BAXTER SEMINARY
Titanic Bible
-BAXTER TENNESSEE-
Titanic Bible
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The Titanic Bible
 All Roads Lead to Baxter is actually true for many things. One of those things, which is very interesting, is that the single Bible known to have survived the 1912 sinking of the Titanic was for many years housed and displayed at Baxter Seminary in Baxter, Tennessee! It was on display in the library with no physical handling allowed by students, faculty, nor guests.
At the conclusion of a trip back to England he planned to accompany his sister-in-law, Mrs. Ada Ball, to the U.S. He obtained 2nd class passage on the maiden voyage of the Titanic to New York. On April 14, 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg and the unsinkable ship was doing the unthinkable by actually sinking. The lack of an adequate number of lifeboats for an unsinkable ship was not thought to be a problem at that time. That proved to be disastrous as over 1,500 people lost their lives in the cold waters of the North Atlantic after the Titanic went down. The lack of timely action coupled with the poor communications available at the time sealed the fate of those who could not get into a lifeboat. As the lifeboats were filling up and assuming that his sister-in-law had already found and boarded one, Rev. Bateman secured an available seat on a lifeboat. Looking around he saw that she was still onboard the Titanic. He arranged with the crewman on the lifeboat to swap places with her and he left to retrieve her. Arriving back at the lifeboat with Ada he handed his Bible to her and asked that she take it to his wife, Emily, who was Ada's sister. He then returned to the ship. Some say that he was the one who asked the band to play "Nearer My Go To Thee". They did so and reportedly played it until the last possible moment, the sinking of the ship. Mrs. Ada Ball did survive and was taken to the U.S. Some time later she did give Mr. Bateman's bible to her sister.
Mrs. Bated at some point moved to Baltimore. She became ill and shortly before she died she summoned an acquaintance to
come and see her. That acquaintance was Harry L. Upperman, who would shortly become the President of Baxter Seminary.
He went to see her and she presented him with her husband's bible. There was a hand written inscription on the end-page
giving the book to Mr. Upperman and a brief account of her husband's actions just before the Titanic sank taking Rev. Bateman
to his death.
In 1923, Harry L. Upperman moved to Baxter, Tennessee and became the President of Baxter Seminary. They Bateman or Titanic Bible was placed on display there with little to no fanfare and was in the library at least through the mid 1960's. It was later acquired by The Upper Room in Nashville, Tennessee. The Upper Room has loaned the Bible to both the The Titanic Museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and the Titanic Museum in Bransford, Missouri. The Titanic Bible is actually the Emphatic Dialott which is a copy of the New Testament in Greek with a side by side English translation.
Click on any photo to see larger images PHOTOS
Read more: The Bible that Survived the Titanic Knoxville Pastor Dies in Titanic Disaster The Bateman Bible at Baxter Seminary* Putnam County Connection to the Titanic Jacksonville's Titanic Hero Bateman
* The Titanic & The Bateman Bible, transcribed from the April 11, 1940 Putnam County Herald by
AJLambert at www.ajlambert.com
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