Category: Stories

Wahres Christentum Book Engravings Detail 0

The Book, Part 1

I expect most people don’t regularly read what I term as pure history. However, many people read historical fiction where the plot, the setting, and the characters are located in the past; but the...

Stone House Detail 1

Exploring Hagenbuch Country

Over a year ago, my Aunt Barb—Barbara (Hagenbuch) Huffman—and I were chatting on the phone about the Hagenbuch homestead in Albany Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Being an avid birder, she mentioned how wonderful it...

Halloween 1956 Detail 0

Treat or Treat

A usual statement out of my mouth every other week is, “I have to start an article.” And, I continue by telling my wife Linda what I’m going to write about for my next...

Oma & Nana Afghans Detail 0

More Family Icons & Their Stories

A little over a year ago my father and site co-founder, Mark Hagenbuch, wrote an article examining the importance of “family icons.” These are objects that are prized by families for the stories attached...

William Paul Roat Tractor 1950 Detail 1

Dear Diary

Along with letters, baptismal certificates, newspaper articles, old histories, and other ephemera, diaries can be a very important part of learning about past generations. Knowing this, when I retired in 2008 I purchased a...

Clarence Hagenbuch Ledger Book Detail 1

Family Icons

The word icon is defined as “a thing that is revered.” In past articles many pieces of family history have been written about and described that fit this definition. Photos, books, documents, certificates, and...