Book excerpt: A compelling and evocative history of an ordinary 21st century American family detailing its varied and diverse historical and cultural elements through out history. An enthralling journey through time and culture giving a strong narrative account of the similar Germanic roots of many American families. Using records and tools as varied as archeology, anthropology, ethnology, etymology, geology, mythology, legends and historical documentation, Scales embarks on a fascinating quest to link together the pieces of a vast jigsaw of the forgotten Germanic heritage of many American families while developing a chronological framework to historical events and family bloodlines. With an astonishing insight into the cultural effects of the travels and historical events of our founding fathers, more than a dozen separate family lines are identified with their earliest American ancestors and which part of the ancient Germanic world those families came from. Reaching as far back into the origin of the Cimbrians and Teutanians, early Celtic peoples known as Germanic Tribes coming down from the Alps, where Switzerland is now located, to their arrival in Germany then on to the shores of the American colonies, sets a framework for the detailed history of the Germanic people who’s blood still runs in many American veins.