The Marriage of Art and Agnes

So after the questions and jokes about Pop-Pop and Nanny's wedding while we were in Pittsburgh, I did some more searching. We had looked for a marriage license while we were in Greensburg (Westmoreland County) and found nothing, and all we had was this newspaper announcement. It was in the Monsessen Daily Independent on August 31, 1940 and announced the marriage of Arthur Cubbage and Agnes Speck on May 26, 1939 in Connellsville, PA. Connellsvile is about 25 miles from Monessen, and as far as I could find, there was no family in Connellsville. This newspaper article also says that Agnes was given away by her father Frank Speck, who died in April of 1940 ... after the wedding, but before the announcement was made.

The first thing that I found was that Connellsville is in Fayette County (not Westmoreland) so I sent away for a copy of their marriage license. I received a letter back from the County Courthouse that there was no marriage certificate on file for Cubbage and Speck. I then sent a letter to the Wesley Methodist Church in Connellsville. I received a letter from the church that said that Rev Elliot was the pastor from 1935 to 1939, and that although they have a membership book with a section on marriages, there is nothing documented during the years of 1929 through 1944. So there is no official record of their marriage ... just the announcement in the paper.

There are some things that we know and a few other things that I did find. Both of Arthur's parents died less than a year before his marriage to Agnes (Maine died in August of 1938 and Charles died in April of 1939). I did find this in Maine's obituary: "Funeral services ... with Rev. L.S. Elliott, of Connellsville, former pastor of the local Methodist Episcopal church officiating." This is the same pastor that married Arthur and Agnes the following year, which may explain why they went to Connellsville. The last newspaper article that I found was in the May 29, 1939 Uniontown Herald in the Perryopolis section: "Mr. and Mrs. Frank Speck and son Frank, Jr, and Miss Marian Cubbage, all of Monessen spent Friday evening with Miss Ada Buttermore." Perryopolis is about 14 miles from Connellsville and Friday night was the night of the wedding and they were in the annoucement as being in the wedding party. So here is a picture of Art & Agnes on Easter in 1938 ... the closest we have to their wedding date.