Treasure Chest Thursday - Cubbage Family Bible

The blogging prompt "Treasure Chest Thursday" challenges us to write about a family treasure, heirloom or other item that is important to our family. Today I will share the Cubbage Family Bible.

This Bible belonged to my great-great grandparents, James Cubbage and Barbara Black Cubbage who lived in Butler County, PA.

The cover is falling off, but is absolutely beautiful! Inside of the Bible are many family treasures: letters, a few pictures, a lock of hair, some dried flowers, newspaper clippings and obituaries, little cards from Sunday School. Some are clear as to which family member they are from, others are not. The biggest treasures inside of this Bible though, are the handwritten pages.

In between the Old Testament and the New Testament are pages that list marriages, births and deaths. The "Marriages" page is blank, but the "Births" page lists the birth dates for James and Barbara's nine children (transcribed below:
Nancy Cubbage was born October the 28 1853
Sarah Cubbage was born March the 6 1855
George Cubbage was born February the 3 1857
John Cubbage was born September 21 1860
Jacob Cubbage was born May 1 1863
James L Cubbage was born October the 19 1865
Mary ann Cubbage was born February the 8 1868
William H Cubbage was born May 1 1870
August the 3 1873 Charles Cubbage was Born (this entry is in a pen that is different from the other entries).

The next page lists two of the children's deaths:
Nancy Cubbage died January the 14 1854
Mary ann Cubbage died November the 20 1882

The information (and handwriting) in this Bible is such a treasure! I will post more about some of the other items with stories about Cubbage family members.

Happy Birthday Uncle Jeff!

Jeffrey Jay Cubbage

March 28, 1944 - March 26, 2007

This picture was taken in Pittsburgh, PA in 1951.

Happy Annversary Mom & Dad!

March 27, 1965

New Providence Presbyterian Church

New Providence, NJ

Wordless Wednesday

I love this picture. I don't know anything about it, but I love it. I love the car, the dog in the front seat, the expressions on their faces. In the back seat is my great-uncle Frank R. Speck, son of Frank F. and Elizabeth (Linneman) Speck. I would guess that this pictures was taken in the late 1930's or early 1940's.

Military Monday - Art's Discharge from the Navy

This is the last in a recent series of posts about my grandfather's Naval service during World War II. William Arthur (Art) Cubbage received his Honorable Discharge from the US Navy on April 9, 1946, just short of two years from when he was inducted. At the time of his discharge, art was a Yeoman Second Class.


Art's Naval Separation paper's had a wealth of information about him at the time, including his address and occupation, both before and after his service, schooling, and Naval insurance and pay.
Art's wife Agnes went to Norfolk at the time of his discharge. Here are pictures of Art's Naval housing and a picture of Agnes in front of his home during his service.


I love this picture of Agnes and Art (except that his eyes are closed!). I found it in a folder from The Windsor House, a restaurant in Norfolk, VA. The date written on the back of the photo is April 9, 1946 - the date of Art's discharge. I can imagine them enjoying a nice dinner together after being apart for two years.
After his discharge, Art, went to Pittsburgh and then back to Akron, OH with his family. They lived at Hillwood Homes which was housing for Veterans, and Art worked for the Railroad again.

Surname Saturday - Cubbage Reunion 1961

The Cubbage Family had a couple of reunions over the years since they were scattered around in Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Baltimore. In August of 1961, the Cubbage siblings and their families gathered at Art's home in New Providence, NJ. This picture is of all Cubbages, spouses, children and grandchildren.

Charles and Maine (Swank) Cubbage had eight children, but two (Leah and George) died as children. The remaining six children posed for this picture: Lester, Art, and Marge are in the back row and Marian, Minnie, and Babe are in the front row.

The next generation of Cubbages: Corky (son of Art), Marna and Jimmy (children of Minnie) are in the back row. Jeff (son of Art), Kathy (daughter of Marge) and Gene (son of Minnie) are in the front row. Lester's son George was not at the reunion. Marian and Babe never had any children.
Three generations and the first Cubbage grandchild: Minnie with her daughter Marna and her son Richard.

The children of Charles and Maine (Swank) Cubbage:
-Charles Lester "Lester" Cubbage, born 1 Jan 1904, died 4 May 1970
-Marian B. Cubbage, born 31 January 1905, died 8 May 1990
-Leah F. Cubbage, born 1906, died 1920
-Minnie Beulah Cubbage Reabe, born 10 January 1908, died 20 March 1987
-Gladys I. "Babe" Cubbage Martin, born 24 June 1910, died 23 February 1990
-William Arthur "Art" Cubbage, born 31 December 1912, died 5 December 1996
-Margaret "Marge" Cubbage Cenkner, born 11 November 1914, died 16 November 1998
-George S. Cubbage, born 1919, died 25 December 1921

Wednesday's Child - Leah Cubbage

Another blogging prompt used by genealogy bloggers is "Wednesday's Child" to post photos of gravestones of children. While sad, it can ensure they are remembered, and it can give life to the stories of these children (if they are known). My first Wednesday's child is Leah Cubbage. Leah was my grandfather's older sister. She was the third child of Charles and Maine (Swank) Cubbage. Leah was born in 1906 in Swissvale, PA and died in 1920 in Monessen, PA. I don't have (yet) Leah's birth or death dates or cause of death. Family stories passed down are that she fell on the ice and hit her head and that her appendix ruptured. She was survived by her parents and seven siblings between ages 1 and 16. Leah is buried in Braddock Cemetery in North Braddock, PA. It was also known as Old Braddock Cemetery and Russell Cemetery. She is buried alongside of her parents Charles and Maine, her brother George, her uncle William Arthur Speedy, and her first cousin once removed William H. Burd.

Military Monday - US Navy Yeoman Art Cubbage

This is the second post about William Arthur (Art) Cubbage's time spent in the US Navy. After completing Service School Command in 1944, he spent the remainder of his time in the Navy at the Personnel Separation Center at Shelton, Virginia.

Camp Shelton was an armed guard training center , but at the end of World War II it served as a separation center. Art was a Yeoman and most likely worked in the offices at the PSC. I am pretty sure that Art is at the far right on the phone in this picture.


As a Yeoman, Art performed secretarial and clerical work. Yeomen dealt with visitors, telephone calls and incoming mail. They organized files and ordered or distributed supplies. They wrote and typed business and social letters, directives, forms and reports. They also maintained files and service records.

The insignia the uniform of a Yeoman is crossed quills with the nibs down.

In this picture of Art (click for a close-up), you can see the insignia under the Navy eagle. There are a handful of pictures of Art and his friends and fellow Yeomen during his time in the Navy. Only a couple are marked, so we can only guess which are from Training at Great Lakes and when he was a Yeoman in Virginia. One picture is of the Fifth Naval District building, which was at the Norfolk Navy Yard. There are others that are most likely of the Norfolk area.


Art is on the left in both pictures. The woman in the picture to the left and the man in the picture to the right show up in several of Art's Navy pictures. I am guessing that they served together, as they both have Yeoman insignia on their uniforms.





These were probably taken at the Norfolk Navy Yard.























Stay tuned for more about Art's discharge from the Navy.

Fearless Female Friday - Agnes Speck Cubbage

In going through the pictures of my grandfather's time in the Navy during World War II, I often think about how hard it must have been for his wife, Agnes. I am sure that she was thankful that Art stayed stateside during the war and was only stationed in Illinois and Virgina. Art was 31 years old and had two young children, which is probably why he ended up as a Yeoman.

Art was inducted into the Navy in April of 1944, just a few weeks after their second son, Jeff, was born. Art, Agnes, Jeff and older brother Corky (almost 3 years old) were living in Akron. When Art left for Basic Training, Agnes and the boys moved to Pittsburgh to live with her mother and stepfather (Elizabeth and Charles Merz).

I think of what is must have been like for Agnes, with an infant and young boy, her husband away for two years, and living with her mother during a war. D-Day would be just a few months into Art's time of service. It's hard to imagine her life and the uncertainty of that time.

Here are some pictures of Agnes with Corky and Jeff during that time, both probably taken in 1945. I can guess that these were sent to Art while he was in the Navy.

German Birth Records - What I have learned

So now that I have had a chance to look at the German birth records from Gelsenkirchen, as well as the translation of two of them, I found out some things about the Linneman family:

First, on every birth record, all family names are listed as Linnemann (not one "n" but two at the end of the name). The passenger list from their arrival in Baltimore in 1904 also lists them as Linnemann. Most US records for the family are spelled Linneman (with a few misspelled versions like Lannemann, Lineman and Lennaman).

The letter from the Rathaus that came with the birth records listed two other children that had died before they left Germany. Rudolf Linnemann was born on 12 February 1893 and died in 1896 and another Rudolf was born in 1899 and died in 1901.

Most of the birth dates on the children's records are the same with their US records with a couple of exceptions. Wilhelm (William) was born on 20 September 1890, but all us records list his birth date as 20 September 1892. Georg (George) has US records that are just two days off from his actual birth date (May 24 instead of May 22). Elisabeth (Mem) was born on 12 June 1897, but used 11 June 1896 as her birth date in the US.

The birth records also listed their middle names, which were never used on any US records and many family members also used American versions and spellings of their names. Elisabeth Maria became Elizabeth, Wilhelm Julius became William, and Georg Adolf became George. Christian Fasel became Christian Linneman and Gerhard Bernard only used Gerhard.

Most helpful was what I have learned about my great-great grandmother Elisabeth, who was know as Barbara Elizabeth in the US. Before Elisabeth married Gerhard Linnemann, she was married to Christan Fasel. Christan was a coal miner who died on 8 June 1887, less than three months before their son Christan was born. The birth records also list Elisabeth's maiden name - Nilkowski. This name sounds like her family was from eastern Germany, closer to Poland.

Lastly, I learned their religions and occupations. Gerhard was a coal miner, which we knew from when they lived in Monessen. Elisabeth was listed as Catholic on Christian's birth records and Evangelical Lutheran on Elisabeth Maria's record. These religions (as well as addresses that are listed on the records) will be very helpful as I search for more information on the Nilkowski and Linnemann families!