A Small Marriage Announcement Can Hold Lots of Clues

While researching the Cole family of Catskill, NY, I found this small 1916 news item:

                              COLE – WEIDENFELD

            On Saturday, Sept 30, at the residence of the bride’s aunt, Mrs Howard McIntyre, in Hudson, NY by the Rev Thomas L. Cole, Helen Rosine, daughter of Mrs and the late Edward Weidenfeld, to Mr Thomas Cole, 2d.

Hudson is across the river from Catskill and many families transited the river.The clipping provided some good information and but also created a bit of confusion.

From I learned that:

-       Helen Rosine Weidenfeld married Thomas Cole

-       Her father Edward was deceased, but her mother was living

-       One of her aunts married Howard McIntyre and lived in Hudson NY

-       Rev Thomas L Cole married them

One of the confusing items was the designation of the groom as Thomas Cole, 2^nd.

In the general use of Junior or 2^nd, the father and son shared the same name. In this case however,  the groom’s father was Theodore A. Cole (1838-1928), brother of the Reverend Thomas L. Cole.  THEIR father was the renowned painter and founder of the Hudson River School Thomas Cole (1801-1848). I have occasionally seen this use of 2nd in the 19^th century when skipping a generation. So, keep that in mind if you are looking for a father who does not seem to share his son’s name.

In checking the Hudson NY census records for Howard McIntyre, we find him with his wife Maude (Whittemore, the maternal aunt of the bride) and his unmarried sisters Elizabeth and Matilda over several decades.  Following up on Edward Weidenfeld, I found that he died in NYC four years before his daughter’s marriage. So many individuals were easy to identify based on the clues from this small announcement.