John E. Sharp

Director, Mennonite Church USA Historical
Committe & Archives (Goshen and North Newton)
Editor, Mennonite Historical Bulletin

Family
Michele Miller Sharp, PA-C, is a certified Physician Assistant working in family practice. Erin graduated from Goshen College last spring with a music ed degree. M.J. is a second-year student at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Laura is a senior at Bethany Christian High School.

Research Project

A personal project has been researching the extraordinary life and career of Solomon Zook Sharp, 1835-1931. 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 Church of the Brethren. Under the cover of darkness with $50 in his pocket, 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 had become the founding president of three colleges. He also heard the Gettysburg Address, collected fossils for the Smithsonian, attempted numerous ill-fated entrepreneurial ventures, wrote several books, and died--optimistic to the end--at age 95. Follow this link to Solomon and Salome: A Chronology, 1835-1931.