Good Things Come in Threes
They say good things come in threes: three wishes, three gifts of the Magi, and for my wife, Sara, and I, three children. In August, we welcomed a third child to our family—a daughter—Rosanna...
Category: Family
Ray Hagenbaugh and the LAPD Shrine Club
There are multiple lines of Hagenbaughs living in the United States. These Hagenbaughs are actually Hagenbuchs. It’s just that their pronunciation and spelling of our family name has changed over time. California is one...
Who’s There Now? Finding Family in Philadelphia
Ebay is a great place to find family artifacts and memorabilia. Search Hagenbuch.org and you will find many different items that were located through the online auction site, such as matchbooks, Taufscheine, bottles, and...
Childcare in the 1930s: Irene (Faus) Hagenbuch’s School Project
Raising children isn’t easy—especially during an economic downturn. In the 1930s, the Great Depression put renewed focus on America’s children and how they were being taught. In 1933, Congress tasked the Works Progress Administration...
Enjoy the Banquet, Dad. We love you.
Mark O. Hagenbuch, cofounder of this site, died on February 25, 2025. Two services were arranged for him, according to his final wishes. The first was held on March 15th at St. John’s Lutheran...
Norman E. Hagenbuch’s Eyebrow-Raising Matchbooks
Matchbooks, printed with advertisements, were once a popular way to promote businesses. In a time before cheap, pocket lighters, matches were the most convenient way to light a candle or start a fire. The...
Connecting Families in Marion Township, Henry County, Iowa
Receiving comments and emails from readers is one of the best parts of running Hagenbuch.org. Recently, I was contacted by Jean whose family roots are in Mount Pleasant—a small town in Marion Township, Henry...
William Hagenbuck: From Soldier To Entrepreneur
It is well documented that the Hagenbuch name changed in spelling and pronunciation as family members moved west. For instance, at least one group of relatives was using “Hagenbuck” by the 1840s. These individuals...
Finding the Hagenbuchs of Birdsboro
In January of 2023, we received a message from Joy Nairn inquiring about her Reichelderfer ancestors. The Reicheldersfers were neighbors of the Hagenbuchs in Albany Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, and they lived at the...
New Year’s Day: The Importance of Days
Is there an importance to having New Year’s Day as a significant day in our legacy? It would take hours to sift through Beechroots to find our ancestors that were born exactly on January...
