A big family. There must be descendants out there somewhere!
I recently posted a page about John Haselbacher of Michigan, an early settler to America who I found in a census report from 1870. I wondered where he came from and if other information was available. It did not take long for help to arrive from Greg Humphrey, a frequent and important contributor to these pages. Greg forwarded census reports for two additional years and amazingly a record from a Old Veterans Home! This makes a convincing connection to the John Hasselbacher of Michigan who was a veteran of the Civil War. Because that John was the recipient of a pension, we have a lead in the national archives in Washington where there is undoubtedly much important information to be found. I hope the next Hasselbacher to visit that archival treasury will copy the information for us.
1880 Census.
John is listed with inhabitants of Summerfield, Monroe County, Michigan.
• John V. Haselbacher, 53, a stonemason, born in Bavaria, is living with a large family.
• Anna, 44, wife born abt. 1836 in Hesse.
• Susan E., 23, born abt. 1857 in Ohio.
• Anthony, 14, born abt. 1866 in MI.
• Anna 13, born abt. 1867 in MI.
• John P., 11, born abt. 1869 in MI.
• Joseph, eight, born abt. 1872 in MI.
• Mary, six, born abt. 1874 in MI.
• Helen five, abt. 1875 in MI.
• Eda 2 born abt.11878 in MI.
There is such a gap in the ages of the two oldest children, that it is possible that Anna brought Susan to the marriage.
1900 census.
In the 1900 census, John V. Hasselbacher is living in a home for disabled volunteers in Jefferson Township, Montgomery County, Ohio. The name and age are correct. Another military record makes a connection back to Michigan so this is almost certainly the same person. Important additional information is provided.
• John V. Haselbacher, age 74, born May 1826, immigrated 1854, a naturalized citizen.
Old Soldiers Home.
Greg dug up a military record from an old soldiers home. We are told that John V. Haselbacher enlisted in the army December 24, 1863 in Company A of the Michigan Engineers. (A good place for a stone mason.) He was discharged in Detroit at the end of the war on May 2, 1865 to the Veterans Reserve Corps. We are told he had a disability for rheumatic problems and what may be bronchitis. He he enlisted in what I read as Larno City Michigan, which I cannot find. It looks like he was admitted to the home August 29, 1892. He died Jan 28, 1906.
Additional information in that record confirms that John was born in Germany and was a stonemason. However it gives his most recent residence as Pulaski, Tennessee. Additionally, a wife's name of Emma is given, living in Pulaski. If the name Emma is not an error, this would indicate that our John had a second marriage. Nonetheless, information was forwarded to a "daughter," [why was it placed in quotes?] Anna Haselbacher living in Dayton Ohio. A grave in section 6, row 4, number 5 is listed. This would appear to be on the grounds of the military home.
Old Stuff On My Computer.
I had several pages from a history of the First Regiment Michigan Engineer of the Civil War which mention a John Hasselbacher as an Engineer or Mechanic in Company A. In that entry he was said to be from Ogden. The dates are in agreement with those from the Old Soldiers Home.
From the history of the first Regiment Michigan engineers.
"Hasselbacher, John V., Enlisted in Company A, Engineers and Mechanics December 24,1863 at Ogden, for three years. Age 37. Mustered December 26, 1863. Transferred to the Veterans Reserve Corps, May 2, 1865. Discharged at Jackson, Michigan, September 28, 1865, from Company B, Second Regiment, Veterans Reserve Corps."
Disability and Widow's Pension
I had previously found an index entry in the military pension archives for a John Haselbacher of Michigan. 
His name and regiment check out. His disability pension was awarded in 1890 in what looks like Tennessee to me, two years before he appears in the old Soldiers Home in Ohio. A widow's pension is awarded in 1906, the year of his death, but a widow's name is given as Mary K. It does appear that John lived in Tennessee for a while later in life.
We have three names for "wives:" Anna, Emma, and Mary. The Pension Bureau had some rules about who could collect what. I forget the details, but it might have been that a widow's pension could only go to the war-time wife and not the most recent. Some payments were also given to young children. Applicants were put thorough hoops to prove who was who and whose children were still around. As today, there must have been obvious attempts at keeping the money coming. Recall that John had a daughter named Mary. Perhaps there was a reason that the name "Daughter" Anna is listed in the record discussed above.
The pension records in Washington are likely to give the names of John's parents, perhaps where he came from, and would almost certainly straighten out the wives and survivors issues raised here.
As a final comment, it appears that the spelling of the name settled out as Haselbacher with one 'S.' This has little or no bearing on how the name might have been originally spelled in Germany.
Here are the documents Greg Humphrey found that are referred to above. However, Greg did not stop there and unearthed additional information from Ohio, and about a few descendants. I will put that information on a different page. Unfortunately, these Haselbacher pages are growing like a New England farm house– one wing at a time!