assumed it belonged to Esther Hamby, a patient in his hospital. <br> <br> It wasn&#39;t. Weeks passed before Roquemore&#39;s great-nephew and Hamby family historian Jerry Crawley of Athens heard about the mystery. <br> <br> He thought the Bible belonged to a relative, probably Christopher Columbus Hamby, or his wife, Bertha. <br> <br> Crawley told Roquemore of the Bible, and she immediately made arrangements to pick it up. She said she didn&#39;t know about the Bible until a few months ago and doesn&#39;t know where it&#39;s been all these years. <br> <br> ``The Lord wanted me to have this Bible,&#39;&#39; Roquemore said, ``and I thank God He let me live 93 years to get it back.&#39;&#39;