Sarah Eve Sharp (Diffenbach)

 

Sarah Eve (Diffenbach) Sharp — Her Life and Origins 

Birth and Early Life

Sarah Eve Diffenbach was born 1795–1800 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, into a long‑established Pennsylvania German Lutheran family. Her name — Sarah Eve — is a distinctly Pennsylvania German naming style, confirming she was born in America, not Germany.

Adam and Eve's son, Frederick's death certificate lists Eve as           Sarah Eve Diffanie.   “Diffanie” is a misreading of the German          surname Diefenbach/Diffenbach because old German                 handwriting makes the letters b‑a‑ch look like n‑i‑e, causing          American clerks to record the name phonetically rather than accurately.

Her family belonged to the Pennsylvania German communities that had been present in Lancaster County since the mid‑1700s.

Missouri census records from 1850–1870 list Sarah Eve’s birthplace as Germany or France. Census takers frequently confused Pennsylvania‑born German families with foreign‑born Germans and recorded their ethnic origin instead of their true birthplace.

 Parents

Sarah Eve was the daughter of:

• Henry Diffenbach

• Elizabeth (maiden name unknown)

Henry Diffenbach is the only Diffenbach in Pennsylvania with a daughter of Sarah Eve’s age bracket in the 1800 and 1810 census records. No other Diffenbach household in Pennsylvania contains a female of the correct age.

This makes Henry and Elizabeth the only viable parents for Sarah Eve.

Grandparents

Her grandparents were part of the established Pennsylvania German Diffenbach/Diefenbach families of Lancaster County, likely descended from:

• Johan Philip Diffebach, the documented 1773 immigrant

• His wife (name varies in early records)

These families appear in early Lutheran and Reformed church records throughout Lancaster County.

Proximity to the Scherb Family

The Diffenbach and Scherb families lived in close proximity in Pennsylvania:

• Both families appear in Franklin County records

• Both families appear in Pittsburgh during the same years

• Both families belonged to Pennsylvania German Lutheran congregations

• Both families followed the same migration corridor westward

This geographic and cultural proximity strongly supports the conclusion that Sarah Eve Diffenbach is the correct wife of Adam Sharp.

Marriage

Sarah Eve married Adam Sharp (born Georg Adam Scherb) between 1819–1824, most likely in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their marriage is confirmed by:

• Adam’s 1858 will

• their children’s birthplaces

• their shared migration path

• their consistent appearance together in census records

Children

Sarah Eve and Adam had the following documented children:

• John D. Sharp (born 1824, Pittsburgh)

• George D. Sharp (born 1827, Chambersburg)

• Elizabeth Sharp (born 1829, Pittsburgh; married in Livingston Co., MO in 1847)

• Frederick Sharp (born 1832, Chambersburg)

• Martha Sharp (born approx. 1827, likely Pittsburgh)

No other children have been documented in Pennsylvania or Missouri records.

Life in Pennsylvania

Sarah Eve lived in two major Pennsylvania German communities:

• Pittsburgh (early 1820s)

• Chambersburg / Franklin County (late 1820s–1830s)

These areas were heavily populated by Pennsylvania Germans whose families had been in America since the mid‑1700s.

Migration West

Sarah Eve migrated west with Adam and their children, following the classic Pennsylvania German frontier route:

Pennsylvania → Ohio → Indiana → Illinois → Missouri

By the 1840s, the family was living in Livingston County, Missouri.

Life in Missouri

Sarah Eve appears in:

• 1850, 1860 and 1870 Missouri census

• Adam’s 1858 will, naming her as his wife

• Adam’s 1874 probate, where she is named as inheriting Adam’s land

These records prove:

Sarah Eve lived until at least March 23, 1874, when Adam’s estate was settled.

Death

Sarah Eve died after 1874 in Livingston County, Missouri.

Although no formal cemetery record exists, local eyewitness Anna Dockery Burgess documented two unmarked Sharp graves on the south part of the Frederick Sharp farm — originally owned by Adam Sharp.  These graves almost certainly belong to Adam and his wife, Sarah Eve, who both died after 1870 and were living on the property at the time of their deaths.

Her Legacy

Her story continues to unfold as Pennsylvania church records — especially Upper West Conococheague — are being searched for her marriage or her children’s baptisms.

George Adam Sharp 1797-1874

 Hello Sharp Family!

It's been a while since I posted an update but I have finally found the Sharps in Germany and am ready to share that information with you.

First, the German name for Sharp is Scherb and Sarah Eve Diffanie is actually Sarah Eve Diffenbach.  I took a course called Germanology Unlocked and they steered me to a site called Archion where you can search the original German Churchbooks, which is where all the German records on families are kept.  I will give a brief outline of the family but if anyone wants a more detailed explanation or copies of the German documents, I am happy to either email it to you or if you have an Ancestry.com account, I have made my tree shareable.    I am waiting on a couple of original documents in the next week, but then I am going to send the entire file to Livingston County, MO library so that others can research the information.

Adam Sharp (born Georg Adam Scherb), 1797–1874 — His Life in Germany

Birth and Baptism

Adam Sharp was born Georg Adam Scherb on 12 Apr 1797 in Höpfigheim, Württemberg, Germany. He was baptized in the local Lutheran parish, where his family had lived for generations.

Parents

Adam was the son of:

• Johann Peter Scherb (born 1765 in Höpfigheim)

• Helena Dorothea Trautwein (born 1773 in Steinheim)

Both parents lived their entire lives in Württemberg. Neither emigrated to America. Peter was a Bürger und Weingartner or citizen and vineyard gardener, which could have been he grew grapes, managed plot of vines, or he sold grapes or wine locally.

Siblings

Adam had several siblings, all documented in the Höpfigheim Familienregister. Only Adam and his brother Johann Jakob Scherb eventually emigrated, with Jacob settling in Franklin County, PA. The sisters, Margaretha Dorothea and Christina Barbara remained in Württemberg, marrying and raising families in nearby towns such as Aalen.

Grandparents

Adam’s grandparents on the Scherb side were:

• Johann Michael Scherb (the younger) — born 1709

• Maria Barbara Pfeiffer — born 1713

Johann Michael was a Bürger und Zingler (citizen and twiner), a trade involving twisting fibers for rope or cord. This occupation appears repeatedly in the Scherb family.

On the Trautwein side, Adam’s grandparents were:

• Johann Georg Trautwein

• Anna Barbara (surname varies by record)

The Trautwein family also lived in Höpfigheim and surrounding villages for generations.

Great‑Grandparents

Adam’s great‑grandparents on the Scherb line were:

• Johann Michael Scherb (the elder) — born ca. 1680–1710

• Anna Maria (maiden name not yet confirmed)

This couple appears in the earlier Höpfigheim family tables. They are the origin of the two “Johann Michaels” that required careful distinction in your research.

The Scherb Family in Württemberg

The Scherb family lived in Höpfigheim for over 150 years before Adam’s birth. They appear consistently in:

• baptism records, marriage registers, death entries, the Familienregister (family book) and local occupation lists

The surname appears in several spellings:

• Scherb, Scherp, Scherpp, Scherpf

All refer to the same family.

Adam’s Emigration

Adam applied to emigrate in 1817, at age 20. His emigration application included his parents and his siblings and his intention to leave Württemberg for North America.

He arrived in Philadelphia by December 1819, where he opened a bank account under the name Adam Sharp — the Americanized form of Scherb.

Life in America

Adam settled first in Pennsylvania, then moved west with his wife and children, eventually reaching Livingston County, Missouri, where he died in 1874. His will, written May 3, 1858, lists his wife and children and confirms his identity as the same man born in Höpfigheim. Some Ancestry trees list Adam and his siblings living with a Pfister family in 1808, but this is not the actual Scherb Familienregister. The real Familienregister on Archion shows Adam's parents, Johann Peter Scherb and Helena Dorothea Trautwein, with 10 children. The Pfister Familienregister (the one misinterpreted on Ancestry) includes the note "all other children died young" and shows Adam and his brother Jakob as the only two children who emigrated to America. The 1817 emigration application lists Peter and Dorothea Scherb and their four living children, which matches the Archion Familienregister. Because the parents were preparing to emigrate, it is likely that the children were temporarily listed in the Pfister household for parish registration purposes - a common practice when families were transitioning between residences or preparing for departure.

Tomorrow I will upload another blog on what I have on Sarah Eve Diffenbach Sharp.