Introduction

This little history shall give any future generations of this family Hackenberg knowledge of their ancestors, describing their character, birthplace, life and prominent movements with dates of year and months as far as possible.  Many people of the United States know nothing about their parents, about ½ know nothing about their grandparents and hardly 1/10 know anything about their great-grandparents, because people move and mix more (more divorces) in the U.S. than in the well settled and stable countries of Europe.  It will be divided as follows: 1) The history of the Hackenbergs in Europe, 2) The history of the Winchesters and, 3) The history of the Hackenbergs in Amerika.  The present family Hackenberg in Oregon near Rainier has been founded by the marriage of Josef Hackenberg and Mrs. Dora Wells (Winchester) on the 3 of June 1891 in Rainier.  It will certainly be interesting for our posterity to look back several centuries of family life in different generations, different conditions and countries.

Hoping my few lines may satisfy I am one of your Dadies.

Josef Rudolf Hackenberg

South Beaver, March 8, 1896

Above: Josef and Rudy, July 1, 1897

As we ponder our rapidly changing computerized world in the 21st century it is hard to visualize pioneer life at “South Beaver” over a hundred years ago when 36-year-old Josef Hackenberg sat at his desk, reached for his Ivy Leaf stationery, and with a firm hand wrote the “little history” of his European roots, and a brief sheet on the Winchesters.  There is no evidence that he wrote a section on the Hackenbergs in America; however, it is known that his brother William lived in Wheeling,West Virginia.

On that cold March day in 1896 as Josef let his mind wander back to his homeland, he and his wife Dora had three young children [Rudy, William, and baby Ina] and were settled in their shingled home Josef described on final homestead documentation as built of “lumber, 18’ x 18’, 3 rooms and kitchen, 7 doors, 7 windows, and habitable at all seasons of the year.”  The house, barn and other outbuildings were situated on a small creek flat adjacent to the neighboring Headlee property line and surrounded by young orchard trees just starting to produce.  Josef had a lot to show for his past 10 years of hard work.

Above: Original Doraville home in orchard circa June 1902. Left to right: Ina, Josef, Emma, Dora with baby Joe, and Rudy holding a puppy.

For Josef and his country neighbors in the 1890’s it was a time before Apiary Road and easy access to town.  There were few roads, no automobiles, no electricity, and no telephones or a way to readily communicate with family and friends in Rainier or surrounding communities.  Families were located by geographic designations such as “South Beaver Creek”, and homesteaders either walked or rode a horse on homestead trails through timber and windfalls to help one another, socialize, or procure provisions.  Josef made many journal notations of  “went to Rishers for flour”, or “went to Doan’s for butter”, etc.  

The accomplishments of Josef’s generation of hardy pioneers, both men and women, are now mostly forgotten, their deeds and names lost in time.  Through Josef’s journals, family letters, and newspaper articles we have a historical glimpse into a homesteader’s life in rural Oregon written by Josef himself.  Nothing is said of the contributions of pioneer women like Josef’s wife Dora who had to manage pregnancy and birth with little or no medical attention; i.e., Josef’s journal entry the day of Joe Jr’s birth “May 31, 1902: Hoed potatoes, 3:20 p.m. Joseph born”.  At times Dora and the children would be left isolated in the country when Josef was off for extended periods working in the logging camps, on the road crew, or pruning orchards. 

Above: “Mamma did not like to shoot a rifle, but like other pioneer women could use it if she had to.”
Daughter Ina, 1992