My Genealogy Hound

FRANK R. SPECK, the well-known superintendent of the Goodyear Department of the Lindner Shoe Company, Carlisle, is a native-born son of Cumberland county, having been born in North East street. Carlisle, May 13, 1861, son of Daniel and Maria (Kuhn) Speck, of Franklin county, Pa., and Germany, respectively.

Daniel Speck was born in the town of Roxbury, Franklin county, in 1824, and from his early boyhood was trained to the arduous duties of a farmer’s life. In young manhood he settled at Carlisle, where he carried on farming, but for the last nineteen years of his life he was engaged in the bottling business. He was a soldier in the Mexican war, and during his service came near dying with the dread yellow fever, an enemy to the soldier as much to be dreaded as the bullet of a foe. During the Civil war he served as a private, being given the responsible position of wagon master. He was married in Carlisle to Maria Kuhn, who was born in Germany in 1826, and was brought by her parents to America, when she was but six years of age. Daniel Speck died in 1898, preceded by his wife, who passed away in 1891. They were the parents of ten children, namely: Christian; Miss Mary; Maj. William, of Carlisle; John, who went to Arizona when he was seventeen, and has since remained there; George, who died in Texas in 1902; Adelia, deceased; Frank R.; Sarah, wife of Charles W. Kaufman, of Carlisle; Charles, of Carlisle; and Fullerton, of the same city.

Frank R. Speck has made his home in Carlisle all his life. He received his education in the public schools, attending until he had reached the age of fifteen, when he began to assist in his own support by doing whatever he could find to do. He continued in this way until he was twenty-two, when he entered the lasting department of the shoe factory of G. W. Neidich & Co., where he applied himself industriously to mastering that trade. He remained with that firm (which is now known as the Carlisle Shoe Company) until July, 1891. For the last two years he was in the employ of that firm he was superintendent of the lasting department. He then became superintendent of the Lindner Shoe Company, a position he continues to fill to the present time to the very great satisfaction of the members of the firm. From a small beginning Mr. Speck has, by his own industry and fidelity, risen to the top round in the profession he has chosen. His success is due to no one but himself, and is the natural reward of honest worth.

Fraternally Mr. Speck is a Mason, belonging to Cumberland Star Lodge, No. 197, and is a past officer in all the Masonic bodies. He also belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He is past chancellor of the K. of P.; past grand of the I. O. O. F.; first exalted ruler of Lodge No. 578, B. P. O. E., Carlisle; and is a member of the P. O. S. of A., and of the Maccabees. His religious connection is with the Reformed Church. In his political views he is a stanch Republican. His first vote was cast for James G. Blaine for President, and he has never swerved in his Allegiance to the party. He is very patriotic, and believes it to be the duty of every good citizen of the country to take an active interest in the various movements that affect, or seem to affect, the nation’s welfare. He is thoroughly posted on all public questions, and while rather reticent about expressing his opinions, is able to maintain them with logical arguments when once expressed. For seventeen years he served in the Eighth Regiment, P. N. G., and rose to the rank of Battalion sergeant-major. His life has been an upright one, and in the city where it has been passed and his every deed known he is held in high esteem.