Tracing the Descendants of John Ruckle Hagenbuch

Obituaries are a rich source of genealogical information, and online tools have made it easier than ever to locate these. A useful obituary includes the name of the deceased, their birth and death dates, and the names of their parents, siblings, spouse, and children. These details aid in placing the person on a family tree, as well as identifying their descendants.

Late last year, I saw the obituary for Marian “Dolly” (Grimes) Hagenbuch appear on Google News. I use Google News to get notifications about recent Hagenbuch family happenings. Dolly had died on November 27, 2023 at the age of 91 and was from Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia. I’m familiar with this area as it is directly south of where my parents live in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. If we were catching a flight from Dulles International Airport, we would head down US-15 into Maryland, then to Virginia which took us past Leesburg. Part of that drive is really quite beautiful including along Catoctin Mountain and across the Potomac River.

Catoctin Mountain and farm near Thurmont, Maryland. Credit: Flickr.com/
Ron Cogswell

With that said, I wasn’t familiar with this group of Hagenbuchs, even though I had a hunch about how they could be related. A few years ago my father, Mark, wrote a piece where he discussed how John “Finis” Phineas Hagenbuch (b. 1812) moved his family from Pennsylvania to Winchester, Virginia in 1863 during the American Civil War. This was an unusual move and suggests that he might have been a southern sympathizer. Finis would move back and forth across the Mason-Dixon line several more times before eventually dying in Pennsylvania in 1891.

While most of Finis’ family ultimately returned to Pennsylvania, one of his sons, John Ruckle Hagenbuch (b. 1860) stayed and put down roots in Virginia. According to the 1880 United States Census, John was working on his father’s farm in Jefferson Township, Alexandria County, VA and had married. His wife does not appear with him on the census. However, as recorded by the register of marriages for Alexandria, VA, John had married Lucy Elizabeth Taylor (b. 1857) on January 29, 1880. Curiously, the 1880 census lists a three-month-old baby female named Nolietta Hagenbuch living in the household. The census was compiled in June, so Lucy must have been seven or eight months pregnant when the couple married.

John Ruckle Hagenbuch, c. 1879

John and Lucy (Taylor) Hagenbuch next appear on the 1900 United States Census living in Broad Run, Loudoun County, VA. John was working as a farmer and they had three sons living with them: Roy, Archie, and Wilmer. The 1900 census recorded that the couple had been married for 21 years (it was actually 20 years) and had five children together, with four of those still living.

Assuming that Nolietta was their offspring after all, who was the missing fifth child? After some additional research, I found her and was able to piece together the five children of John and Lucy: Nolietta (b. 1880, d. before 1900), Ocie Etta (b. 1884, d. 1963, m. Edwin F. O’Meara), Roy Phinis (b. 1887, d. 1960, m. Grace Odessia Everhart), Archie “Arch” Thomas (b. 1890, d. 1973, m. Mary “Mae” Margaret Schneider/Snyder), and John Wilmer (b. 1894, d. 1981, m. Ethel M. Roles). Lucy died in 1928 and sometime after this John Ruckle was committed to a state hospital for the insane in Staunton City, VA. There he appeared on the 1940 United States Census. He died a year later on February 18, 1941.

Marian “Dolly” (Grimes) Hagenbuch

I was getting close to connecting Dolly (Grimes) Hagenbuch onto our family tree. From her obituary, she was married to Thomas “Tommy” Hagenbuch. A quick search uncovered that Tommy had died in 2011 and was the son of Arch Thomas and Mae (Snyder) Hagenbuch. The couple had eight children together: Grace Elizabeth (b. 1916, d. 1999, m. Woodrow W. Fox), Raymond Francis (b. 1921, d. 2007, m. Patricia Lee Florence Creed), Gertrude Mae Hagenbuch (b. 1923, d. 1925), Alva Marie (b. 1926, d. 2006, m. Hugh Hamilton Downs), Gladys Cecilla (b. 1928, d. 2007, m. Benjamin Howard Grimes), Thomas “Tommy” Richard (b. 1932, d. 2011, m. Marian “Dolly” Grimes), Helen Anne (b. 1934, d. 2018, m. Leonard Paul Grimes), and Doris “Dick” Virginia (b. 1937, d. 2019, m. Shirley Wellington Grimes). Arch and Mae divorced sometime between 1940 and 1950.

Finally, I could connect Dolly to our family tree through her husband Tommy. Their Hagenbuch line is: Andreas (b. 1715) > John (b. 1763) > John Conrad (b. 1790) > John “Finis” Phineas (b. 1812) > John Ruckle (b. 1860) > Archie “Arch” Thomas (b. 1890) > Thomas “Tommy” Richard (b. 1932) who married Marian “Dolly” Grimes. Interestingly, Tommy wasn’t the only Hagenbuch in this family who married a Grimes. Three of his sisters did too, and two of those Grimeses were Dolly’s brothers. They were the children of Herbert Weldon and Florence (Darnell) Grimes.

Mae (Snyder) Hagenbuch with her seven living children: Doris, Anne, Tommy, Gladys, Alva, Raymond, and Grace, 1968

In other words, three Hagenbuch siblings married three Grimes siblings! Thomas “Tommy” Hagenbuch married Marian “Dolly” Grimes; Helen Anne Hagenbuch married Leonard Grimes, and Doris “Dick” Virginia married Shirley Grimes. Benjamin Grimes, who married Gladys Cecilla Hagenbuch, was undoubtedly a cousin to the other Grimes siblings. According to Dolly’s obituary, there are a number of Hagenbuchs still living in or near Loudoun County, VA including her son, Richard “Ricky” Thomas Hagenbuch and grandson, Tyler “Andy” Hagenbuch. Still others in this family group have relocated to North Carolina.

While working on this article, I remembered that I previously wrote about Arch Thomas’ brother, John Wilmer, and his wish to be home for Christmas in 1976. John died a few years later and is buried in Bucks County, PA not far from where I live. He is in a plot with his daughter’s family at Neshaminy Cemetery, Hartsville, PA. In October of 2020, I visited this cemetery in an attempt to find John Wilmer’s grave, but I was unable to locate it. Now it sounds like another trip will be in store!

Without a doubt, obituaries are useful to genealogists. When published online, they can be easily found by relatives and researchers alike. Thanks to the obituary of Marian “Dolly” (Grimes) Hagenbuch we are now able to place more Hagenbuchs, and several Grimeses, on our family tree.