Family Stories
Recollections shared by Joseph and Ruby’s daughter.
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A Night Train to Denver
After Katie died in 1907, the family story goes, her children were spirited away to Denver before anyone could take them, or her money.
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The Kaiser Comes Down
Reedley, the eve of the First World War: a portrait of the Kaiser, a midnight break-in, and a hayloft.
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Dear Mommie
Dear Mommie, We are going to get a new tree. I love you.
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A Little Brownie
A little brownie & signature of your father made when he was a little boy in Nebraska.
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From Our House to Your House
From our house to your house, with best wishes to you for happiness all through the year. Ruby and Joe, Joe III and Jay.
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The Sharmer Children in Planada
Home movies of Joe with the three children, Joe, Jay and Laurel, in Planada in the 1940s and early 1950s.
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Jochim Scharmer of Elmshorn
How the first Joseph Sharmer was found: born Jochim Scharmer in Elmshorn, Holstein, on 25 May 1829.
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A Christmas Card from the Welshes
“You can TIE but you can’t BEAT a Merry Christmas” — a card from Jim, Michael and Gretchen Welsh.
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The Postmaster of Planada
How Ruby Wilson came home from Tombstone, took over the Planada post office, met Joe over a package, and built a $700 kit house in a week.
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Uncle Joe and Katie: The Sidney Obituaries
The 1898 and 1907 Sidney newspapers on the deaths of Joe’s father, “Uncle Joe” Sharmer, and his mother, Katie O’Connor Sharmer.
