Family Recipes: Wintergreen Cake
In a previous article, I recounted visiting with my great aunt, Gloria (Felix) Faus (b. 1931), in southern California and discovering a family recipe for bean chow-chow. The recipe had been given to her...
Author: Andrew Hagenbuch
Letters From Nana, Part 3
The first part and second part in this series examined letters and postcards that Nana, Irene (Faus) Hagenbuch (b. 1920, d. 2011), sent to me between 1999 and 2001. This article—the final in the...
Letters From Nana, Part 2
In the first part in this series, I shared letters and postcards from Nana, Irene (Faus) Hagenbuch (b. 1920, d. 2011), dating from my first semester at Ithaca College in the fall of 1999....
Letters From Nana, Part 1
A few months ago while rummaging through a box of old papers, I found a number of letters and postcards sent to me from my grandmother, Irene (Faus) Hagenbuch. “Nana,” as she was known...
The Franklin Society: Arguing for Fun in the Early 1800s
The Franklin Society was formed in late December of 1807 in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Andrew Hagenbuch (b. 1782), who was the son of Christian (b. 1747) and grandson of Andreas (b. 1715), was one...
Anna Barbara Hagenbuch: Rethinking Andreas’s Children
Anna Barbara Hagenbuch was Andreas Hagenbuch’s eldest child—or so we thought. A few weeks ago, while researching Andreas’s birthdate, I needed to review the birth order of his children. The standard family tree for...
Andreas Hagenbuch’s Debatable Birthdate
Most Hagenbuchs living in America are descended from Andreas Hagenbuch who arrived in Philadelphia in 1737. Yet, for all we know about Andreas, his exact date of birth has remained the subject of much...
Preserving Family Treasures
On a snowy Saturday at the end of 2017, my father, Mark Hagenbuch, and I traveled to visit his cousin, Joe Robb. As first cousins, my father and Joe share grandparents–Clarence Hagenbuch (b. 1889,...
Home Remedies
Recently my father, Mark Hagenbuch, handed me a recipe book once owned by Bessie Mae (Robbins) Sechler (b. 1888, d. 1973). It was previously in the possession of Harold Sechler (b. 1923), who is...
Holiday Baking, A Family Tradition
Every year, as we approach Christmas and New Years, many families prepare for the time-honored tradition of holiday baking. Looking back, I can fondly remember platters stacked with pressed cookies, powdered snowballs, and sugar...
