DNA, Genealogy, and Our Search for Identity
A few weeks ago, I read a story about a man who suspected that he was not the father of his daughter. The little girl had brown eyes, when both parents had blue eyes....
Tagged: Philadelphia
Missing Person: Thomas H. Hagenbuch, Salesman & Telegraph Operator
On Friday, August 15, 1902, The Allentown Morning Call ran the following front page headline: MISSING FROM THEIR HOMES Mysterious Disappearance of T. H. Hagenbuch of This City MANAGER OF THE WESTERN UNION Left...
We Are Not Alone (And We Never Were)
We are not alone. It sounds like something out of E.T. or The X Files. Yet, I’ve been thinking a lot about this phrase and how we, as Hagenbuchs, fit into the bigger picture...
Your Husband, Ben: Letters from the Civil War, Part 2
In Part 1 of this series, we met Benjamin “Ben” Del Fel Hagenbuch (b. 1833) who lived in Columbia County, Pennsylvania with his family. Ben joined the Union Army in 1861 and again in...
July of 1776
We have numerous questions about Andreas Hagenbuch, including some about the Revolutionary War service of Andreas’ four sons: Henry (b. 1737), Michael (b. 1746), Christian (b. 1747), and John (b. 1763). These were explored...
Henry Hagenbuch’s Revised Birth and Death: The Impact
As my father, Mark, and I have often written, genealogy is much more than names and dates. But what happens when a crucial part of our family’s story is dependent upon one or two...
Family On The Move: 1500–1800
Like many American families, our Hagenbuch family story is one of movement. It began in Switzerland sometime before the 1500s, migrated to what is now Germany in the 1600s, and finally came to America...
What Caspar Wistar’s Story Tells Us About Our Own
Today we know substantially more about our common ancestor, Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715, d. 1785), than was understood even a decade ago. Below are a few articles that capture some of this knowledge. Yet,...
My Dinner With: Trooper James
When I started this series several weeks ago, my thought was to interest readers in questions that we have about our ancestors. Along with that would be a meal that I would share with...
Remembering James H. Hagenbuch: a Daring Jump on D-Day
In the first part of this article series, my father, Mark Hagenbuch, introduced us to James H. Hagenbuch (b. 1922, d. 1944) and his family line. James, who also appears to have gone by...
