Recent Ruminations
When Andrew and I started this site more than four years ago, I wondered if we would have enough information to write an article each week. Little did I realize that as more and...
This Week's Article From the Beech Grove
A Visit to the Hagenbuch Homestead
Several weeks ago, I visited the Hagenbuch homestead in Berks County, Pennsylvania along with my father, mother, and wife. The purpose of our visit was to explore the buildings at the homestead, as well...
Hannah (McWilliams) Davis: Young to Old
In talking to other genealogists, I am reminded how fortunate I am to to have so many family photos—some dating back to the latter half of the 19th century, a few even earlier. Part...
Picnics in the Cemetery
Cemeteries are spooky places, right? After all, during Halloween, people set up plastic gravestones in their front yards to scare the trick-or-treaters. Shortly after arriving in California in 2008, the friend I was staying...
Cop and Robber
Several months ago Andrew found a photograph on eBay that was for sale. The image depicted a Los Angeles policeman, W. R. Hagenbaugh, with a robber, Joe Miller. Andrew purchased the photo for the...
Charles C. Hagenbuch and Dr. Jayne’s Sanative Pills
A few months ago, I found a vintage trade card on eBay, dating from around 1880. Trade cards were an early form of printed advertisement. One side of the card would include an image,...
Book Review: Powwowing in Pennsylvania
As a boy I was an avid reader, and I especially enjoyed stories based on historical fact and mysteries. One particular book sticks in my mind; a book of which I cannot remember title...
Four Years On
Talking with my father the other day, he mentioned that I should begin writing a recap for the previous year of Hagenbuch.org. Really? Has another year passed already? Four years ago, this site was...
The Eyes Have It
There is a genealogical approach that distinguishes a “name and date only” genealogist from what I would call a “family” genealogist; and I would classify Andrew and myself as the second type. A family...
Seeing Double: The Hagenbuch Twins of 1792
Several years ago, while researching family history, I stumbled upon a typed list of births and baptisms from Zion Stone Church in Kreidersville, Pennsylvania. The list had been compiled by the Dreisbach Family Association...
