Hachenberg was born in 1709 at Neuwied, the son of the town secretary Friedrich Wilhelm Hachenburg and Charlotte Albertine Bachoven.
He studied theology at the university of Marburg and the Gymnasium Illustre of Bremen, and started his working career in Jemgum in East Friesland, Germany, probably as a reformed parson.
On 10 September 1740 the government of the town of Wageningen appointed Hachenberg to the post of rector of the local Latin School.
His predecessor Clement Olpe had unexpectedly died in August, and the city council feared that the '10 or 12 disciples' from other places would leave town if a new rector did not arrive soon.
Those extras must have been considerable, for even an offer in 1761 to become rector of the Latin School in Dordrecht, with a salary of no less than 1300 guilders, could not persuade Hachenberg to leave Wageningen.