School Picture Day
An important day in the calendar of public school life was “picture day.” Having taught elementary school and serving as an elementary principal, all told for 35 years, that special day was filled with...
Tagged: Washingtonville
Three Things: Blessings for the New Year
Before I even read Andrew’s Christmas article entitled “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” I was thinking along the same lines for my New Year’s article. With a little help from him, we continue to...
The Final Request: Samuel Sechler and Mary Davis, Part 5
The March 13, 1880 proposal of marriage from Samuel Sechler to Mary Davis was accepted on April 8 in a letter from Mary to Sam. We do not know what occurred between that date...
More Friends of the Family
As I prepared to write more about the friends of Andreas Hagenbuch, I thought, “If only Facebook was available in the 1700s and Andreas and his family were on it. We would know who...
The Book, Part 4
This is the fourth in a five part series about “the book” owned by Andreas Hagenbuch (b. 1715). At the end of Part 3, the immigrant Andreas Hagenbuch has died and willed the book,...
New Year’s “Back in the Day”
New Year’s Day is celebrated in many ways. In our family on the Montour County farm, it was a day of traditional foods: pork and sauerkraut accompanied by fresh baked bread smothered in butter...
Joseph Hagenbuch, Liberty Township Farmer: Part 1
There have been several articles written about the Hagenbuch family church, Oak Grove Lutheran, which is located in Liberty Twp., Montour County, a few miles southeast of Washingtonville and Pottsgrove in Pennsylvania. There has...
The Last Reunions – End of an Era?
Two articles, published in September and October of 2016, detailed information about the Hagenbuch Reunion which began in 1938. Over the years attendance dwindled with the aging and death of relatives and the movement...
The Family Bible: Part 3
A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. – Theodore Roosevelt There are six Bibles remaining in the collection of my family Bibles. However, at the end of this...
Oak Grove Church Memories
As mentioned in other articles, family stories and genealogical nostalgia are just as important as recording names, dates, and places. Memories of growing up have brought me to the realization that there really are...
