Christmas Ornaments
The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree during the Christmas season is believed to have started in Germany during the 1500s. Our early Hagenbuch ancestors certainly knew and practiced this custom before coming to...
Category: Family
The School Christmas Program
In 2014, I wrote about my memories of Christmas at our family church, Oak Grove, when I was a young boy. Though not quite as vivid, I also have some memories of when I...
A Postcard For Salome Hagenbuch
A few months ago, I found a postcard on eBay that was sent from Guy Davis in Nazareth, Pennsylvania to Salome Hagenbuch in Bowmanstown, Pennsylvania. It was postmarked September 4, 1911. On the back...
California, Here We Come!
Back in 1979 when I was attempting to contact every Hagenbuch I could through snail mail, I received information from Robert L. Hagenbaugh (b. 1921) from Springville, California. Robert (as previously written in the...
Recent Ruminations
When Andrew and I started this site more than four years ago, I wondered if we would have enough information to write an article each week. Little did I realize that as more and...
Hannah (McWilliams) Davis: Young to Old
In talking to other genealogists, I am reminded how fortunate I am to to have so many family photos—some dating back to the latter half of the 19th century, a few even earlier. Part...
Cop and Robber
Several months ago Andrew found a photograph on eBay that was for sale. The image depicted a Los Angeles policeman, W. R. Hagenbaugh, with a robber, Joe Miller. Andrew purchased the photo for the...
The Eyes Have It
There is a genealogical approach that distinguishes a “name and date only” genealogist from what I would call a “family” genealogist; and I would classify Andrew and myself as the second type. A family...
Seeing Double: The Hagenbuch Twins of 1792
Several years ago, while researching family history, I stumbled upon a typed list of births and baptisms from Zion Stone Church in Kreidersville, Pennsylvania. The list had been compiled by the Dreisbach Family Association...
The Mystery of Tillie and Elias Reichard
Matilda “Tillie” Hagenbuch was born on October 20, 1849 in Columbia County, PA and was the daughter of William (b. 1807) and Rebecca (Muffly) Hagenbuch. Tillie was married to Elias Reichard and is buried...
