Digging Deeper into an 1895 Wedding: Anna R Adam & Frank Kaechle (Fearless Females Day 4)

As part of Women's History Month, Lisa Alzo has created 31 blogging prompts which you can find on her blog, The Accidental Genealogist. If you're participating in the Fearless Females blogging challenge this month, let me know & I"ll hop over & read your posts!

March 4th prompt: Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo, too, if you have one.

Marriage Photo

1895 Wedding Photo - Frank R. Kaechle & Anna Regina Adam - Detroit, Michigan
Photo from my grandmother's collection

On July 17th, 1895, my great grandparents, Frank R. Kaechle (1868-1911) and Francis Regina Adam (1867-1936) were married in Detroit, Michigan. This wedding photo shows them in their formal wedding clothes, including Anna holding her bouquet.

Marriage License

The Detroit Free Press published the following day, July 18th 1895, shows their marriage license as number 18776. It also misspells Anna's last name by adding an "s" to Adam.

Ancestry.com had Frank and Anna's marriage record. They are the second couple on the page: record #18776. It lists the following information:

• Full Name of Bridegroom and Bride and Maiden Name of Bride if a Widow: Frank R. Kachle [sic]; Anna R. Adams [sic]
• Age of Each in Years: 24; 23
• White, Black, Mulatto, Etc.: Wht; " [both white]
• Residence of Each: Detroit M
• Birthplace of Each: Ohio; Mich
• Occupation of Each: Blacksmith; [her occupation is blank]
• Name of Father of Each: Reinhard Kachle [sic]; Frank Adams [sic]
• Maiden Name of Mother of Each: Lena Karlocke [should be Koerback/Korback]; [blank]
• Times Previously Married: [blank]
• Date of Marriage: July 17, 1895
• Place of Marriage: Detroit M
• Name and Official Station of Person by Whom Married: Lee Stauss, Pastor
• Witnesses to Marriage: Chal. [Charles] Doleidon [Daleiden] [probably Amelia's husband - they marry in December of 1896]; Amelia Adams [Anna's sister]
• Residence: Detroit M; Detroit M

While writing this post, I realized it said they were married by a pastor. So, how could I find out what church they belonged to? I turned to Facebook! Within minutes, I had the name of the church were Rev. Leo Stauss was pastor: St. Joseph's German Catholic Church. The person who helped me found it, I think, by searching the 1895 Detroit directory at Ancestry and finding this:

1895 Detroit Directory showing Rev. Leo Stauss as Assistant Pastor at
St. Joseph's (German) Catholic Church

Nice! And, then I able to contact a Detroit researcher who will look up the marriage information on microfilm at the Detroit Public Library.

Lastly, I found a photo of the church where my great grandparents were married in 1895:

St. Joseph (German) Catholic Church, Detroit (image from Wikipedia)