Prayer book finds way home after 150 years

BEAUFORT, S.C., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Two brothers in Utah say they returned a prayer book their great-grandfather found more than 150 years ago to its rightful owner in Beaufort, S.C.

Tom Chidsey and his brother, Stephen, of Sandy, Utah, said their great-grandfather, Charles, found the Episcopal prayer book while burying dead soldiers following a Civil War battle near Sharpsburg, Md., The Salt Lake Tribune said Monday.

A dead Confederate soldier was carrying the book, which was embossed with the name Mary Gibbs Barnwell.

As the prayer book stayed in the Chidsey family for more than 15 decades, the family tried to locate the book's true owner.

Stephen Chidsey finally tracked the Barnwell name to South Carolina and was able to find a viable owner after working with a historian and religious leader there.

Bob Barrett, the family historian for the Barnwell family, said his correspondence with Chidsey led to the return of the Civil War memory to the South Carolina family.

"It was kind of hands across the divide after a century and a half," he told the Tribune. "It was touching and impressive."