Tombstone Tuesday - Gerhard Linneman

Grandview Cemetery

Monessen, PA

This is the tombstone of my great-great grandfather, Gerhard Linneman. He is buried alongside his wife and two of his children in a plot on a hill overlooking the Monongahela River. I will post more details about his death soon.

Church Record Sunday - Methodist Sunday School

This is my grandmother's Sunday School Certificate from 1924-1925 (click on it for a larger view). Agnes Speck would have been about 9 years old and her family attended the Methodist Church in Monessen, PA. It is signed by her teacher, Mrs. Shutterly. My grandmother was good friends with Eleanor Shutterly, who lived next door to the Speck family on Donner Avenue.

Funeral Card Friday - Charles A. Merz

Charles August Merz was my great-grandmother's (Elizabeth Linneman Speck) second husband. While I am not a descendant of Charles, he was the only grandfather that my father knew, so I have heard many stories about "Pap".

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.