The Reverend John Sharpe, D.D.

1875-1957

 John Sharpe was born in Dundee, Scotland on September 25, 1875.  At age 5 John Sharpe lived with his parents and sisters in Dundee, Angus, Scotland at #1 Hospital Wind.  At age 15, John and family lived at 170 Hilltown Rd, where he was an Apprentice Compositor, according to the 1890 Census.

 

John set off on his own at the age of 17, when he sailed with 2-pieces of baggage in the Orlop Deck, the lowest deck of the ship, aboard the vessel State of Nebraska, from Glasgow Scotland to New Your City, arriving on July 6, 1892.  The Ship's Manifest lists Holyoke, MA as John's intended destination.  He worked his way through high school, Amherst College (Class of 1903), and the Auburn Theological Seminary (Class of 1906), in Auburn, NY.  He was Ordained in the Cayuga Presbytery in 1906, after which he was assigned as a minister in Nassau, Bahama Islands for one year.  The Interim Co-Director

Center for the Study of Theological Education at the Auburn Seminary, with whom I spoke, was surprised to learn of that appointment in her research on John Sharpe, as that would have been a highly unusual assignment.

 

John did Missionary work in the Adirondacks in 1906-1907.  John married Edna Josephine Hemingway on August 11, 1908 in Auburn.  In 1910.  He was working as a Presbyterian minister and residing with Edna in Sterling, Cayuga County, NY.  In that year of 1910, their first daughter, Madeline, was born.  The 1910 Federal Census listed them as married, ages 34 and 24, and living in Sterling, Cayuga County, New York.

 

By 1913, John, Edna, and Madelyn had moved to Cleveland, where Jeanne was born on December 7th.   Tragedy struck the young family shortly after Jeanne's birth, when Edna developed a Peritonitis infection and died on January 5, 2014.  John, having lost his wife and consequently being a single parent with 3-year old Madelyn and newborn infant Jeanne, arranged for Edna's family to care for the children, while he worked as a minister and put his life back together.  Jeanne and her sister, Madeline, spent more than three years in the Hemingway household in Auburn, when their Father and his new wife, Mary Adams Sharpe retrieved his daughters and returned to Ohio.

 

By 1920, the Sharpe family lived in Cadiz, Ohio, according to the 1920 Federal Census.  By 1930, the Sharpe family was well established, living on Indiana St. in Martins Ferry, Ohio on the banks of the Ohio River.  John was then the Minister of the First Presbyterian Church, at age 55; Mimi was 47; Madeline was 19; and Jeanne was 16.

 

In 1940, The College of Wooster, during their Commencement Exercises, awarded Dr. John Sharpe, DD, an Honorary Doctorate Degree.  In 1993, Great Granddaughter, Katherine Perry Hamm, entered The College of Wooster as a freshman.

 

In the July 22, 1950 edition of the publication, Presbyterian Life, Dr Sharpe was honored for his work with more than 200,000 children in Ohio coal country with the article entitled, "The Children's Bishop".   Click Here to read that article.

 

Click Here to view the Auburn Semi-Weekly journal, May 20, 1906 Article on the Class of 1906

 

A summary of John's pastoral work follows:

• Ordained Cayuga Presbytery - 1906

• Stated Supply, Nassau, Bahama Islands - 1906

• Missionary work, Adirondacks - 1906-1907

• Pastor, Fair Haven, NY - 1908-1911

• Associate Pastor, 1st Presbyterian Church, East Cleveland, OH - 1911-1914

• Superintendent of of Home Missions, Synod of Ohio, Steubenville, OH - 1914-1920

• Superintendent, New Era Movement, Buffalo, NY - 1920-1921

• Home Missions - Martin's Ferry, Ohio - 1921-1956

 

John Sharpe Died in Martin's Ferry, November 27, 1957