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Some families know a great deal about their roots; others know very little. This site is an attempt to record and share
what I've learned about our family history.
On this page you'll learn who I am and what inspired me to do this research. Most of this information was obtained from
talking to living relatives and from researching public records. In the course of doing this research, I've discovered that
I have many more relatives than I ever thought possible!
This is a work in progress, so please contact me if you have
any information that might help round out the picture.
A Little About Me
My name is Diane Wahn Shotton. I love history and I love my family. Those two passions drive
my pursuit of genealogy. As early as 1980, I began to record family information learned from family members. One
of my fondest memories, is sitting with my Grandmother Sophia Wahn, going through her boxes of snapshots, writing
names and dates on the back while she shares stories about her family. I wrote those stories down right after she told
me and still have that looseleaf paper record of her major milestones including how she met my Grandfather and their wedding
day.
My mother was a wealth of information always willing to share or make a phone call to help her memory recall.
Dad helped by giving me several boxes of his dad's eight millimeter films which captured over
twenty years of vacations, holidays, parties, and family events.
In 1983 I took a job in Phoenix and moved away from Northern Kentucky which had been home all
my life.
I never moved back. My son was born in 1984 and shortly thereafter we moved to Charlotte,
North Carolina where my career with Charles Schwab & Co. began to take off. My love of history and family stayed
strong but work on the family tree came to a halt.
The years slipped by and many family members passed away. Now, of course, I wish they were here so
I could interview them and learn their stories. But I did get back to genealogy in 1999 when I left Schwab. Since
I had last put major effort into reserach fifteen years prior, the world of researching family history had changed
dramatically! The internet had come along and made it possible to find family from the comfort of my home in Phoenix
as well as correspond with family members all over the world.
The rest, as they say, is history. From 1999 to the present, the family tree with me as the root has
over 5000 people. My mother is 100% of German ancestry and my father is 88% German with one ancestor who is probably
of English origin. Of all the immigrants in the family tree who came to America between 1837 and 1884, I have tracked
down the town of origin in all but three cases. The origin of Wahn, my surname, is one of these mysteries.
Having this website as a public domain will help me continue my research and hopefully help others with
theirs as well. If you ever need help or have a question contact me. I'll be happy to help!
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| Wahn Wilbers Wedding 19 June 1954 |
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| Lawrence and Helen Wilbers, Naomi, Bob, Sophia and Elmer Wahn |
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| Wahn Children 1980 |
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| Debi, Diane, Cheryl, Cathy, David, Patti, Ted |
| Wahn Family Christmas 1997 |
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| My Family |
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| Cris, Me, Geoff |
Ancestry.com
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