Every place the Sharmers lived, worked or wrote from, in the order the family reached them.
See them all on one map, with what Laurel’s DNA says: Where We Came From.
Elmshorn, Holstein
A market town on the Krückau, a few miles from the Elbe, in the Duchy of Holstein. Jochim Scharmer was born here on 25 May 1829 and baptized at St. Nikolai. His mother’s family, the Peters, can very probably be traced in the Elmshorn church books to the 1770s. By 1847 his family was living on the Sandberg.
Joseph Sharmer I · Jochim Scharmer of Elmshorn
Hohenfelde and Glindesmoor
The Scharmers came from Glindesmoor, in Hohenfelde. Johann Scharmer, Jochim’s father, was the son of Jochim Scharmer of Glindesmoor.
Joseph Sharmer I: Hohenfelde and Glindesmoor
Quincy, Massachusetts
The granite town on the South Shore where Katie Conner was born on 20 November 1863, the youngest of four daughters of Peter and Catherine Conner.
Brookville, Kansas
A cattle town on the Kansas Pacific Railway, where Joseph raised stock from 1871 to 1874.
Joseph Sharmer I: gold, cattle and a bank
Sidney, Nebraska
Joseph brought his cattle here in 1874, opened the Sidney Exchange Bank in 1881 and married Katie here on 10 November 1884. Their son Joseph, who wrote the letters, was born here on 10 November 1897. Joseph is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, where Katie has a memorial stone beside him.
Joseph Sharmer I · Katie · The Sidney obituaries · Everything tagged Sidney
Denver, Colorado
In 1910 Joe, twelve, was living in Denver with his eldest sister Laura and her husband, Myron Sager.
Reedley, California
Where Joe grew up, after his sister Laura and her husband Myron Sager settled there, and went into the canning and fruit-processing business. As a high-school boy he helped take down the school’s portrait of the Kaiser (The Kaiser Comes Down). He graduated in 1917, played drums in his own Sharmer’s Orchestra and ran the Reedley Beach concession; his sister Kathryn was the town librarian from 1913 to 1917 (Growing up in Reedley).
Planada, California
Ruby’s home town in Merced County, where she was postmaster after her father, and where Joe and Ruby made their home and raised their children.
The Postmaster of Planada · The Sharmer Children in Planada · Everything tagged Planada
Merced, California
The county seat. Joe served as Merced County Supervisor for District Two from 1949 to 1952, and the county court adjourned in his memory in 1954. Ruby is buried in Merced Cemetery.
The supervisors’ resolution · Everything tagged Merced
Santa Cruz, California
Where Joe died on 26 February 1954.
Services Held for Joseph Sharmer · Everything tagged Santa Cruz
Fresno, California
Where Joe and Ruby’s sons were born: Joseph III on 30 April 1941 and Jay on 7 July 1943. Ruby was later in Fresno Community Hospital when young Joe sent her his “Dear Mommie” postcard.
Joseph Sharmer III · Jay Myron Sharmer · Dear Mommie
Dayton, Nevada
Where Joseph Sharmer III made his later home; he died there on 30 November 2017, aged 76.
Delmenhorst, Germany
A town in Lower Saxony, near Bremen, where Hannelore Auguste Ahrens was born on 12 January 1941, the daughter of Henrich and Alma Ahrens.
Along the way
Joe’s 1937–38 sales trip took him to Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington and New York. Joe and Ruby married in Kingman, Arizona, in 1938; Ruby had taught in Tombstone, Arizona; and Joe is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Colma, near San Francisco.
