Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I guess an introduction is in order, right?

My name is Amy, and I am a Teutschman by birth. I have always loved my maiden name, even when I was a child and it was difficult to spell. When I married, I inherited a much shorter and easier last name - even the person performing the marriage made note of it. But then he said something that I will never forget. He looked at me with an unmistakable seriousness in his eyes and said, "Always honor and respect your maiden name." Tears welled up in my eyes as I nodded in agreement. It may sound sappy, but at that moment I truly felt my ancestors looking down on me. I had an immediate, unmistakable desire to seek them out.

As the years have passed, my focus on genealogy work has shifted in and out of my life. At times I have great motivation and desire to do my family history research, and at other times I get lazy and let it slide for months (years...) at a time.

It was during a recent burst of motivation that I decided I needed to do something about the biggest hole in my genealogy: the Teutschman line. On my mother's side, I several family lines that reach back 12 generations. On my father's side, I go back only 4, including me. Here is what I have thus far (displaying names only):


Ignore the non-Teutschman lines, for now. I am Amy, my father is Michael Teutschman, my grandfather is Edward Chester Teutschman, and my great-grandfather is Edward Arthur Teutschman. I do not have names beyond that, although I have a few clues. My plan is to post the information I do have about Edward Arthur Teutschman shortly, in the hope that I will connect with someone who has more information.

In the meantime, if you have questions about the Teutschman's or family history in general, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at fearfam (at) sbcglobal (dot) net. Of course, it will work better if you remove the parenthesis and spaces first. :) Thanks so much, and I hope to hear from many of you soon.