Our Family’s First Christmas Gift in America
The further we go back in time, the more difficult it is to tell the story of our Hagenbuch family. Precious little information remains from early 1700s when our ancestor, Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715),...
Tagged: Philadelphia
Andreas Hagenbuch’s Sons-in-Law: Were They Soldiers?, Part 2
In the previous article about the military service of Andreas’ family, readers were reminded that “big doings” are happening over the next eight years in relation to our country’s founding—our 250th anniversary! I remember...
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....
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,...
