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ArchivesCan't find this name anywhere
According to my Grandmother there was a tradition in our family to name the oldest son Raftan. I can't find a reference to it or to any obvious spelling variations anywhere. I don't suppose anyone has heard of it before or knows anywhere not usually linked that I might look. I might restart the tradition if I can find some reference to it. It's possibly eastern european jewish as family tradition also has it that our roots lie there.
Cheers
Cronk
Cheers
Cronk
1
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According to pdom.com, there is probably no one in the U.S. with this name. I did a search for it, and the only things that came up were rafting companies and foreign language sights. Is your family from Eastern Europe? That's what the languages looked like. I'd suggest that your next step be looking through lots of birth/death records. Social security sites have archives for that.
meghan
meghan
1
There was this social security website where you could type in your first and last name and find out how many people have that first name, last name, and combination. That would be a good starting point, I think. I'll see if I can find it.
meghan
meghan
1
Oops, my name isn't actually Raftan btw.
1
Hi, everyone at http://www.behindthename.com/messages/37068.html,
My ancestor's name was Raftan Canning, born around 1832, either in England or France. The spelling with the -an ending, not -on, is clearly on his marriage record in 1862, but by later that year, it was being spelled Rafton. He was married in Paris, to Mary Anne O'Connor, teacher, who was somehow affiliated with the court of Napoleon III. I've always wondered how he "scored" such a well-connected bride.
There is quite a mystery about Rafton Canning. No one EVER mentioned his name in the family, even among his children and grandchildren. He had 3 sons, all born in Paris during the years of the American Civil War. All 3 sons became distinguished: one a Canadian mounted policeman and internationally-acclaimed photographer of the wilds of Canada; one the Secretary of Cleveland Iron and Forge; one a notary and accountant. Yet none of Rafton's sons saw to it that the name Rafton, as being their father, was put on their own death records. One said, "Father: Unknown." One said, "Father: George Canning." One said, "Father: Davidson" (his mother's second husband). The last son even changed his name away from Canning, to "Rafton-Canning."
The middle son, my great grandfather, George Canning of Cleveland, had no photo of his father, but did have a photo of a serious young man wearing a sort of bow tie, on the back of which George wrote: "One of my uncles, who my mother often said looks so much like my father that this photo could be taken as a photo of my father Rafton Canning."
I think it is possible that Rafton Canning did not exist, that he was actually the same man as his brother, Botrinne Canning.
My ancestor's name was Raftan Canning, born around 1832, either in England or France. The spelling with the -an ending, not -on, is clearly on his marriage record in 1862, but by later that year, it was being spelled Rafton. He was married in Paris, to Mary Anne O'Connor, teacher, who was somehow affiliated with the court of Napoleon III. I've always wondered how he "scored" such a well-connected bride.
There is quite a mystery about Rafton Canning. No one EVER mentioned his name in the family, even among his children and grandchildren. He had 3 sons, all born in Paris during the years of the American Civil War. All 3 sons became distinguished: one a Canadian mounted policeman and internationally-acclaimed photographer of the wilds of Canada; one the Secretary of Cleveland Iron and Forge; one a notary and accountant. Yet none of Rafton's sons saw to it that the name Rafton, as being their father, was put on their own death records. One said, "Father: Unknown." One said, "Father: George Canning." One said, "Father: Davidson" (his mother's second husband). The last son even changed his name away from Canning, to "Rafton-Canning."
The middle son, my great grandfather, George Canning of Cleveland, had no photo of his father, but did have a photo of a serious young man wearing a sort of bow tie, on the back of which George wrote: "One of my uncles, who my mother often said looks so much like my father that this photo could be taken as a photo of my father Rafton Canning."
I think it is possible that Rafton Canning did not exist, that he was actually the same man as his brother, Botrinne Canning.
1