Reunions Are the Glue! Save the Date: June 15, 2024
As we did two years ago, the Hagenbuch family will gather for a reunion on Saturday, June 15, 2024. This time the event will occur at Hidlay Lutheran Church in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Similar to 2018 and 2022, the reunion will be held at a “Hagenbuch Church” with Hidlay being one of the earliest religious gathering places of Hagenbuchs in America. The current details are as follow:
- What: 76th Hagenbuch Family Reunion
- When: Saturday, June 15, 2024 from 11AM to 4PM
- Where: 179 Hidlay Church Road, Bloomsburg, PA 17815, Map
Hidlay Lutheran Church, Columbia County, PA. Credit: Google Maps
Extended family reunions are important occasions. While not as popular as they once were, they are still a principal event in the life of a growing and genealogically minded family. When I was a boy, we attended three reunions: the Hagenbuch reunion, the Hilner reunion (my maternal grandmother’s family), and the Sechler reunion (my paternal grandmother’s family). Articles have been written on this site about the Sechler family, as these aunts, uncles, cousins, and other Sechler relatives of my father marched side by side in distinction with the Hagenbuch family in Montour County, PA. As I heard from one of my Sechler cousins when we met two weeks ago for our cousins’ reunion, the Sechler Reunion was half Sechlers and half Hagenbuchs!
The Sechler Reunion ended its run in 2009. Most of my Sechler cousins are from the Watsontown/Turbotville area where I grew up. As I did with the Hagenbuch Reunion (I write with chagrin), I stopped attending the Sechler Reunion the last several years it was held. I lost contact with my Sechler roots, although I still kept close to them in some ways. My father, Homer Hagenbuch (b. 1916), whose middle name is Sechler, would go with me to visit his Sechler first cousins: Myron Cromis and Harold Sechler. Both have been written about previously. However, I lost contact with my generation of Sechler second cousins.
In November of 2021, several of the Sechler cousins and siblings made a point of meeting at a local restaurant near Muncy, PA. This started a regular meeting of the descendants of Samuel and Mary (Davis) Sechler, our great grandparents. Soon some Hagenbuchs were added to the mix, namely my first cousins—Leon Hagenbuch and Kathleen (Robb) Shuler. By then, I caught wind of the every other month or so assembly of Sechler relations, and I recently attended one in Lewisburg, PA on March 8th of this year. Along with eight Sechler cousins and their spouses, we Hagenbuchs were represented by myself, Sue (Taylor) Hertzler, Leon Hagenbuch, Kathleen (Robb) Shuler, and her husband, Butch.
Sechler cousins gathered for a reunion in March of 2024
It was a joyous reconnection for me! The gathering of descendants of my great grandparents’ son, Ralph Sechler (b. 1893), were bolstered by descendants of Ralph’s sister Hannah (b. 1889) who married my grandfather, Clarence Hagenbuch (b. 1889). The last time I had seen and talked to some of these Sechler cousins was probably in 1967, when my parents moved off our Montour County farm. Up until that time, I attended Warrior Run Schools and got to see these Sechler cousins almost every day. After the move, I attended Milton Area Schools, just down the road, but enough of a separate entity that I no longer hobnobbed with those second cousins.
This experience with my grandmother’s people, the Sechlers, made me realize again how important family reunions are. They are the glue that once or several times a year, or even after several years, bind a family together with recollections of when we were children, memories of when many of our relatives lived close to each other and shared a community life, and reminiscences of those fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, and grandparents who were the link to us being cousins.
I realized that both Sechlers and Hagenbuchs have this sticky adhesive that allows us to pick up where we left off. We can rekindle the conversations and interest in each other since we were last together—a few months ago, a few years ago, even 50 years ago as was the case with my Sechler second cousins. Not only do we ask questions at family reunions like, “What have you been up to?” and “How are the children?”, but we also tell the family stories over again that make us smile and even wipe away a tear. “Do you remember how Uncle Perce would show off his missing thumb?” or “You know Myron and Harold lived in that old farmhouse without running water for many years?”
Hidlay Church Cemetery, Columbia County, PA
I look forward to the next time I get together with my Sechler cousins, when we can share stories about our ancestors and our memories of the locale and the times we grew up in. I also look forward to the upcoming Hagenbuch Reunion on June 15, 2024 to share stories, talk about our rich history that goes back to the 17th century in Switzerland, and reconnect with family that have traveled anywhere from a few miles to hundreds of miles to attend. We’ll acknowledge each other, talk for hours, and break bread together, knowing that we share the same DNA and many of the same traditions.
Mark your calendar for June 15th, 11AM to 4PM, at Hidlay Church near Bloomsburg, PA for the 76th Hagenbuch Reunion. We will share a potluck luncheon in the Hidlay Fellowship Hall and take a tour of the church cemetery where the largest number of Hagenbuchs are buried in any one spot—at least 45! Andrew and I are hoping to have a huge crowd in attendance and to see Hagenbuchs and allied families from near and far away. Let’s get the glue mixed up to keep our family together.
