The House Along the Allemaengel Road, Part 1
On March 25, 1738, Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715) received a warrant for 200 acres of land in a corner of what is today Albany Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. This place was the at edge...
Author: Andrew Hagenbuch
Homestead Economics: Conclusion
This series of articles started with a question: What economic activities contributed to the success of the Hagenbuch Homestead in Albany Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania? Before beginning to write, I already had some ideas....
Homestead Economics: Distilling Liquor
Many early American farmers distilled their own liquor, not just for their own consumption but also for additional income. According to Mount Vernon, where George Washington ran a sizable distillery, the average Virginia distiller...
Homestead Economics: Crops, Livestock, and More
Of all the different economic activities at the Hagenbuch Homestead, agriculture was the most important and this only increased with time. After acquiring the homestead property in 1741, Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715, d. 1785)...
An Obituary, a Plane Crash, and an Unknown Family Line
There are so many facets on our Hagenbuch family tree that remain to be documented, explored, and discussed. For example, in early January I saw an obituary for Mildred “Millie” (Clews) Hagenbuch (b. 1941,...
Malinda (Hagenbuch) Ferry and Her Family
My father, Mark, and I have mentioned before about how our Hagenbuch female lines don’t receive enough attention. There are a number of reasons for this. However, the primary one stems from the custom...
Mock Shotgun Weddings
As my father wrote about last week, we recently received a collection of photographs from the Harris family. The Harrises intermarried with the Hagenbuchs and the two families attended Hidlay Lutheran Church in Columbia...
Tracing the Descendants of John Ruckle Hagenbuch
Obituaries are a rich source of genealogical information, and online tools have made it easier than ever to locate these. A useful obituary includes the name of the deceased, their birth and death dates,...
Our Family’s First Christmas Gift in America
The further we go back in time, the more difficult it is to tell the story of our Hagenbuch family. Precious little information remains from early 1700s when our ancestor, Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715),...
Hagenbuch’s Meat Market of Bowmanstown
I’m always amazed by the family-related ephemera that appears on eBay: an old family photo, a receipt printer, and a Fraktur to name a few. Recently I found another curious item—a small, promotional screwdriver....
