The Privy Bottle, Part 2
This article is the second part in a series. The first part may be read here. After purchasing the privy bottle on eBay, it was taken to a bottle expert—Harry M.—who has collected thousands...
This Week's Article From the Beech Grove
Henry Hagenbuch’s Bridge Over The Lehigh River
So often in genealogy, researching one family or topic will lead to unintended discoveries. Such was the case when I stumbled upon a mention of Henry Hagenbuch’s venture to build a bridge over the...
The Privy Bottle, Part 1
This two-part article tells the fictional story and true facts about a bottle recently discovered in a privy in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. The year was 1875. Mr. Smith, from Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, had taken the train...
Homemade Ginger Beer
Before the holidays, I was reading a non-fiction book entitled Life on Muskrat Creek which tells the story of a family homesteading in Wyoming during the early 1900s. One chapter describes a Christmas celebration...
The Sauerkraut Diaries
On January 2, 2018, I wrote an article about New Year’s Day memories from the early 1900s. Some of these remembrances were gleaned from the diary entries of my mother, Irene (Faus) Hagenbuch. Of...
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...
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...
Mystery Solved: The Missing Hagenbuch Gravestones
This article is the second part in a series documenting a visit to the Hagenbuch homestead in October of 2018. The first part can be read here. After finishing our lunch at the Deitsch...
