Items of Interest or Fun

   
 

Make sure you look at the "What's New" page and "Family Blog" to find new material that is not easily indexed elsewhere.  There is a lot!

Reading and Translating Old German Documents

Some of the resources I use, including alphabets in the old script.

Emigrants from the Aischgrund

A consideration of how difficult it can be to trace the passage of immigrants.  A look at a wonderful new book, some immigration documents, and a consideration of some of the pressures that might lead to emigration.  Aischgrund refers to inhabitants of the valley of the river Aisch: our ancestral homeland in Germany.

Pronunciation

How Do We Pronounce Our Name?   A discussion of how Hasselbacher is pronounced.  Some audio clips of native German speakers pronouncing our names is included.

Entering Valhalla

An old photograph I found in the effects of my grandfather, Conrad Hasselbacher, led to an interesting story involving some detective work and a visit to the place the photo was taken.  Conrad Hasselbacher was born in Nürnberg in 1894.  He served in the German Army in the opening days of the First World War in 1914.  He was wounded in the second month but remained in uniform for the duration.  He left a wartime diary and a dozen photographs of the experience.  These are fascinating in their own right and I hope to publish them. These web pages were originally in my personal family website and therefore have a different format. Use the links at the top of the page to go to other pages.

Old Family Painting of Nürnberg

The story (evolving) of a painting the humg in my grandparents home and had a more interesting story than I knew.

Wild Boar Killing in Haselbach

Not long after I reasoned that our name did not mean wild-boar-killer, I acquired an artifact that warmed my heart and boosted my ego.

Our Names

Over the past months I added discussions of "How we got our name," and "What our name means," and How do we spell our names and where do we live ."