The Heart of the Family
Every family has a heart, and while it isn’t a literal organ—like the one the beats inside us—this heart is an essential, living part of all families. I have been thinking about our family...
Tagged: Michael Hagenbuch
The House Along the Allemaengel Road, Part 3
Where did Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715) build his house after settling upon the Hagenbuch Homestead property in 1741? For decades, my father, Mark, and I have pondered this question. In 2016, I summarized what...
Homestead Economics: Conclusion
This series of articles started with a question: What economic activities contributed to the success of the Hagenbuch Homestead in Albany Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania? Before beginning to write, I already had some ideas....
Homestead Economics: Distilling Liquor
Many early American farmers distilled their own liquor, not just for their own consumption but also for additional income. According to Mount Vernon, where George Washington ran a sizable distillery, the average Virginia distiller...
Homestead Economics: Crops, Livestock, and More
Of all the different economic activities at the Hagenbuch Homestead, agriculture was the most important and this only increased with time. After acquiring the homestead property in 1741, Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715, d. 1785)...
Seven Cemeteries in One Day, Part 2
Back in 1983, I was 30 years old and my father was 66 years “young” as they say. We were both fit and able to walk and walk past rows and rows of gravestones...
Seven Cemeteries in One Day, Part 1
When I was young, my family didn’t go on outings to the circus or trips to Disneyland. We couldn’t afford them. Instead, we stayed in our small rural West Texas town, and my parents...
Andreas Hagenbuch’s Sons-In-Law: Were They Soldiers?, Part 1
Between March and April of 2017, three articles were written about the Revolutionary War service of the patriarch Andreas Hagenbuch’s four sons: Henry (b. 1737), Michael (b. 1746), Christian (b. 1747), and John (b....
Homestead Economics: Leather Tanning
Life at the Hagenbuch Homestead stank—quite literally! By the early 1800s, the homestead had a sizable tannery, large enough to be recorded on at least one map of the area as the “Hagenbuch Tanyard.”...
Homestead Economics: Flax, Linen, and Other Fibers
In 18th-century America, before cotton was king, flax was the fiber that ruled the fields. Used to weave linen fabric, people depended upon quality flax for a number of textile products—shirts, tablecloths, breeches, sheets,...
