75th Reunion Coming for Five-Generation Valley Family
DEWART – A fifth generation Valley family knows heritage and family matter…their gearing up for the 75th anniversary family reunion this weekend. The Hagenbuchs will gather in the Dewart area, at the Delaware Run Lutheran Church this Saturday. The reunion will include a cemetery tour and a presentation, ‘One Family Together.’
“Over the years, my father and I have made contact with members of our family that are all connected together from when we first came here from Europe in 1737 and I’m gonna discuss the different people we met along the way. Some of them are actually going to be at the reunion,” Andrew Hagenbuch said, who created the presentation.
He and his father, Mark Hagenbuch, have worked on the farming family’s genealogy for years, culminating in 400 articles since 2014. Those stories are posted on their website, Hagenbuch.org. They’ve also created another website, beechroots.com, which includes over 5,000 names in the family tree.
Mark Hagenbuch says he was inspired by his great Uncle Percy, or ‘Uncle Perse,’ “I was very fortunate that he latched on to me as a young boy and we would walk through the graveyard at Oak Grove Lutheran Church (in Danville) where most of us went to church, and told me stories about the people who were buried there. That instilled in me a sense of heritage which I kept throughout the years.”
Andrew Hagenbuch says he was named after his sixth great grandfather, Andreas, who came to Pennsylvania from Germany in 1737, “Knowing that made me curious about history, but it also showed me I have little to be afraid of. Andres left behind everything. He probably had a few connections, but not many, and yet he thrived and built a family here.”
This weekend’s reunion also includes a German prayer service, a cemetery tour and pot luck luncheon. You can hear much more about the Hagenbuch’s centuries-filled story on the WKOK.com Podcast Page, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
