My roadblock is Andrew Sharp, born April 5, 1790 in New York died Feb 1 1869 in Genoa Twp MI.

Question

He must have been from a German family as the family legend is he was "Dutch", one son's census record lists his father as being born in Holland. I think that's a misunderstanding of Deutsch-Dutch. His death record lists his parents as Richard and Leah. I have census records from the time they moved to MI in the 1840's His wife was Hannah Stedman from Connecticut. Her brother and his family accompanied them to MI. The biggest clue I have is a baptism record from 1793 of Andreas and Maria Sharpp children of Richard and Lea Sharpp in Herkimer NY. That's a heavily Palatine German area. I don't know how to go about researching when they probably changed their name. Any suggestions?

Comments

I have done a little research on that family. I am exploring (but have not proven) that my 2g grandfather (John Sharp b 1805 NY State) is from the Dutch and/or Palatine communities of Columbia or Greene County. Currently it appears he was the second named "John Sharp" of Johannes Scherp and Bata VanAlen (their first son, John Sharp, died in infancy and is buried in Ernestown, Bath, Ontario, Canada - this is the line that is poplulary followed back to Andries Hans Scherp, the Swedish soldier (1640-1720) who was on a ship bound for New Sweden that landed in New Amsterdam - where he and a number of the passengers preferred to remain over the wilderness of New Sweden. I won't list everything I've got on this family - they are well represented in pubic family genealogies.  However, I have found it difficult to separate the Palatine origins from the Dutch. I have 3 Andrews Scherp/Sharp's in that family line. 

I've also traced back the Sharp Patine line - wel. documented by D. A .Sharpe of Texas, and goes back to Otto Scherp in Laubenheim. That family settled with other Palatine Germans in England, and then on to Livingston (Germantown), where Jacob Scherp settled. They freely intermarried with Dutch and English over the years. no wonder you are having difficulty.

Since I cannot confirm this line, I've also followed my grandparents' (from Michigan) anecdotal story that the "family line"descends from an Andrew Sharp,

That led me to your post. Our family tradition (no proof here!), is his father came from Scotland, his son was James, who moved to Pennsylvania as part of the Mercer County or Pittsburg Sharps. There is an Andrew in both of those lines. But I can't find my 2g grandfather among either of them. There is also the Andrew from the  Clackmannanshire, Scotland - they settled in New Jersey, 

Sorry I can't be of more help. WikiTree is new to me, and I apologize if this post (my first) is inappropriate.

Jack

 

Answer 1

That you have two records that support his parents being Richard and Leah is pretty strong evidence. Where's the baptism record from? I see from the 1850 census, that Andrew named one of his sons Richard.

I wouldn't worry too much about how they spelled their name. Back then, the spelling of names was no where near as consistent as name-spelling became after 1900. I've seen the same family spelled multiple ways in a given life time. If the pastor changed, the spelling changed; census takers would spell names the way they heard them.

I looked for any Sharp(p)s in Herkimer, NY in the 1850; didn't see any(*); in 1840 there were three Sharp families in Little Falls, Herkimer Co.: -- Henry, Peter and Peter. So you might want to explore what records are available from that area. Little Falls is only 7 miles from Herkimer.

If I were you, I'd be checking out probate indexes in Herkimer County to see if there were any Sharps-- especially Richard or Leah-- who may have left an estate. Land deeds are another possibility. These and other records have been mircrofilmed by the LDS and can be rented at a local LDS family history center.

See what's possible:

https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/results#count=20&query=%2Bplace%3A%22New%20York,%20Herkimer%22&subjectsOpen=789692-50,393607-50

Good luck!

 

(*)CORRECTION: they're are a bunch of them, including some born around the same time as Andrew. The name is spelled Sharpe with an 'e'.

Comments

Thank you Jillian for your work. I had assumed that my issue is Richard and Leah started out with a whole different spelling. Like Schwarp or Scharpsteen since I hadn't found anything for them online under Sharp. I know Sharp/e is pretty flexible, even know decendents of Andrew and Hannah are split. I will definately persue the probate records..

 

                                  jen

Answer 2

Andrew Sr  and Hannah Stedman Sharp are both buried in Chilson Hills Cemetery as is and Andrew Jr, among others. Someone posted a death certificate and memorial on the Findagrave site for Andrew Jr., the death certificate shows Andrew, SR was born in Holland, and Hannah born in New York. However, the 1850 mortality schedules (available via Ancestry.com) show Hannah as being born in Massachusetts. A vital record for Tyringham, MA, shows Hannah daughter of William Stedman, Jr., and Mary his wfie born June 22 or 23  (difficult to read), 1798.

Tombstone Monuments for Andrew Sr., and Hannah Stedman Sharp at: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=56027539

A birth record is recorded for Hannah and available via Ancestry.com at:http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=2495&path=Tyringham.Births%2c+Marriages+and+Death.40&sid=&gskw=Hannah+Stedman.

You can navigate to siblings listed on Findagrave site, and see that William Stedman Sharp, one of Andrew' Jr's siblings served in the Civil War, so I suggest you search William Sharp via www.fold3.com because he/his widow or children may have filed an application for pension, which may provide additional information as to his birth and parentage.  Note: Fold3 is a fee based subscription.