ahnentafels By Dick Eastman  Ancestor Table
 

 

    MYTHS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CAHN NAME 


 

Lavinia Lotten Cahn, Grandmother

We are checking out the family myths:
  • That the mother of Lavinia Lotten was married three times.  (Recorded in the marriage book in Donaldsonville, LA:  Lena Robinson married Jackson Francis on July 19, 1883 - Also see Certificate of Marriage of Henry Cahn and Lavinia Frances on Sept. 28, 1886.)
  • Lawrence Lotten was Lavinia's brother
  • French was the language spoken by Lavinia.
  • Anna (Von) Lotten married William Gibson in 1889. Thereafter, all Negroes with Von Lotten blood in Donaldsonville became known as Lotten without the Von.  (Marriage license obtained from Clerk's Office in Donaldsonville, LA verifying marriage between William Gibson and Annie Lotin on April 24, 1889.) 
  •  
We have set a date to visit the African country most likely to be of origin.  This is a detail of Elizabeth's ancestor chart. 

Ahnentafel is actually a German word that literally translates as "ancestor table". It is a list of all known ancestors of an individual and includes the full name of each ancestor as well as dates and places of birth, marriage and death whenever possible. It also has a strict numbering scheme. Once the reader is accustomed to ahnentafels, it becomes very easy to read these lists, move up and down from parent to child and back again, etc. The numbering scheme is the key to it all.

Elaine Johnson:  A source for chart coding. 

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