Do What You Do (I Don’t Know What You Do)
When I was eleven years old, my parents purchased a video camera. Soon my sisters, cousins, friends, and I were making home movies. The films, with titles like The Detention Girl, had loose plot...
This Week's Article From the Beech Grove
Hunting for Lost Children
There is little more fulfilling to genealogical work than gazing at 100 plus year old photos of lovely children: their clothing, their innocent expressions, and knowing how they are related to us. Realizing two...
Andrew Pierce Hagenbuch: Farmer, Milkman, Carpenter & Builder
Every branch on our Hagenbuch family tree has a story, and one of the goals of this site is to share as many of these stories as possible. Several weeks ago, I heard from...
The Family Scales
After the article about rescheduling the Hagenbuch Reunion to June of 2022, there were several reader questions about the two children who died within four days of each other. Sarah Scales was born in...
Beechroots Progress: Discoveries Made, Mysteries Solved
My father, Mark, and I are actively working to document our Hagenbuch family in America—the descendants of Andreas (b. 1715). I once compared this task to the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, each of...
A Letter From Washington
April 27, 2021 Dear Mark: I have to admit that there isn’t much of a chance that a 30 year old address is still valid, but I’m hopeful. As is typical of my age...
Making Sense of Christian Hagenbuch’s Family
Last year, we explored how two Christian Hagenbuchs of about the same age were living in Ohio during the mid-1800s. These were Christian (b. 1770) who was the son of Michael (b. 1746) and...
Rescheduling the Hagenbuch Reunion to June 2022
Although Andrew and I expect many venues to open up by June of this year, we are still leery about the impact of having a large group of people together at that time. We...
Uncovering an Illegitimate Child: Julianna Hagenbuch
Love child, illegitimate, and bastard—all describe a child born to unmarried parents. Today, these words don’t ruffle as many feathers as they once did. Yet, for our ancestors they carried significant social stigma and...
Easter Day: April 7, 1765
This article contains several quotes from Johann Arndt’s 1605 book concerning Pietism. Although I realize that the writings can be difficult to understand at times, please take the time to read them carefully and...
