Frank Speck and Elizabeth Linneman, my great grandparents, were married on January 18, 1915 in Pittsburgh, PA. I found this marriage certificate in with a bunch of old family pictures and memorabilia.
During our trip to Pittsburgh in the fall, we went to the Allegheny County Courthouse and were able to get a copy of their application for a marriage license at the Orphan's Court (click for a larger view). We were very excited to find some great NEW info to help in our research.
The application lists Frank's parents as Peter and Agnes. Frank has been (and still is) my biggest brick wall - I know nothing about him before he shows up in Monessen, PA in 1915 (except that he was born in Germany). His parent's names put a little chip into that brick wall! The application also states that his parents were born in Germany, that his father is deceased and his mother still lives in Germany.
We also found some other new pieces of information from this document: Frank is working as a hotel clerk in Monessen in January of 1915, and Elizabeth (known here as Lizzie) is living in Sprigg, West Virgina. This is helpful because I don't know where the Linneman family went after their arrival from Germany (they also show up in Monessen around 1915).
While the application did confirm some things that I know (Elizabeth's father was a miner and both she and her parents were born in Germany), there were a few contradicting details. Elizabeth's age is listed as 22, but she was born in 1897 which would make her not yet 18 years old (I have her birth certificate). Also, her father is listed as Albert, but my records (including her birth record) show him as Gerhard.
This was with the application and states that they were married at St. Peter's Church in Pittsburgh and it is signed by the Rector. This is also new information about their marriage!
I looked up the church, which was St. Peter's Episcopal Church. Sadly, this beautiful church was torn down in 1986. The next step is to see if the Episcopal Diocese still has the records from this parish.
This newspaper clipping was also found in the family memorabilia and was probably in a Pittsburgh newspaper.
This is a picture of Frank and Elizabeth, probably taken around the time of their marriage or shortly after. My grandmother, Agnes (which we just learned was named after her grandmother) was born later that year, in September of 1915 in Monessen.
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