HYLAND-FINKEN BRICK WALL(S)
I have for many, many years tried to determine the actual relationship between Catherine Teresa Finken (b. 1907, d. 1958) and Anna Hyland (Solari b. 1873, d. 1937) as described in the following, undated and unidentified, newspaper clipping but I’m guessing it could be The Ridgefield Press (see “The Wedding Story” below, titled so by me, Dawn von Weisenstein.)
The Wedding Story
“A pretty wedding took place at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Ridgefield, Conn., on Friday morning, June 12, when Miss Catherine Finken, daughter of John H. Finken, of New York City and North Salem, became the bride of Mr. William VonWeisinstein, (sic) son of Mrs. Anna VonWeisinstein (sic), of New York City. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Richard E. Shortell, of Ridgefield.
The bride wore a gown of pink silk chiffon and net with a hat to correspond and carried a bouquet of cream Roses. Miss Claire Lippmann of New York City, a cousin of the groom, was her maid of honor and only attendant. Her gown was of pink flowered chiffon with hat to match, she carried a bouquet of pink roses. George T. Finken of Richmond Hill, N.Y., brother of the bride, performed the duties of best man.
Following the ceremony a wedding breakfast was served to the bridal party and seventeen guests at the home of the bride's aunt, Mrs. Anna Hyland Solari, of North Salem, where the bride's father, Mr.Finken, and the groom's mother, Mrs. Von Weisinstein, (sic) are spending the summer. The bride received many handsome and useful gifts. Late in the afternoon Mr. and Mrs. VonWeisinstein (sic) departed for a short wedding trip. Upon their return they will reside New York City.”
The marriage certificate for Catherine Finken and William von Weisenstein is dated June 12, 1931 and the wedding took place at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Ridgefield, Ct. In the newspaper clipping about the wedding, Anna Hyland Solari is referred to as the bride’s (Catherine Finken’s) aunt. Yet I can find no blood relationship between the two.
The following is what I know:
The father of Catherine Finken von Weisenstein, (John H. Finken b. 19 April 1876 NY, d. 8 June, 1947 Bronx, New York), had one sister, Bertha (b. NY) who never married. His mother was Susan Blitz, born about 1834 in Germany and I have no other information about her.
The mother of Catherine Finken (Sarah E. Tormey, b. July 1869, New Haven, CT) had one brother, John and two sisters, Mary A and Kate. Their mother’s maternal line is McGlaughlin. Thus, there seems to be no apparent Hyland connection to Catherine Finken (von Weisenstein) by marriage or blood line, at least that I have been able to discern. Yet these Hylands, (all born in Westchester County NY) and the von Weisensteins, born in Bronx, NY seemed to have a very close relationship.
Anna Hyland and her brother Thomas (along with their assorted siblings) were the children of Thomas Joseph Hyland and Ellen Lynch of North Salem, Westchester County NY. Madeline Lynch who was the daughter of Cornelius Lynch and Mary Ellen Regan (of Ridgefield CT) lived with Ellen (Lynch) and Thomas Joseph Hyland. Madeline Lynch was listed as his niece (though I believe Madeline was actually Ellen Lynch’s niece) in the 1900 North Salem, NY census following the death of Madeline’s mother in 1896 (according to a death notice in the Ridgefield newspaper.) Madeline continued living in Westchester County NY with Anna Hyland, listed as her cousin, after Anna’s parents had died. Thus it seems that Ellen Lynch and Cornelius Lynch were siblings (or maybe cousins as there is a 21 year age gap) though I have not been able to document that relationship in any way!
Anna Hyland’s brother, Thomas (m. Christine Gunn aka. Dunn) had one daughter, Eleanor Elizabeth Hyland (b. 1917, d. 10 Sept., 1983 (in Ridgefield CT); m. John Anderson. They lived at 3 LaFayette Street and had no children.) William von Weisenstein (Catherine Finken’s husband,) had no sisters and was the father of my husband, John von Weisenstein (b. 1933.) My husband, John, remembers many, many, many trips to Ridgefield CT for visits with Thomas and Christine Hyland and Eleanor (nee Hyland) and John Anderson. But he has no idea what the relationship between the two families was.
John and his father, William, took me (Dawn Jordan von Weisenstein) to Ridgefield CT to have a meal with Thomas and Christine Hyland and Eleanor (Hyland) and John Anderson during our first trip (in October 1961) to New York after our marriage in June of that year. This was even before I was taken for a meal with my father in law’s relatives on Rockaway Beach Long Island. In the early 60s, Eleanor Hyland Anderson and her husband, John, visited John vonW and me once in Huntsville, AL where we lived at the time. I’ve said all this, to say that my husband has no recollection as to what the actual relationship was between the two families. Unfortunately, I was too young and too dumb to ask at the time.
Just FYI, I have documentation in the form of death certificates, marriage certificates and/or Census records for all of the above except linking Ellen and Cornelius Lynch as siblings on my Hyland Tree on Ancestry.com. I have some doubts of this because on the census Ellen states she was born in Ireland and Cornelius says he was born in New York. Plus Ellen is 21 years older than Cornelius. I created the Hyland Tree on Ancestry hoping to connect with someone in an attempt to figure out this relationship (that Anna Hyland was the aunt of Catherine Finken von Weisenstein) between the Hylands and the von Weisensteins.