seeking the straus family

We know very little about Pauline Kahn. She died in 1886 at only 32. Her biography page details what we do know and we’d now like to progress the enquiry with a little more vigour.

To help, we need to trace a different line: the Straus family in the USA.

According to the USA census report of 1880 for Manhattan, New York (district unknown) the family Straus comprised father born in Bavaria, mother born in France and two young children. On the same entry, living with the family, is a Pauline Kahn, described as single, born 1854 in France and having a French mother. Unfortunately, we have no more data.

This could be our Pauline, Victor’s daughter. She appears in the UK census of 1861 as a child, is missing from the 1871 UK census and reappears again in April 1881 age 27. One explanation for the gap is that she could have been abroad in April 1871 when the census took place. For some reason, UK census reports deliberately omit family members not at home on the relevant date, although they are perhaps away for only a couple of nights. Thus, our Pauline perhaps slipped the net.

Was she visiting in the USA when the census of 1880 was taken?

Who are the Straus family?  Could Mother Straus be a relative of Pauline’s own maman Mathilde (or as she often appears Madeline) Cahen?

This Pauline could well be an entirely different Kahn, but we’d at least like to be able to eliminate her from our enquiries. If anyone can help, we’d be eternally grateful and will happily reciprocate with information about own tribe. Does anyone have access to the full census report for this family?

Please email: contactus@kahngene.org.uk. Thank you.

philip brown kahn

Philip Brown Kahn’s page has been added to the ‘biographies’ tab. Please take a look. Comments are invited. If you have anything to add, please e-mail: contactus@kahngene.org.uk

kahn by name

I now (believe I) have a clearer understanding of the derivation of the Kahn name.

The Cohens were an ancient Jewish tribe of priests, believed to be descendants of Aaron and entrusted by God with certain sacred rites within temples. Other tribes were, for example, Levy and Israel. Membership of the tribe came through the male line only, contrary to Jewishness which is passed down through the maternal line.

Hebrew has no vowels in the alphabet. Instead, vowels are indicated by accents or dots or small lines below the letter. Thus Cohen is written in Hebrew: kaf-hei-nun (although written right to left) translating to c-h-n.

To allow names to be written and understood in a non-Hebrew language, vowels replace the dashes, giving us Kahn, Kuhn or Kohn, as well as Cahen and Kahan. In fact, they are all variations of the same root name – Cohen.

In theory, all Kahns are descendants of the Kohanim, the priests. The Jewish priest is not to be confused with a rabbi. They complement each other. A rabbi is not required to be a kohein and a kohein can be a rabbi. The two religious roles perform different ritualistic functions within the Jewish faith.

Kohein graves often bear the symbols of the ‘blessing hands.’

This insight was courtesy of GB of cemeteryscribes.com. If you haven’t already, please take a look at this excellent website: www.cemeteryscribes.com

gaston bernard kahn

We’ve just uploaded a new page with a short history of G B Kahn.

Please take a look by clicking on the ‘biographies’ tab. All (no – most) comments welcome.

emily (emelia) victor kahn

We have posted a page for Emily Victor Kahn under biographies. Please take a look.

leslie victor kahn-rein

We’ve just uploaded a page on Charles Kahn’s first surviving son. Please click on the page under the ‘biographies’ tab.

fraternities and brotherhoods

At least three generations of Kahns embraced freemasonry.

As far as we’ve discovered so far, Victor Kahn was the first to join. He became a member of St. John’s Lodge No. 461 (Liverpool) in 1862. On the Grand Lodge certificate he signed his name as Kahnn and described himself as an interpreter, born in ‘Luxemberg, Germany.’ According to our researches, he remained a member until only 1868 when he apparently resigned.

Victor’s three surviving sons all followed in father’s initial footsteps.

Charles Jasmine Kahn was initiated into Willing Lodge No. 2893 (London) on 1^st May 1902. He was passed on 17^th July 1902 and raised on 11^th September 1902. Then he gave his age as 44 and described himself as an optician residing at 108 The Strand, London. In 1911 he became Master of the lodge and he resigned freemasonry in 1924, a year before his death.

Arthur Kahn was initiated into Samson Lodge No. 1668 (London) on 11^th February 1896, passed on 12^th March and raised 12^th May of the same year. Then his address address was given as 19 Ludgate Hill, London EC and his employment as optician. On 24^th November 1902, Arthur joined also the Joppa Chapter No. 188 (London) and was ‘First Principal’ in 1907, 1908, 1913 and 1915, then ‘Scribe E’ from 1919 until his death in 1925. He was also awarded the LGCR, but we don’t know when or what it is. Perhaps some kind Freemason will enlighten us?

Gaston Victor Kahn joined the Egerton Lodge (Egremont, Liverpool) in 1898. Then he was describing himself as an oculist living in New Brighton, Lancashire. He resigned this lodge in September 1901, presumably when he moved to London. Like his brother Arthur, Gaston joined the Joppa Chapter  No. 188 on 24^th November 1902 and in 1904 he joined the Samson Lodge 1668 (London) in 1904. Then his address was shown as 57 Oxford Street, London and his occupation as optician. We believe he remained a mason until he died in 1911.

The third generation freemason is represented by Leslie Kahn-Rein, the son of Charles. Leslie changed his name at some stage, we believe for business reasons (more about this in another blog). He joined his father’s lodge, Willing No. 2893 (London) on 6^th November 1919. At the time he described himself as an artist with an address in Barnes and his age was given as 23. As far as we’ve discovered, he held no formal offices and resigned from freemasonry on 3^rd April 1951, five years before he died.

This gives us the skeleton; we’d like to add some flesh. If you can help with any information at all we’d love to hear from you, so please: contactus@kahngene.org.uk