Gold Fever: The Journal of J. C. Hagenbuch, Part 1
Jack took the shovel, pick, and pan, and we found a few fine specks of gold. They say we found some “colors.” –J. C. Hagenbuch; Sunday, July 23, 1905 PREFACE In November of 2018,...
Tagged: Columbia County
Kissin’ Cousins
Well I’ve got a gal, she’s as cute as she can be. She’s a distant cousin but she’s not too distant with me. We’ll kiss all night. I’ll squeeze her tight. But we’re kissin’...
Dying of Grief: Isaac W. Hagenbuch Sentenced to Prison
In 1884, family historian Enoch Hagenbuch (b. 1814) wrote: The Hagenbuchs are not among the distinguished men and women of our beloved land. They are, nevertheless, almost among our best citizens. I never have...
The Privy Bottle, Part 2
This article is the second part in a series. The first part may be read here. After purchasing the privy bottle on eBay, it was taken to a bottle expert—Harry M.—who has collected thousands...
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,...
The Mystery of Tillie and Elias Reichard
Matilda “Tillie” Hagenbuch was born on October 20, 1849 in Columbia County, PA and was the daughter of William (b. 1807) and Rebecca (Muffly) Hagenbuch. Tillie was married to Elias Reichard and is buried...
Letters From the Past: Part 2
In September of 2017, I wrote an article about the hundreds of letters I found that had been received when I first began working seriously on genealogy in 1978. As mentioned before, these letters...
Untangling Four Reuben Hagenbuchs
In May I received a message from a reader, Tom, who was looking for information about Reuben Hagenbuch. Tom was hitting a dead end partly because there appeared to be several Reuben Hagenbuchs born...
The Book, Part 5: The Facts
My obsession with Johann Arndt’s Wahren Christentum (True Christianity) began in July of 2015 when my son, Andrew, wrote an article about Andreas Hagenbuch’s will. I learned at that time that Andreas had willed...
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...
