Family On The Move: 1500–1800
Like many American families, our Hagenbuch family story is one of movement. It began in Switzerland sometime before the 1500s, migrated to what is now Germany in the 1600s, and finally came to America...
Author: Andrew Hagenbuch
Old Newspaper Advertisements
Old newspaper articles and clippings are a great source of information for family research. Sometimes these have been saved in scrapbooks preserved in the Hagenbuch Archives. Other times, they are discovered using online research...
Family Recipes: Raisin Cake
In 2016 during a visit to my great aunt, Gloria (Felix) Faus (b. 1931), I collected some of her family recipes. These included a few handwritten by my great grandmother, Minnie (Hilner) Faus (b....
I’ll Be Home For Christmas
Lately, we’ve heard the advice to “stay home for the holidays” and help prevent the spread of Covid-19. While many bemoan being stuck in their houses this year, let’s remember that for some being...
What Caspar Wistar’s Story Tells Us About Our Own
Today we know substantially more about our common ancestor, Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715, d. 1785), than was understood even a decade ago. Below are a few articles that capture some of this knowledge. Yet,...
Mangoes and Molasses, Or Maybe Not!
Here is a riddle: When is a mango not a mango and a bottle of molasses something else entirely? Earlier this month, I was on a video call with my good friend, Clint Shearer,...
Family Politics
Like many Americans, politics has been on my mind recently. This led me to wonder: How did our Hagenbuch ancestors participate in the politics of their time? After a bit of digging, I stumbled...
Seeing Ghosts
Ghost (noun): an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image. As genealogists, my father and I see a lot of...
Six Years On
In the late 1970s, historian James Burke hosted a documentary television program called Connections. In each episode, he traced the history of a modern scientific marvel from its humble beginning to fruition. For instance,...
Lithographs: Decorating Homes in the 19th Century
It’s easy to take for granted the reasonably-priced, high-quality art prints available today. Prior to the 20th century, our ancestors had limited options for decorating the walls of their homes, especially with color artwork....
