Four newspaper pieces from Sidney, Nebraska, tell the story of Joe’s parents: two obituaries of his father, Joseph Sharmer, from June 1898, when Joe was seven months old, and his mother Katie’s obituary and a notice from his school, from April 1907, when he was nine. Volunteers posted copies on Joseph’s and Katie’s Find a Grave memorials (Joseph, Katie); they are transcribed here as printed.
Each clipping is shown beside its transcription. Click a clipping to enlarge it.
SIDNEY TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1898, PAGE 1
DEATH OF JOSEPH SHARMER.
One of Sidney’s Oldest and Most Respected Citizens Passes Away.
The citizens of Sidney and Cheyenne county were called upon this week to mourn the demise of Joseph Sharmer, who died Tuesday afternoon at 2:2[3?] o’clock at the age of 69 years. The illness that brought on his death, cancer of the stomach, started about a year ago and from which he suffered greatly. He bore his sufferings cheerfully and in a manner befitting his sturdy character. He became unconscious about twenty-four hours before his death and he passed away calmly, painlessly and peacefully.
“Uncle Joe,” as he was intimately known was a man whom to know was to admire for his bluff and hearty manner. In all his extensive business career he had not an enemy that could say he was not a straight-forward man in all his dealing with his fellow man. He had but one way of doing business, and that way was honestly and fairly. In his money dealings with his friends he trusted them explecitly, as he wished to be trusted.
He was born in Germany in 1829, coming to America in 1847. He followed the sea for several years, going to California in 1853. He engaged in mining and stock raising and other business until 1869. He then removed to Nevada and engaged in stock raising until 1871, going to Brookville, Kansas, in that year. He followed the same business for three years, coming to Sidney in the spring of 1874. He brought stock here with him for a stock ranch. In February 1881 he, in partnership with J. S. Sutherland, opened up the Sidney Exchange Bank, Mr. Sharmer being president. They also owned a large wholesale and retail grocery store, which was run under the name of J. Sutherland & Co. They had a large warehouse on the north side of the Union Pacific and handled nearly all the freight for the Black Hills at that time. They had a large trade with the stock ranchers of the surrounding country. Mr. Sharmer had large interests in real estate here during this period.
November 10, 1884, Mr. Sharmer was married to Katherine O’Connor, who, with four children, Laura, Katherine, Josephine and Joseph, mourns the loss of a loving husband and father.
The funeral services were held at Catholic church, where a Requiem Mass was held for the reposal of his soul. The body was followed to the grave by a large concourse of his friends. At the cemetery the usual burial services of the Catholic church were held.
SECOND OBITUARY, JUNE 1898 (NEWSPAPER NOT IDENTIFIED)
JOSEPH SHARMER
On Tuesday, June 14th, 1898, at 2:30 P. M. at his home on 2nd street, surrounded by wife and four children, our esteemed and venerable townsman Joseph Sharmer passed from life below, to the arms of those whose duty it is to carry the departed spirits to the thrown of their maker. Mr. Sharmer was born near Holstine in Germany, May 25th, 1829. His early life was upon the seas as a ship carpenter, sailing to many ports, in different parts of the world. He had a knowledge of the world equalled by few. After leaving the ocean he took up minning in Calfornia where he made much money. In 1875 he arrived in Sidney and went into the cattle business which he followed for several years. In 1881 he opened the exchange bank where the American bank now stands and conducted a profitable business. In 1883 he married Miss Kate Conner of this place, who, with a son and three daughters, survive to mourn the loss of a kind and indulgent husband and father. Funeral services were held at 10:30 A. M. at the Catholic church. The church was filled to overflowing, hundreds of people standing at the door. A long line of mourners followed the remains to the cemetery where the last rites to the departed were performed.
SIDNEY TELEGRAPH, APRIL 12, 1907, PAGE 1
OBITUARY.
“In the City of Surcease
There is only rest and peace,
From the failings and the wailings ’neath the sun,
And the storms of the swift years
Beat but lightly on their biers,
Making music to the sleepers,—every one.
There is only PEACE and REST.—
But to them it seemeth best;—
For they lie at ease and know that life is done.”
When on Thursday morning the swift fingers of destiny turned the until-then unwritten page which marked the close of the life volume of Mrs. Katie Sharmer, the whole community was appalled by the shock, and the solemn feeling of deep regret was universal.
To have so lived through more than forty years of life’s vicissitudes, its joys and griefs, hopes and fears,—to have been left a widow with four children, with scant supply of this World’s goods, but with millions of holy love for family and for friends, and, inspired by a sublime faith and unfaltering trust in God, to have battled ever bravely; to have refused to lose; “to do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “to have fought the good fight; to have kept the faith; to have finished the course”;—to have lived a life even the penetralia of which is as an open book and the scrutiny of which only enlarges its beauty, purity and goodness,—is to have been rich indeed and to have left a legacy of love and noblest example as a perpetual benediction to “her own” and to her friends.
Mrs. Sharmer was born November 26, 1865, and located at Sidney, with her mother, in the early eighties, and attended school here. On November 10th, 1884, she married Joseph Sharmer, one of the most substantial and respected residents of the county, who died June 14th, 1898. They were blessed with four children; Laura, Kathryn, Josephine and Joseph, all of whom survive their father and mother. Miss Kathryn, who was a pupil at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Omaha at the time of her mother’s death was accompanied home by Mother Leo and Sister Mary Agatha.
Mrs. Sharmer was a leading officer and a most helpful member of the Ladies of the Maccabees, who profoundly deplore her loss, and it may truly be said that never in the history of Sidney did a death occur under more distressing circumstances, or attended with more general sorrow or where the departed enjoyed any higher popular esteem. The obsequies will occur at St. Patrick’s Catholic church of which Mrs. Sharmer was a most devout member, at 10 a. m. today.
May she whose hands never rested from kindly deeds, who, like the Master, was meek and humble of heart, find riches, rest, and glory on the eternal shore. Eternal rest give unto her, Oh God, and may perpetual light … [the clipping ends here]
SIDNEY TELEGRAPH, APRIL 12, 1907, PAGE 8
Mrs. J. H. Sharmer, mother of Joseph Sharmer of the 3rd grade, and Josephine Sharmer, of the 10th grede, was called away to her long rest Thursday morning. The sympathy of the entire school goes out to these bereaved children who are now left without father or mother. May He who is the common Father of all and who draws very near in time of trouble, strengthen and comfort these children in this their great sorrow.
Notes & context
The four children. Both obituaries name four children, in birth order: Laura, Kathryn, Josephine (Dodie) and Joseph, Joe of the letters. Laura is very likely the “Aunt Larry” of San Francisco and the “Mrs. Myron Sager” named as Joe’s sister in 1954; see People.
Where the papers disagree. The Telegraph gives the wedding as November 10, 1884, in both 1898 and 1907; the second obituary says 1883 and has Joseph arriving in Sidney in 1875 rather than the spring of 1874 given by the Telegraph and by the 1882 History of the State of Nebraska. It also spells the bride “Kate Conner.” The school notice calls Katie “Mrs. J. H. Sharmer”; the family is clear that none of the Josephs had a middle name, and no other record gives Joseph I one, so the initial is probably a printer’s slip, like the court’s “Joseph A.” in 1954.
Dodie’s age. Josephine was in the 10th grade in April 1907, so she was born around 1890–91, not 1899 as her Find a Grave memorial says.
Two orphaned children at home. When Katie died, Kathryn was away at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, a Catholic girls’ school in Omaha, and was brought home by two of the sisters. The Ladies of the Maccabees, in which Katie was an officer, was a women’s fraternal society that provided insurance and help to members’ families.
Where they rest. Joseph is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Sidney, Block A, Lot 10. Katie’s obituary announces her funeral at St. Patrick’s at 10 a.m. on 12 April 1907 but says nothing about where she was buried, and no burial record for her has been found yet. Her headstone beside Joseph’s is a memorial stone placed beside Joseph’s by her granddaughter Laurel Sharmer about 2011, so it marks where the family remembers her rather than proving where she lies.
See also Uncle Joe’s Will, 1898, signed the day before he died, and A Note for $150, 1893, signed by Joseph and Katie together.
