This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Canning
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/XZH.2ACIB/107.203.1
Message Board Post:
Hello, Rich et al,
Well, over a year later, I have found your message! Thanks much. Yes, I've seen the
Rafton concentration in the Yorkshire area. Did they happen to say where in southern
Ireland the name Raften was from?
Anyway, I have found earlier documents for my Rafton Canning, showing that his name was
spelled Raftan at the time of his marriage (1861).
Since Raftan means "go" in Persian or somesuch language, a Google search brings
up tons of websites. But I did find a great stallion named Rafton, one of the famous
original Crabbet line of horses. This Rafton horse is a singular mystery, in that he was
"owned elsewhere" and the assiduous Crabbet historians say there is not even a
picture of him. The fascinating thing is that the lady who began importing the great
Eastern horses at Crabbet Park and developing this epitomally excellent line, did so
exactly at the time that young Rafton Boutrenne Canning, nephew of my gggrandfather
Raftan/Rafton Canning, moved at age 17 to England from France (where he had practically
lived at Chantilly stables, and was totally enamored of great horses), and landed a menial
job at a nice hotel not three miles from Crabbet Park. If that's a coincidence,
it's an amazing one, and if not, there's something quite interesting in this
story.
Kim Salisbury
Long Beach, California