Hello everyone! I am a friend of Tim's keeping his family tree alive. I hope 
you enjoy this trip through memory lane. I am also searching for the family 
connection between his family and mine. It seems like I am related to just 
about every other person I am friends with so why not the Brauchts. Its a 
fascinating subject, the past. It got me thinking about all the things we now 
take for granted. Our ancestors had to make due without disposable pens, 
paper, cars, computers, and all our modern conveniences. They did good. They 
laid out towns, piped water into larger communities, invented a wheel and 
tamed the oxen and horses to pull the wagons they came up with. In spite of 
all this they had time to leave some part of them so that we can feel our 
heritage. They fought wars to give us and others freedoms. They fought wars to 
believe the way they wanted to. They fought wars to protect loved ones. They 
moved across this country when it was truly a wilderness. They did not let the 
presence of one of the longest rivers in the world stop them. They moved 
forward. They are not just names on paper. They were once living, breathing, 
moving, emotional people. They usually did not get to marry for love. They 
could not choose how many children they had unless they gave up the idea of 
marriage altogether and in that world of our forefathers and mothers all the 
extra hands came in handy.