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Solomon and Salome:
A Chronology, 1835-1931
by John E. Sharp, Goshen,
Indiana, December 1999
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1835-1855, Pennsylvania—Airydale,
Huntingdon County (Kishacoquillas Valley)
- 1835--Born December 21, tenth and last child
of Solomon (1792-1871) and Magdalena (1798-1870) Zook Sharp,
near Airydale, Huntingdon
County, Pa.; fifth-generation descendant of immigrant Moritz
Zug; siblings: Hannah (1816-1903), Jacob (1818-1886), Sarah (1821-1853),
Lydia (1823-1860), Martha (1824-1901), John (1826-1890), Samuel
(1828-1898), Jonathan (1832-1832), and Catherine (1833-)
Left: Tommy Prugh at SZS's
birthplace, August 1999. Center: Barn built by SZS's father,
S[olomon] S[harp] in 1839. Right: Gravestone of SZS' father,
Allensville Mennonite Cemetery
1855-1867, Pennsylvania—Kishacoquillas
Valley area and Millersville
- Teacher and principal in public
schools at McVeytown, left home against his parents wishes to
study at Pennsylvania State Normal School,
Millersville, Lancaster
County
- 1860--Graduated, B.E. degree, Pennsylvania
State Normal School, Millersville (pictured at right)
- 1860--At sister Lydia’s death bed was
reconciled with parents who opposed his desire for higher education
- 1860--September, was baptized and joined
Spring Run German Baptist Brethren (Dunker) Church, McVeytown;
this church had its origin in a Pietist renewal movement in Germany
when Alexander Mack baptized the first members by immersion in
a river near Schwartzenau, 1708
- 1860--Purchased the Kishacoquillas
Seminary with money borrowed from his brothers; served as principal
and teacher; He said of this experience: I "taught forty-five
years, was connected as chairman of the faculty or president
of four of the Brethren colleges, all of which passed through
a baptism of fire, but in none of which was the fire hotter,
nor the difficulties to be overcome greater than at this first
effort to establish a high school at Kishacoquillas" (Bicentennial
Address, Des Moines, 1908).
- 1861--April 1 classes opened with 36 students
Left: Tommy Prugh at Kishacoquillas,
August 1999
- 1861--Drafted for service in the Union army,
but paid $300 exemption fee as conscientious objector to war
(20 months wages at average wage of 50 cents per day); later
he reflected: "While many professed Christians met each
other on the field of battle, and thrust the bayonets into each
other’s hearts, our Brethren, North and South, met each
other with the right hand of fellowship and the salutation of
the kiss of peace."
- 1862--Ordained minister, Spring Run German
Baptist Brethren Church, McVeytown
- 1862--April 15, Married Salome Zook, former
student and daughter of Shem and Veronica "Fannie"
(Yoder) Zook; born March 21,1839; married by Elder Joseph Hanawalt
- 1863--Agnes born
- 1863--July, walked to the Gettysburg battlefield,
saw the dead gathered and hauled off by wagon teams commandeered
from neighboring farms for burial, Confederates in mass graves;
November 19, attended the dedication of the Gettysburg National
Cemetery, heard Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address; before
he died he was listed by Ripley’s Believe it or Not
newspaper column as the last living person to have heard the
Gettysburg Address
- 1863--Graduated, M.E. degree, Pennsylvania
State Normal School, Millersville
- 1865--April 9, Anna born (the day Lee surrendered
at Appamattox) Anna named herself "Annie Laurie" from
the poem so named by Robert Burns, whom she admired:
Annie
Laurie by Robert Burns
Maxwellton braes are bonnie, Where early fa's
the dew,
And 'twas there that Annie Laurie Gave me her promise true.
Gave me her promise true, Which ne'er forgot will be,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie, I lay me doon and dee.
Her brow is like the snowdrift, Her throat is like a swan,
Her face it is the fairest That e'er the sun shone on.
That e'er the sun shone on, And dark blue is her ee,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie I lay me doon and dee.
Like dew on th' gowan lying, Is the fa' o' her fairy feet,
And like winds in summer sighing Her voice is low and sweet.
Her voice is low and sweet, And she's a' the world to me,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie, I lay me doon and dee.
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- 1866--Sold Kishacoquillas Seminary
- 1866--September 30, Horace born
- 1866-1867--Taught, Pennsylvania State Normal
School, Millersville
- 1867--March 27, Horace died (age 5 months,
27 days), buried Locust Grove Cemetery, Belleville
During this era he earned his first degrees, bought and ran a
teacher’s training school, was ordained, married, had three
children and buried one; studied languages under a fellow instructor
at the Kishacoquillas Seminary, a former teacher at Princeton
University and studied Bible by correspondence from Boston School
of the Bible; witnessed the Gettysburg events; preached regularly
every three weeks at McAlevys Fort, across Stone Mountain, 1862-1865;
attended his first General Conference of the German Baptist Brethren
Church, and there met Elder John Kline of the Shendandoah Valley
in Virginia, who was later murdered by a Confederate soldier;
When he heard the news of an oil strike in Titusville, Pa, SZS
with a number of others, pooled resources and drilled the second
well with a kick drill, but struck no oil. The lack of additional
resources ended their search for black gold, which later produced
a fabulously wealthy Rockefeller legacy.
1867-1877, Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee
- 1867-1874--Principal, New Providence Institute,
Maryville, Tennessee
- 1868--Ordained elder by George W. Dove and
Samuel Molsbee, Oak Grove church
- 1869--Theodore Solomon
born August 15
- 1873--Agnes, age 10, died from eating poisonous
berries in the mountains where the family had gone to escape
the heat
- 1874-1877--Professor of German and Bookkeeping
and Superintendent of the Normal Department, Maryville College
(his institute became incorporated into Maryville College)
- 1874--Maurice A. born
- 1875--Grace born
- 1875--Graduated, A.M. degree, Jefferson College,
Washington, Pennsylvania
- 1876--Grace died, age 1
While living here he studied conchology, University
of Cincinnati, and collected specimens for the Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.; studied geology at Vanderbilt University and
Harvard University; made geological surveys in Kentucky, Tennessee
and South Carolina; elected member of the Association for the
Advancement of Science; founded the Oak Grove congregation, financed
building of a meetinghouse; after ordination as elder he exercised
oversight of a congregation in Oakland; three children were born,
two died, both his parents died.
1877-1881 Ashland, Ohio
- 1877-1878--Traveled, raising funds and goodwill
for the new school
- 1879-1881--Founding President, Ashland
(Ohio) College, Professor of Moral and Mental Science
- 1879--Published first Sunday school lessons
Our Sunday School, March 26; founded the Brethren Quarterly
and the weekly periodical, The Gospel Preacher
- September, opened school with 60 students
- Resigned after two years when the Dunker
Church split and "progressives" (the Brethren Church)
took over the school; SZS identified with the moderate branch,
now known as the Church of the Brethren, a name he proposed in
1908; a still more conservative branch, carries the older name,
German Baptist Brethren or Dunker Brethren.
1881-1887 Mount Morris, Ogle County, Illinois
- Professor of Mental and Moral Science and
chairman of the faculty (one year), Mount
Morris (Illinois) College
- 1887--June 15, Annie
Laurie married Benjamin G. Davis, Mt. Morris, Illinois; moved
to Takoma Park, Montgomery County, Maryland, 1895; Ben worked
in the War Department; clerk and treasurer, town of Takoma Park,
1901-1925; chief clerk, State Department, Secretary to William
Jennings Bryan, 1913-1924; move to Cuba, 1924; Chief Dispensing
Officer, Havana, Cuba, 1925; moved back to Takoma Park, became
Assistant Cashier, Takoma Park Bank; mayor, Takoma Park, 1926-1932;
appointed Montgomery County Commissioner, 1932; Washington Suburban
Sanitary Commission, 1935; died 1946, age 80; Annie died, June
15, 1958, age 93;
Above left: Linda, Jeff
Goldbeck, 1988. Center: Four generations--Anna Sharp Davis, Mary
Davis Prugh holding Tommy Prugh and SZS. Right: Tommy and Lorraine
Prugh, Carolyn
and John Prugh, 1999.
During this time he founded and edited the
Sunday School Quarterly; during summer vacations he studied
elocution, oratory and French in Chicago; founded education meetings
held at the times of the annual General Conference sessions; pastor
of congregation at Lanark, Carroll County; his only living daughter,
Annie, was married.
1887-1897
McPherson, Kansas 
- Founding President and professor
of Mental and Moral Science and Bible History McPherson
(Kansas) College
- 1888--September 5, opened classes with 60
students
- 1889--Awarded L.L.D. (honorary degree), Mt.
Morris (Illinois) College
- 1890--Theodore, began service as Superintendent
of Indian Reservation, U. S. Civil Service, Ft. Apache, Arizona;
was sent there because he had developed a cough and feared it
was tuberculosis, arid climate was thought to be good antidote
for TB; left after five years, because he refused a direct order
to sign leases giving away mining rights; he believed it was
a crooked deal and that the Indians would suffer as a result;
moved to Washington, D.C., lived with sister Annie Davis, worked
as clerk in the Navy Department; reentered Indian Affairs, Winnebago
Reservation, Walthill, Nebraska until 1908; married 1902, McPherson,
Kansas; Margaret was born,1907; Nez Perce Resevation, Fort Lapwai,
Idaho, Ted K. Born, 1909; year-long research/survey of Oklahoma
Indians, 1915, family lived in Long Beach, California to avoid
TB, which was rampant among the tribes; Flathead Reservation,
Dixon, Montana, 40 miles northwest of Missoula, 1917-1920; was shot to death, July 24, 1920,
Ravalli, Montana, age 51
Sharp Administration Building,
McPherson College named for its founding president (above right).
- 1894--appointed state geologist (1894-1897)
R. E Mohler, who later joined the faculty, commented on SZS's
wide range of interests in an unpublished manuscript when he
noted that the president "was by training a psychologist
and theologian yet it seems that at heart he was a naturalist
with a special interest in geology. I personally was told by
Dr. H. J. Harnly that at least two specimens that are today in
the museum were placed there by President Sharp, the two specimens
are a fossil fish from the cretacious chalk beds of western Kansas
(Museum number 67-13-27) and the other was slab well marked with
dendrites which was found in the Dakota sandstone of northeast
McPherson County (Museum number 67-13-67)."
- 1894--April 2, Maurice died of "consumption"
(tuberculosis), age 20, buried McPherson, Kansas; described by
his sister as "brilliant"; "Died at his home on
College Hill . . . Maurice A. Sharp. . . . For a long time Maurice
had been suffering from consumption. Sometimes, there would be
an apparent improvement and his parents and friends would have
hopes of his recovery. But the disease was really unchecked,
and at last his strength gave way and he fell asleep" (McPherson
Republican, April 6, 1894).
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- Gravestones of Maurice (1894),
Salome (1920), Theodore (1920), Solomon (1931) and Margaret 1962),
McPherson.
- 1897--After nine years as president, SZS
resigned under pressure. Financial support did not materialize
as the city had promised and Brethren from the east did not flock
to Kansas has had been hoped. The president became the scapegoat
for the apparent failure of the fledgling college. Some members
of both the trustees and the faculty were of the opinion "that
President Sharp was not equal to the task before him, and that
he should tender his resignation." Professor H.J. Harnly
was among those who were critical. In an interview by R. E. Mohler,
Harnly said (in Mohler's words), "Professor S.Z. Sharp who
was so completely trusted and admired by his church, was one
with 'Feet of Clay'. His fellowship and activities with Mr. Bass
(agent of A. Bass Real Estate Company, who was to sell lots)
very soon took on a somewhat cloudy appearance, and his actual
ability as a leader was far from good. After a very short time,
those closest to the college would have been very happy to have
secured a different leader, but it seems that he was so completely
engulfed by the "machine" that to unlodge him was nearly
impossible." Harnly reported that SZS had started at least
6 schools (actually there were 3) before coming to McPherson
and that his tenure with each had been short. He was further
of the opinion that "his character shows just a bit by his
actions after being dismissed from McPherson by his attempted
establishing of Plattsburg College for the sole purpose of destroying
McPherson College."
Mohler , in a more measured tone, noted "It would not have
been possible at this time to get a true evaluation of S. Z .Sharp
by friends of McPherson, but it is fortunate that he lived to
the very ripe old age of 95, and that he had opportunity to show
his real self, as he seemed to hold no bitterness against McPherson,
and in fact served as a trustee for a number of years. Sharp
was truly quite an educator for his day, and had great dreams
hopeful that the Brethren might make a real contribution to the
educational world. His closing years were spent at Grand Junction,
Colorado where he operated a small vegetable acreage, and continued
to the end to be quite a church and community leader. "
In an effort to present a balanced assessment of both strengths
and weaknesses, Mohler wrote, "President S. Z. Sharp . .
. was a talented man and far better educated than one would have
expected to find in the Church of the Brethren at that time,
as they were largely a rural people and the majority had not
been given very wide educational experiences. He possessed boundless
energy and enthusiasm and a great desire to be a leader. He was,
however, a bit weak in the fine art of working with people and
serving as a leader, this latter trait was much in evidence as
one reviews his history in the number of colleges in which he
worked. He tenure was generally quite brief, and his popularity
among those with whom he worked was not too good."
During this era SZS was recognized by the Kansas
Board of Education for excellence in teacher training; was elected
to the state historical society and the Kansas Academy of Science.
1897-1900 Plattsburg,
Missouri 
Founding President, Plattsburg
(Missouri) College
By
telegram, February 20, 1897, SZS was called to Plattsburg in northwest
Missouri to help launch a new school. At a public meeting at the
county courthouse on March 6, local citizens, some of whom were
members of the local German Baptist Brethren Church, decided to
take action. The Plattsburg College, already in existance, had
been operated since 1855 by local educator John Ellis, who now
wished to sell his enterprise. An executive committee was elected,
a contract was written, pledges were solicited and an agreement
for the purchase of the property was signed, naming SZS as trustee.
The contract stipulated that if the citizens of Plattsburg would
raise $10,000, the Brethren Church (local congregation, surrounding
districts and the general conference) would in five years equip
and endow the school with $50,000, as well as improve the property
by adding buildings as needed.
Classes opened that fall. But trouble soon
erupted. Some Brethren opposed the school. In the district conference
meeting of 1900, a letter was read threatening a law suit against
SZS and the Brethren Church. The threat deterred students from
enrolling for the fall term. A significant number of non-Brethren
Plattsburg citizens were persuaded to join the opposition, including
the majority of the executive committee. The law suit was indeed
filed (F.
M. Riley, et.al. vs Solomon Z. Sharp, et al.,
Case Number 123, in the Circuit Court
of Clinton County, Missouri, January Term, 1901), charging SZS
with fraud and deception. The plaintiffs claimed that SZS was
not an educator, was not an elder of the Brethren Church, had
no authority to operate a school for the Church, and was running
a purely private venture for personal profit. Therefore, the plaintiffs
demanded the property be sold and the money divided among themselves.
During SZS's deposition, April 9, 1901, he
testified that all charges brought against him were false, that
he had been fulfilling his end of the contract, that he had, indeed,
operated other educational institutions on behalf the Brethren
Church in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois and Kansas.
He further testified that malicious rumors had been set afloat
to discredit him and that the perpetrators of those rumors were
at that moment under indictment to be tried by a committee of
the General Conference of the German Baptist Brethren Church.
Furthermore, the plaintiffs had not fulfilled their obligations
under the contract to first raise the $10,000. Inspite of that,
a dormitory had been built and all promised courses had been offered
and a full faculty had been procurred. Regarding the Church's
interest, he reported that each of the surrounding districts had
elected a representative to the school, and that the local congregation
had endorsed a petition of the trustees to the general conference
that a board of visitors be appointed. Furthermore, $58,000 had
been contributed toward the endowment, but when Plattsburg citizens
failed to contribute the specified $10,000, the money had been
given to the denomination's mission board instead.
Judge A. D. Burner ruled in favor of the defendants
and cleared SZS of any wrongdoing. He said the plaintiffs had
failed to prove the charges, had failed to cite a single case
to support their claims, and had no rights to the "relief"
(financial settlement) they demanded.
By this time, however, much goodwill and financial
backing had eroded, the school had been closed and SZS had left
Missouri and it's ill-fated Plattsburg College. In an address
in 1908, the bicentinnal year of the Brethren Church's founding,
SZS stated simply and undramatically "The management decided,
on account of the strong oppostition, to close the school."
Surely the sting of the Plattsburg controversey led him to the
relative isolation of western Colorado, where he lived another
31 years. SZS's distinguished career of founding educational institutions
came to an abrupt end. But his passion for education continued
through his preaching and teaching in congregational and confernce
settings, his service as a trustee of McPherson College and his
contributions to church periodicals.
1900-1931, Fruita, Colorado
- 1900--Purchased 640 acres, Fruita,
Mesa County, Colorado; President, Grande Valley Oil Association
- 1902--November 26, Theodore married Margaret
Effa Kuns, McPherson, Kansas; she studied medicine at Stanford
University; graduated from Northwestern University School of
Speech
- 1907--Margaret Catherine born to Theodore
and Margaret; married David Z. Williams; died 1996, Bellingham,
Washington
- 1909--September 26, Ted K. (Theodore Kuns)
born to Theodore and Margaret Effa (Kuns) Sharp, Ft. Lapwai,
Idaho; married Alice Lucille Canter, Washington, D.C., 1934;
married second, Mildred Reddick
- 1910--Published New Testament Baptism
Margaret Kuns Sharp, 1912. |
Theodore Sharp, 1912. |
Solomon and Salome with
grandchildren Ted and Margaret, 1912. |
Ted, Ft. Lapwai, Idaho. |
- 1920--July 2, Salome Zook Sharp, 81, died,
Fruita, Colorado, buried McPherson, Kansas
- 1920--July 24, Theodore, 51, shot
and killed by "sub-agent" at Ravalli, Montana
- 1923--Published The Educational History
of the Church of the Brethren, Brethren Press, Elgin, Illinois
- Awarded D.D. (honorary degree), McPherson
(Kansas) College
- 1931--Died August 8, Fruita Colorado, result
of car-buggy accident two weeks earlier; while driving his horse,
"Daisy" to church on a Sunday morning was struck by
a reckless driver of a car; funeral services, Fruita, Colorado
and McPherson, Kansas; burial, McPherson, Kansas
SZS apparently formed the Grande Valley Oil Association, hoping
to gain profit from oil that could lie beneath the surface of
his land. There is no evidence of any such profit. Presumably
he sold off portions of his property, since later, as Ted recalls,
his grandfather owned only 80 acres on which he attempted to
raise Alfalfa hay. About half of the acerage was ruined by alkalai,
which came to the surface through saturation irrigation. In another
ill-fated venture, SZS filed a claim on public lands at Book
Cliffs to mine the seams of coal it contained, sandwiched between
layers of limestone like the pages of a book. Although he was
warned about the dishonesty of the mine manager he hired, he
chose to trust his own judgement. When a friend in McPherson
ordered a train car load of lump coal, and received mostly slag
instead, SZS sadly discovered that his profits were being swindled
away by his manager. The final venture was a claim filed to drill
for oil or gas in northwestern Colorado. Solomon's long life
came to a close before he received any return on his investment.
Since none of his entrepreneurial enterprises rewarded rewarded
him, his financial resources were meager. As a result of Theodore's
death in 1920, SZS received a government death benefit of $10
monthly until after his ninety-third birthday. Government statistical
charts of life expectancy did not reach any higher. Ted recalls
that his mother helped when she could; she had Theodore's business
suits altered for her father-in-law. On SZS's occasional visits
to Margaret's home in Lawrence, Kansas, she connived to get his
gravy-stained suit off so it could be cleaned.
Though his business ventures were disappointing, SZS's interest
in his beloved church never waned. Ted remembers that his grandfather
usually scraped enough money together to travel to the annual
general conferences held in various parts of the country. He
also spent several witners in California, where he was later
eulogized by the members of his LaVale Sunday school class. Another
passion that seemed to continue unabated was his passion for
reading and writing--letters to friends and articles for the
church papers. Unfortunately few letters have survived, but his
many articles on matters of doctrine and practice can be found
in church periodicals in various Church of the Brethren archives.
It is abundantly evident, despite whatever his portion of human
weaknesses may have been, SZS gained emense respect and admiration.
One expression of honor is the following poem written by pastor
Russell Green West. The adjoining photo, taken during a visit
to his native Kishacoquillas Valley, gives a visual representation
of the strength of an oak tree that has endured much and has
weathered well.
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What Went Ye Out To See?
Behold, what went ye out to see?
A man in soft array?
If that is what you seek to find,
Just look some other way.
Behold what went ye out to see?
Some bruised and shaken reed?
Then do not view this sturdy oak,
But seek some worthless weed.
Behold, what went ye out to see?
A rugged mountain high?
Then I have found a snow-crowned peak
That juts into the sky.
Behold, what went ye out to see?
A prophet, tried and true?
Then lift your hat to Brother Sharp,
This lad of 92!
--Russell Green West |
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