Thanks Michael If this was the case with my family, then I don't understand how my dad was getting inheritance checks from the time when my family gave up their castle and lands. Vassals don't have castles. Maybe the whole "Truchsess" has nothing to do with our family surname. I just did a search on persons who came to the US through Ellis Island on American Family Immigration, and my dad's name is not there. I know he came here to the US between 1927 and 1930. I checked under Trucks and all similar spellings. Does anyone know of another website with those records? I'm just getting further and further confused. Janiece ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Kohlhaas" <MKohlhaas@t-online.de> To: <SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 12:54 PM Subject: Re: [S-H-RTS] Truchsess > Hallo Don, Hello Janiece, > I should have completed my explanation: > oftenly the Truchsess came from the lower nobility (service-nobility) > and the job sometimes was descended on the son: > Erbtruchsess: erben=inherit > > The service-nobility arose in the early Middle Ages, sometimes it > was possible to climb up into higher regions... > mainly it was a poor nobility, but with a good fief these vassals had > a good life. > > Michael > > > > ==== SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-ROOTS Mailing List ==== > Technical Terms and Rules of the S-H-ROOTS: > http://www.genealogy-sh.com/faq-sh-roots/index.htm >