There is an old adage that one knows he is being talked about when one’s ear itches. My ears just twitched.
Unless Buck knows another “gentlemen” quoting this particular Haga expertise, I suspect he may be referring to me. If so, Buck can confirm or deny my claim to that information.
In any case, I do offer this expansion of the information Buck tells so well. Haga – as we will refer to him is actually named Wolfgang Hagens – not Hachem, Hachen, Hagi, Haga or some other creation of his name. Granted, he is well recorded in Berks County records as a gunsmith as Haga, or Hagen, and his “factory” explosion reported in the Reading Adler says he was a gunsmith on 4th Street, Reading. But we know the constant alteration of spelling names in 18th Century America should be considered.
I say his name is Hagens after some diligent research, when I found that he was a Deacon in the Schwartzwald Church in Exeter Township. I visited the church and the preacher told me no Haga was listed in their roles-but they did have an Elizabeth and Wolfgang Hagens listed. Needless to say, the standing church was certainly not the one Hagens attended. That original 18th century structure was across the street, and when the new church was built, they had to either move or destroy the gravesites. With no room at the new church’s cemetery some 30 gravestones were moved or eliminated. The preacher did not know where any of them were.
A year or so later when searching a cemetery in Lancaster looking for the grave of Peter Gonter, I instead ran across Gonter’s wife’s headstone right next to two separate stones: One engraved Wolfgang Hagens and next to it, Elizabeth Hagens. Both were of the same ornate carved design about 4’ high in a dark grey stone more typically found in Berks County. It seems Daughter had her parent’s stones moved to Lancaster to be next to her. Even in this Lancaster cemetery (with Pres. Buchanan’s stone 10 feet away) the two stones were clearly made for a couple of substantial means, lending credence to Hagen’s success as a businessman. Incidentally, he owned some 3,000 + acres of land and two buildings + home around Reading. More on this later. Between those two Hagens stones and their daughter was a small flat lying stone almost obliterated. I took that as one of the children of Hagens or Gonter, given its insignificance to the other stones. Yes, it is possible that the daughter created the stones in Lancaster for her parents, but the known gunsmith’s daughter married to another gunsmith, Peter Gonter, didn’t just place her stone next to some strange couple. Remember the Reading church said the name was Hagens. I later found (and should have guessed) that Peter Gonter is buried in the Moravian cemetery in nearby Lititz. Gonter is shown as “son-in-law” on Wolfgang Hagens will, further proof of his connection.
I have photos of these sites among my 4,000+ gun photos, but it will take some time to find them, if interested.
I knew the final nail in this research could be my suspicion that the Hagens’ stones were indeed brought from Reading as a result of the Schwaldzwald church’s move. I contacted a local genealogist who was willing to go to the Lancaster cemetery and give me his opinion. Sure enough, he said the two Hagens headstones were not carved from Lancaster County’s indigenous stone and probably came from stone north of Lancaster- like the Berks/Lehigh/Schuylkill County mountains.
Conclusion: Why would two people named Hagens be buried next to their daughter who was married to Peter Gonter, another gunsmith (likely trained by Wolfgang). And would they not know their own name? And wouldn’t the daughter know how her Father and Mother’s name was spelled? And what are the chances that another couple with a gunsmith husband by the name of Hagens is buried next to their daughter? It fits too well to ever again call the elusive Reading gunsmith - anything but Wolfgang Hagens.
Most of the above is from my perpetual project for another Berks County book, so I would like to continue this Hagens story and address the Morphy rifles and attributions in another segment if you’re not too bored yet.
By the way, I only today found I was previously asked to weigh in on Gideon Angstadt - maybe next time.
Patrick Hornberger
