Memorial Day Memories

The Cubbages moved from Pittsburgh to New Providence in 1953. My grandfather's slide collection has many pictures of my father and uncle in the annual Memorial Day parade in New Providence. An earlier post shows my father, Corky, marching in the parade with PAL baseball in 1957.

My uncle, Jeff, is holding the flag on the left in 1954.


My father, Corky in holding the flag and wearing a yellow neckerchief. This is also in 1954 and was their first Memorial Day in New Providence.


This picture was taken in 1955. Uncle Jeff is in the front on the left (by the balloon) and Corky is to the right, behind the boys with the yellow neckerchiefs. We can see the Presbyterian Church in the background.


Fast forward 25 years ...this a picture of me with my siblings and cousins sitting on the curb in New Providence watching the parade in 1980.


We all decorated our bikes and then rode down from my grandparents house to Springfield Avenue to watch the parade. Wonderful memories!

A Trip to Ellis Island

I had the pleasure of being one of the chaperones on my son's class trip to Ellis Island. The sixth graders had been studying immigration and Ellis Island in Social Studies class and in Language Arts class through the novel Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch.

I had been to there many, many years ago (and well before my interest in genealogy) and even though we don't have any ancestors who came through Ellis Island, I was excited for the trip. We left the school very early so that we could be on the first ferry. There were about 160 students and I had 7 boys in my group. As the ferry docked at Ellis Island, we were given a small glimpse of what it was like to arrive there (and more so as we stood in a crowded line in the rain for a return ferry!).


It was clear that the boys had been studying Ellis Island for some time and knew about most of what we saw. We all enjoyed seeing the "treasures from home" and those items that were brought from their homeland. The medical instruments were a bit frightening and they had fun answering some of the Citizenship test questions. We were all impressed by the graffiti left on the walls - names from over 100 years ago.


While not all of the boys were very excited about all of the displays, they all enjoyed our stop in the library (surprising, right?). I paid the $5 for 30 minutes on the computer and they all took a turn looking up their ancestors. Some were even texting their parents to get the names or spellings so they could search for them. It was clear that finding someone related to them was the most exciting part of the day. My son took home the names and is planning to finish searching for them (he is my budding genealogist). It was a tiring but fun day! I am glad that we live so close to Ellis Island and that our children can see and experience what immigration was like for so many people during that time.

Tombstone Tuesday - Christian Linneman

Grandview Cemetery
Monessen, PA

Christian was my great grand uncle and this follows a recent post on his military service. Christian rests near his mother, Elisabeth Nilkowski Linneman, his father, Gerhart, and his brother George in a beautiful plot overlooking the Monogahela River.

Church Record Sunday - The Baptism of Minnie Cubbage

I had contacted my second cousin to see if she had any pictures or genealogical information for the Cubbage family. She sent me a few pictures, plus the Certificate of Baptism of her grandmother Minnie.

This is the transcription:
Minnie Buelah Cubbage
Child of Mr. Charles A. Cubbage
and his wife Maine Cubbage
born at Swissvale, PA
on the tenth day of January 1908
was baptised in the Name of
The Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost
on the thirty-first day of January 1909
by Rev. H C Erdman
Sponsors were [blank]

Baptized in St. John's Lutheran Church
Swissvale, PA

This is wonderful to have because I now have the name of the church that they attended while living in Swissvale. Minnie was the fourth of eight children, so I am hoping there will be more records for the Cubbages.


This is the oldest picture that I have of Minne, which is from her high school yearbook in 1925. Minnie was a Senior at Monessen High School.

Frank F. Speck

My great grandfather, Frank Friedrich Speck, was born today, May 21st in 1887. While Frank's early years are still a mystery to me (I have yet to find anything about him prior to 1915), I have learned much about him through The Daily Independent, the local newspaper in Monessen, PA.

Frank was a proprietor of a moving and storage business in Monessen. He was partners with John Bwash when they owned Marple Transfer. The Specks lived next door to the Marples in 1930, but I do not know the connection between them, other than the company name.


In 1922, there is a notice in the newspaper about the dissolution of their partnership when John Bwash retires. By 1924, the company is known as Speck Transfer and Moving Company.

I also was able to learn a little about Frank from deed records in Westmoreland County. From 1918 to about 1920, Frank (and his wife Elizabeth) bought several homes and/or lots and resold them for a profit, usually within about a year. I believe that they did live in some of these homes, as their address changed quite a bit during these years. Others were bought and sold with a WH Keefer. During this time, Frank worked at the Foundry (Census and Draft Card) and was not yet in the moving business.

Look for another post about Frank's life in the 1930s.

Wordless Wednesday - My Grandparents

Agnes Speck and Art Cubbage
circa 1938

Military Monday - Christian Linneman

Christian (Christ) Linneman was my great grand uncle and served in World War I from July 1918 to January 1919. According to his Record of Burial Place of Veteran from the PA Department of Military Affairs, he was a Private in the Army, 3rd Company 1st Battalion 155 DB.

This is a picture of Christ, probably taken in 1918. It was in a folio with the name B. Krasinski and Monessen, PA inscribed on it, which was probably the photographer. After the war, Christ was active with the VFW and the American Legion Posts in Monessen.

I learned recently from his birth record that Christ was born Christian Fasel and his father died a few months before he was born. His mother Elisabeth then married Gerhard Linnemann. All records I have found for Christian list him as Linneman. Christ never married or had any children and lived in Monessen with his brother Gerhard and mother Elisabeth and later his sister Elizabeth Linneman Speck.

Happy Mother's Day!

Better late than never. Here are a few pictures of the mothers of my family with their children. Happy Mother's Day!

My mother, Brigitte, with her mother, Elise Gegenheimer Haberkern, in Stein Germany, 1945.

My father, Corky, with his brother Jeff and his mother, Agnes Speck Cubbage, in Pittsburgh, 1945.

This is my great-grandmother Elisabeth Linnemann Speck, with either her daughter Agnes (1915) or son Frank (1918), probably in Monessen, PA.

This is my great-grandmother, Maine Swank Cubbage, with her daughters Marian, Marge and Babe, with another woman.

My great-grandmother Elisabeth Nilkowski Linnemann, with her children Christian, Gerhard, George, William and Elisabeth, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 1904.

Wordless Wednesday

This picture was with a bunch of old family photos (click on the image for a larger view). I don't know who this woman is, but I love the picture. The old car is great (and huge - the hood is almost as tall as she is) . I like the Gulf sign in the corner and that she appears to be dressed up. Sadly, we may never know who she is!

Amanuensis Monday - German Marriage Record

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Amanuensis Monday is a daily blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in their life before we knew them. Amanuensis Monday is a popular ongoing series created by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch.

A few weeks a go I posted the Marriage Record for Elisabeth Nilkowski that I received from Germany. Elisabeth is my great-grandmother and was marred to Christian Fasel. He died in 1887 and Elisabeth later married my great-grandfather Gerhard Linnemann.

Many thanks again to Robert for translating this record for me:

No. 195
Gelsenkirchen, 4 November 1886

1. The miner Christian Fasel, personally known, of the Roman Catholic faith, born on 31 December 1860 in Himburg, Disrict of Montabaur, residing in Gelsenkirchen, Kesselstr. 13, son of married couple oven maker Johann Fasel and Maria Margaretha, née Henrich, both deceased, last residing in Himburg, District of Montabaur, and

2. the housemaid Elisabeth Barbara Nilkowski, personally known, of the Roman Catholic faith, born on 15 April 1865 in Alt Muensterberg, District of Marienburg, residing in Gelsenkirchen, Bochumer Str. 28, daughter of married couple laborer Johann Nilkowski and Maria, née Schild, residing in Braunswalde, District of Stuhm,

appeared today before the undersigned Registrar for the purpose of entering into matrimony.

Present as witnesses were:
3. Miner Hermann Strohm, personally known, 23 years of age, residing in Gelsenkirchen, Kesselstr. 13, and
4. Carter Wilhelm Henrich, personally known, 21 years of age, residing in Gelsenkirchen, Hochstr. 46.

In the presence of the witnesses, the Registrar asked the couple individually, one after the other, if they wished to enter into matrimony with each other.

The betrothed answered in the affirmative. The Registrar by the power vested in him by the Civil Code then pronounced the couple man and wife.

[signed -- the signatures of all four]

The Registrar [signature]