Sunday, October 16, 2011

Was Grandpa Named Steve Orshoski or Steve S. Schilsky?


















Through the years I had been told that Grandpa Steve and Grandma Emma were married in July of 1925, because their 25th wedding anniversary celebration was the exact month that my parents were married in 1950. Until recently I had not seen a marriage record for my maternal grandparents. While browsing Family Search looking for more data on the Yeager side of my family, I came across a marriage record for Emma Yaeger and Steve S. Schilsky at Family Search in the Michigan Marriages collection. My maternal grandparents were married at Monroe, Michigan.




The bride's name was listed as Emma Yaeger, though her last name was usually spelled Yeager. The groom's name was given as Steve. S. Schilsky!





My maiden name of Orshoski has been pronounced and spelled many different ways, but never as Schilsky! If you close your eyes, and just listen to the two names,

Orshoski

S. Schilsky


they do sound similar, with the "sh" in the middle and the ski/sky at the end. I am unsure as to whether Grandpa gave them incorrect information, or if the clerk at the Monroe County Courthouse made an error.

Further complicating things is the section for the parents' names of the bride and groom. Grandma Emma gave her parents' names as Andrew Yeager and Lena Piehl. However, Grandpa Steve said his parents were George and Thelma Schilsky!






As so often is the case, now I have more questions than answers! I contacted a cousin in Florida, and she had never heard that Grandpa Steve had been adopted, and I hope to obtain Grandpa Steve's birth record from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania soon. On occasion I have heard relatives say that Great Grandpa Joe Orshoski did not want Steve to marry Emma, so maybe that is why Grandpa Steve gave his parents' names as George and Thelma...but I will probably never know for sure! In my heart, I think that Grandpa Steve was born an Orshoski, as that was his name in Census Records, his death record, and on his tombstone.

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