Fearless Females: Day 4–Marriage Records

March is National Women’s History Month and +Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has presented the genealogical community with 31-derful writing prompts to encourage us to share our female ancestors.

Albert and Myrtie were married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 24, 1929. The service was likely performed at Bethany Reformed Church and was conducted by the Rev. Gustaf A. Hauck.


Al had been a member of the church since his baptism there in 1918; Myrtie was raised in South Carolina and attended a Methodist church there. Bethany’s congregation was primarily German, and since services were performed in German it’s likely that their wedding was as well. Grandpop’s family spoke German and English in the home but it’s likely that Grandmother didn’t know any German at all – her family was composed of primarily German-Swiss immigrants, but they had been in America for nearly 200 years – old timers compared to the immigration of Grandpop’s family in the 1850s.

My family doesn’t have any photographs of Grandpop and Grandmother’s wedding but we do have pictures from their 50th wedding anniversary in 1979.

Fearless Females Day 3 - Names

March is National Women’s History Month and +Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has presented the genealogical community with 31-derful writing prompts to encourage us to share our female ancestors.

(I’m being fearless myself for posting this – love you, mom!)

I was named after my mother, and it’s something I always hated – well, that and the fact that I actually go by my middle name. Those two things have always been an inconvenience. If they phone rang and it was for “Linda” I always had to ask “Which one?” I never felt like I was “me” – I even had her department store credit card show up on my credit report (a card she opened the year I was born). Then there was the picture she had taken of me as an infant with this cute little hat on to see how much I looked like her.

But years have passed and I am decidedly my own person now. And I don’t mind the name so much anymore – in fact I named my own daughter “Melinda” in honor of my mother (and kind of in a humorous way because she is “Me, Linda”). Melinda also shares my maternal grandmother’s first name (she went by her middle name also) – Anne (well, grandmama’s first name was Annie, but close enough!).