John E. Sharp
Director, Historical Committee & Archives of the Mennonite
Church
Editor, Mennonite Historical Bulletin
Since 1995 I have served in these roles and have lived in Elkhart County, Indiana. Earlier I served as pastor in Kansas and Pennsylvania for 15 years. Michele Miller Sharp, PA-C, is a certified Physician Assistant working in family practice. Erin is a second-year music education major at Goshen College. M.J. and Laura are students at Bethany Christian High School.
A sideline of mine
has been researching the fascinating life and career of Solomon
Zook Sharp, 1835-1931 (a distant relative). Born the tenth
child of an Amish family in the Kishacoquillas Valley, Huntingdon
County, Pennsylvania, who only rarely attended school, he became
a educational pioneer in the German Baptist Brethren Church (Church
of the Brethren). Under the cover of darkness with $50 saved from
making and selling baskets, Solomon stole away from home to study
at the Pennsylvania Normal School, Millersville, Pa. This was
the beginning of a lifelong passion for learning and teaching.
By the time he was 65, Solomon became the founding president of
four educational enterprises. He also heard the Gettysburg
Address, collected fossils for the Smithsonian, walked up
Pike's Peak at age 88, attempted numerous ill-fated entrepreneurial
ventures, wrote a few books and many articles, and died--optimistic
to the end--at age 95. Follow this link to Solomon and Salome: A Chronology,
1835-1931.
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To contact me: 1700 South Main Street, Goshen, IN 46526 P: 219 535-7477 F: 219 535-7756 E: johnes@goshen.edu Home 416 Marilyn Avenue, Goshen, IN 46526 P: 219 534-6685 |
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