My Uncle Charles: Letters From Home to Chicago
My Uncle Charles was interested in furthering his education. He was not engrossed in farming as many of our Hagenbuch clan in the early 1900s. His story brings to mind the popular World War...
Tagged: Illinois
Family On The Move: 1840–1900
Like many Americans, our Hagenbuch family story is about leaving one place for another, often in search of a better life and new opportunities. The first part in this article series followed our family’s story...
One Good Photo: The Heinly Family
Photographs are so important to genealogists. They give us a window into the world of the past—something that names and dates just can’t do. Often, we pull out a photograph of long ago and...
E.T. Write Home!
It is Sunday, January 19th, and I just got off the phone with Gayle (Hagenbuch) Ticen, a descendant of Eli Thornton Hagenbuch. It was a warm and informative conversation with a cousin whom I...
Cairo, Illinois, 1863. Your Cousin, E. T. Hagenbuch
You have read of the Civil War service of Shadrach Hagenbaugh and the horrors he endured at Andersonville. He, along with other Hagenbuchs, served during that long, bloody conflict. A cousin of Shadrach’s, Eli...
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...
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...
On Reunions and Summer Picnics
The 74th Hagenbuch Reunion, held at Oak Grove Lutheran Church a few weeks ago, got me thinking about other reunions of the past. Not only the previous 73 reunions whose attendees were primarily descendants...
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...
Letters From the Past: Part 1
A few weeks ago I was in our barn looking for something. The upstairs of the building is storage, and we have a lot of “stuff” stored there. Most of the boxes are marked...
