Since last year's reunion, Charles Tefft, Sandy Lemkin and Timothy Nathan Tefft have been hunting a trail that suggests the Tefft brothers, William and John, may have arrived in America, from Lincolnshire, England. Their collaboration began at last year's family reunion, when Charles mentioned to Tim, the TFA's genealogist, that he had hired professional researchers to trace the Teffts back to England. The report he received showed some interesting connections to a Lincolnshire family with sons named William and John who were born at about the right time to have immigrated to America
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The collaborative effort on this research has turned up some interesting new leads, but there is much to be done to follow these up. Also, they believe there must be others who have gone down these same trails before and they wish to connect with them to avoid following false or fruitless leads.
Their research is focused on the historical context of Lincolnshire, England; probate and vital records of Lincolnshire to sort out the Tefft families; and records relating to William Teffe of Boston.
If you have information you believe would be helpful, you are urged to contact them.
Write Timothy Nathan Tefft at 13 Warren Circle, Lisbon Falls, ME 04252 or send e-mail to troutfly@gwi.net. Charles can be reached at cwtefft@pidi.net and Sandy at slemkin@voyager.net.
Progress Report
1. Formed a family association with a current membership of 130. We started with about 30.
2. Held our third family reunion in Rhode Island in 2001 with a fourth planned Oct. 12-14, 2002.
3. Helped spearhead and finance the purchase and preservation of the 225-year-old Tefft Homestead, turn it into the Tefft Historical Park, and provide for its long-term management and maintenance.
4. Expanded our knowledge of Tefft genealogy and established a genealogy e-mail service -- the Tefft_L list -- to exchange information on our research. The Tefft-L lists hovers at around 80 to 85 subscribers and inquiries about Tefft genealogy are made at the rate of about one to two a week.
5. Established and upgraded the Tefft Family Association Web site. Since May 2000, when we first started counting, there have been over 10,000 hits on the various pages at the site. We know Teffts are diligent researchers, since the most popular page on the site is "Resources."
6. Developed a quarterly newsletter that covers topics of interest to Tefft descendants. Seven issues have been published to date.
We are well on our way to reaching important goals that will preserve our heritage and the historic record of our family. All are invited and encourged to join us as we work to foster genealogical research into the Tefft family, facilitate communication among current descendants, and preserve our colonial heritage.
Most of our members live in the continential United States with 31 states represented. We have heard from Tefft descendants as far away as Hawaii, Canada and Australia. To date, the state of Rhode Island has provided us with the most members who are descended from John or William Tefft. Seventeen hail from Rhode Island, followed by 15 from the state of New York. California and Florida come in neck and neck with ten apiece.
Check out the TFA's help page created by Kathleen Tifft Cooper. The page is loaded with information on resources available to beginning and experienced genealogists including the names of those who are willing to do look ups.
In addition, TFA Genealogist/Archivist Timothy Tefft has begun networking with Tefft reseachers, forming the individuals in the group into a committee structure that can share information. Currently, he is trying to determine which branch of the family and region researchers have been working on so queries can be more easily directed. The group has also been asked to provide short articles for a TFA newsletter and the website.
If you can provide reseach assistance or have genealogical information you wish to share, please contact Kathleen or Tim.
contact Darlene Tefft Cobb
dcobb@antelecom.net