In a message dated 11/5/02 2:59:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, FHagan@techcomm.net writes: > Hi Liz, > Thank you for this information. I and my cousins suspect the origins of our > Hagan line was German rather than Irish even though some of our now dead > relatives would turn over in their graves to learn they were not Irish. We > just cannot prove it. I have found the name spelled Hagen several times and > I understand this is the German spelling. I have not looked in West > Virginia as a source of travel to Frederick but will do so now. > Fred Fred- I don't know--I could buy HAGEN begin German--in fact, I find a Christian Hagen listed on the PA German ship arrival lists in 1750, arriving on the Sandwich (he signed with a mark X). I suspect, since he is listed along with an Anthony Hachen and Julius Hachen who did sign their own names, that the original spelling for this family name is Hachen. As for similar names appearing in Catholic records--I find a William Hagen and Elizabeth Young as sponsors at the marriage of Barnabas McMollen and Elizabeth Right at Conewago Chapel in Adams County, PA, in 1796. My difficulty in accepting that your HAGAN ancestor is German lies more with the given name Francis--I have never seen a German in the mid 1700s (when the family would be recent arrivals) with the given name Francis. Joan