The Christmas Putz
Several days ago, my wife Linda and I attended a special showing of nativities at a church near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Over 500 nativity scenes or creches were displayed. Many were traditional and made of...
Category: History
Bacon Stone of Albany Township, Berks County
Andreas Hagenbuch and his family arrived in Albany Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania in 1738. Here, they established a homestead along with a new life in the American colonies. Albany Township is situated within the...
The “Look” of Andreas Hagenbuch’s 1785 Inventory
The article, Inventory of Andreas Hagenbuch’s Estate, includes a piece of primary research which gives us an understanding of the clothing and household goods that Andreas owned at the time of his death. Certainly...
Inventory of Andreas Hagenbuch’s Estate
Reconstructing the past can be a challenging task. The further one digs back through time, the fewer records exist to point the way. Such is the case when researching the first Hagenbuchs to emigrate...
HB: the Hagenbuch Family Ligature
Hagenbuch is a long last name. Normally, this doesn’t pose too much of a problem. However, when engraving on a stone or other constrained space, the Hagenbuch name can be a tight squeeze. As...
Schambacher’s Tavern: A Real Ghost Story
The scariest ghost stories are the real ones. And while not all the facts in this one can be verified, many can be. Best of all, this particular story is connected to the Hagenbuchs...
Boys in Dresses? The Breeching Process
Two years ago I switched on the television to watch the Revolutionary War series Turn. In the opening scene I watched as a boy about the age of two was shown in a cabbage...
The Haugabook Family: A Lost Line of Hagenbuchs?
Most Hagenbuchs living in the United States can trace their ancestry to Andreas Hagenbuch, who landed with his family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 18, 1737. Andreas, however, was not the only Hagenbuch to...
Andreas Hagenbuch in Court
Piecing together family history is rarely a simple task. The further one goes back through time, the less there is to work from. Memories fade, photographs are lost, and documents are destroyed. Precious little...
Town of Hagenbuch, Switzerland
Before Andreas Hagenbuch and his family immigrated to America in 1737, they lived in either Grossgartach or Lomersheim in what is now southern Germany. While Andreas was a native German, his ancestors were not....
