I could use help with a European aristocrat family: Wenckheim

Question

Hi! I am working on profiles for close relatives (siblings, spouses of siblings, nephews and nieces, a few grandnephews and grandnieces) of my great-great-grandmother, Hannah Burton Gooden. One of Hannah's nieces, Ellen Frances Gladden Burton, married a count, Count Franz Greve af Wenckheim, and they had a daughter, Antoinette.

I am not knowledgeable about European aristocracy, so could I get some help from someone who is knowledgeable on the subject, to make sure I have gotten the surnames right, and put appropriate categories on the profiles? I believe that the Wenckheim family were nobility in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (which was still a going concern when Antoinette was born. Also, trees on Ancestry and other sites indicate that Franz had two wives (both of whom died) before he married my grandmother's cousin, who maybe should be added (I have left them off because I'm not sure I am not sure of my facts and documentation for these marriages).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Comments

Thanks so much, Matt and J and K! That should be enough for me to update the profiles. (And yes, German as well as Hungarian helps - I know about one word of Hungarian, but can read German easily.)

It will be a couple of days before I have time to do the update properly, but I'll get it done by the end of the week.

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OK, I have filled in facts and sources (and done the surname fix) for von Wenckheim profiles: Ferenc, all three of his wives, and both his daughters, and tagged them as Hungarian nobility and European aristocracy.

Thanks for all your help! If you see any errors, feel free to correct them.

Answer 1

The family appears in Iván Nagy's (apologies for the reversal of the names, Hungarian custom is to put the last name first, but for clarity here I'm using a western European order with the personal name first and the surname second). Magyarország családai, which is to say "Hungarian Families", vol. 11.  This is an early book, however, and although your Franz has been born, he is too young at the time of publication to have been married or had offspring.

Unfortunately I have absolutely zero Hungarian and cannot translate the details about this family.  However, do note that "af Wenckheim" is inaccurate ("af" is a Scandinavian particle, whereas "von" would be more appropriate here).

A quick google also reveals plenty of information about the family, the majority of which is Hungarian, so I think you're spot on with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Apparently there were two branches of the family, a baronial and a comital branch.  Franz great-grandfather was made count in 1802.

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A second source, the journal Turul, has an article in the 1904 issue, pt. 1, called "A SPANYOL KIRÁLYOK MAGYAR VÉREI".  Ferencz (Franz) is listed here as born 1855, and married first 1887 to baroness Klára Radák (1866-1889); he married secondly, 1893, to countess Ilona Forgách (born 1871).  I suppose that they must have divorced or that she died shortly after this journal was published given that he married again in 1905.

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Siebmacher's Wappenbuch, "Der Adel von Ungarn" notes that August Wenck was ennobled by Emperor Rudolf II on the 16th of January 1608, with the name "von Wenckheim".  The brothers József and Xavier-Ferencz were raised to barons on the 18th of December 1776 (apparently as "Wenck von Wenckheim"). József was then raised again, along with his son József, on the 9 April 1802 to become counts (gróf/graf von Wenckheim).

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Apologies for the poor referencing here, but I hope it's enough to go on.  Here's the pedigree from Nágy Iván, Magyarország családai, vol. 11.

Comments

Awesome, Matt!

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They're actually in volume 12: https://www.arcanum.hu/hu/online-kiadvanyok/Nagyivan-nagy-ivan-magyarorszag-csaladai-1/tizenkettedik-kotet-C1EA/wenckheim-csalad-grof-es-baro-C64D/?list=eyJmaWx0ZXJzIjogeyJNVSI6IFsiTkZPX0tPTllfTmFneWl2YW5fMSJdfSwgInF1ZXJ5IjogIndlbmNraGVpbSJ9

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Funeral notice for Ferenc: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6Q8S-RN8?i=358&wc=M6WK-QTL%3A101520601%2C101902101&cc=1542666

Mrs. Count Ferenc Wenckheim born Gladden Burton his wife in her own name as well as that of his/her children: widow Mrs. Count Antal Dobrzensky born Countess Mary Wenckheim, Countess Antoinette Wenckheim, grandchild: Count Antal Dobrzensky, sibling: Mrs. Count Ferenc Seilern-Aspang born Countess Sarolta Wenckheim imperial and royal lady-in-waiting and star-cross lady [Stellatae Crucis Domina] and his/her sisters-in-law, and all of the relatives, announces with heavy heart that her beloved husband
Count Ferenc Wenckheim
imperial and royal chamberlain, permanent member of the former Hungarian upper house, papal chamberlain
passed away quietly in the Lord on August 5th of the current year in Budapest, after a long illness, fortified by the sacraments, at age 84.
His earthly remains will be blessed according to the rites of the Roman Catholic church in Wien, in the chapel of the Hitzing cemetery on August 8th of the current year, and laid to rest in the same cemetery in the family crypt.
Funerary Mass for the deceased's soul will be said in Wien and in Velence (Fejér county).
Budapest, August 5th, 1939.

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Funeral notice for Ferenc's first wife:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6Q8S-GL5?i=359&wc=M6WK-QTL%3A101520601%2C101902101&cc=1542666

Count Ferenc Wenckheim imp. roy. chamberlain, h. roy. home guard-hussar first lieutenant, permanent member of the Hungarian upper house, in his own name as well as that of his daughter Mária Krisztina announces with heavy heart that his beloved spouse, or her mother
Honorable
Mrs. Count Ferenc Wenckheim
born Baroness Klára Radák von Magyarbénye
passed away on Monday, Sep. 9 of the current year, at 7:30 a.m., in the 23rd year of her life, after a long and serious illness.
The dear deceased's earthly remains will be ceremonially blessed on Wednesday, the 11th of the current month at 3 p.m. in Reichenhall and taken on the 12th of the current month to the family crypt in Hietzing for perpetual rest.
Reichenhall, September 9th, 1889.

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Funeral notice for Ferenc's second wife:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6Q8S-VGQ?i=360&wc=M6WK-QTL%3A101520601%2C101902101&cc=1542666

Count Ferenc Wenckheim imp. roy. chamberlain, permanent member of the Hungarian upper house, papal chamberlain, in his own name as well as that of his mother-in-law: widow Mrs. Count József Forgách de Ghymes et Gács born Baroness Sarolta Révay de Szklabina et Blatnicza, as well as his daughter: Mária Krisztina Wenckheim, announces with heavy heart that his beloved spouse, her daughter or her mother
Honorable
Mrs. Count Ferenc Wenckheim
born Baroness Ilona Forgách de Ghymes et Gács
Stellatae Crucis Domina
passed away in the 27th year of her life, after piously partaking of last rites and the blessing of His Holiness the Pope, after a long and serious illness.
Our beloved deceased's cold remains after a quiet blessing will be taken to the castle of Gács, and laid to rest in the family crypt there on Saturday, Oct. 1.
Funerary Masses will be said on Oct. 3 in the patron's churches.
Gleichenberg, Sep. 38, 1898.

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Note that this notice uses anya, while the first wife's uses édesanya. Both translate as "mother", but the longer term strongly implies "biological", while the first doesn't necessarily.

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Basically all of the Wenckheim funeral notices on FS can be connected to the charts in Nagy Iván. Some of them have both German and Hungarian versions, in case that helps. (The only problem is that most of them predate the Englishwoman's marriage into the family, and thus make no mention of her.)

Answer 2

Antoinette has a profile on Leo van de Pas and Ian Fettes's website "Genealogics."  Here is the link to the profile: http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00408370&tree=LEO

This profile cites Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Gräfliche Häuser.