Mathias Schaup & Catharina Engert
Mathias Schaup was born in 1685 in Königsbach, Prussia, the oldest of two sons. He was named after his father, Mathias Schaup, who was born and died in Königsbach (1655-1703). His mother was Anna Barbara Körcher, who also was born and died in Königsbach (1660-1690). His brothers were Vitus (born 17 September 1685), and Wilhelmi (born 11 September 1689, and died 5 February 1765) who married Annae Christinae Hauk (1695-1781). Königsbach town was located in Königsbach-Stein, Margraviate of Baden, Heiliges Römisches Reich; it was part of the Holy Roman Empire. From when he was 28 years old until he left Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm I was Elector of Brandenburg and King in Prussia. Mathias spoke the East Franconian dialect of German. He became a carriage maker.
Mathias was part of the Palatine migration that started in 1709. It is probable that he spent some time in England and possibly Ireland before he left for the British colonies. He arrived in Philadelphia from Rotterdam on the ship Pennsylvania Merchant on 11 September 1732. He lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before moving to Augusta County, Virginia, where his family established a homestead in the woods.
Maria Catharina Engert was born 19 June 1698, Babenhausen, Hessen, Germany. She is also identified as Catherine. Her father was Georg Hieronymi Engert, born in 1673; her mother was Annen Margaretha Sybillen (1975-1732). She married her first husband, Michael Kern (Karnes, or Carnes) in Prussia about 1718; he died in Prussia before she went to the colonies. It is said that he was burned at the stake for his religious beliefs, and that Catharina brought his ashes to Pennsylvania. (They say that the ashes and urn are still in possession of a descendant). Catharina and Michael had three sons:
- Johan Nicholas, born about 1720; married Maria in Prussia; and probably died before 1750.
- George, born about 1727; died 1767.
- Michael Gabriel, born about 1729; died before 1807.
The First Sharps
Mathias married Catherine about 1735 in Rockingham County, Virginia. Mathias and Catherine had six children:
- Sarah Rebecca (Becky), born 1735, Rockingham County, Virginia; died 19 January 1793, Bedford County.
- John, born about 1738, Augusta County; died 27 September 1830, Bedford County, Virginia.
- Margaret (Margery), born about 1740, Augusta County, Virginia; died in 1744.
- Abraham, born about 1741, Augusta County, Virginia; died May 1842, Mercer County, Kentucky.
- Adam, born after 1 January 1743; died 1816, Estill, Kentucky.
- Catherine, born 1743, Rockingham, Virginia; died 23 April 1831.
Catharina died in 1750, Augusta County, Virginia.
The family name was spelled Schaub, Shaup, Shaaup, and Shawp. After Mathias died, 28 November 1750 in Augusta County, Virginia, his sons Abraham, Adam, and John moved to Bedford County, Virginia, and changed their last name to Sharp. We’ve spelled the last name of both male and female descendants of Mathias and Catharina as “Sharp” even though the females didn’t necessarily change their maiden name. Some descendants added an “e.”
In his will, Mathias gave his stepsons, Michael and George Kern, the full estate their own father left them; one-third of his personal estate divided between eight children; one-third to be divided between his own six children; and his “plantation” to his two eldest sons, John and Adam. In 1750, John was twelve, Adam was about seven, and Abraham was about six years old.
Mathias had acquired 350 acres of land “near upper end of the Peaked Mountain,” before 1759, from Jacob Harmon. Apparently he died prior to the conveyance, and Jacob Harmon conveyed this land to Mathias’s sons John and Adam on 16 May 1759. In 1767, they bought 400 acres of land on the Little Otter River near Bedford, Virginia.
During their years living near Bedford, the Sharp children came of age and married.
- Sarah Rebecca (Becky) Sharp married Thomas Dooley on 20 March 1763, in Bedford County, Virginia. Thomas was born about 1735, Augusta County, and died 19 January 1778, Bedford County. They had eleven children.
- John Sharp married Anne Dooley on 25 January 1762, Bedford County, Virginia. Anne was born 1746, Bedford, and died about 1830. They had eleven children.
- George Kern married Elizabeth Payne Persinger in 1763. Elizabeth was born 1740 in Augusta County, and died 1835, Low Moor, Virginia. They had one son.
- Adam Sharp married Phoebe Harmon in 1765. Phoebe was born 1742, Augusta County, and died 1817, Estill, Kentucky. They had eleven children.
- Catherine Sharp married Henry Jacob Miller. Jacob was born 1745, Franklin County, Pennsylvania; died abot 1835, Ohio. We don’t know the date they married or how many children they had.
- Abraham Sharp married Rebecca Ann Armstrong on 22 March 1779, Bedford County, Virginia. Rebecca was born 1755 in Bedford County, and died May 1842, Mercer County, Kentucky. They had ten children.
On 30 July 1784, Adam received a grant of 1,050 acres south of Green River in Lincoln County, Kentucky. In 1795, Adam bought 20 more acres on the Little Otter on the south side of Lick Mountain, Kentucky. In 1804, John Sharp and Ann Dooley’s son Noah, with his wife Jenny Dooley, moved from Bedford County, Virginia, to Kentucky. Adam moved to Estill County, Kentucky, in 1810; he died there in 1816. Around 1827, the family left Kentucky for Clinton County, Indiana, and in 1849, they left Indiana and moved to Richland County, Wisconsin.
Revolutionary War
Abraham was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War. More on this in the chapter on Abraham Sharp & Rebecca Armstrong.
Thomas Dooley was a captain in the Revolutionary War, serving on the colonial side. Jacob Dooley, his brother, was a private. Jacob enlisted on 13 February 1776, and was discharged on 1 March 1778 because of an injury.
Thomas Dooley’s father, Henry B. Dooley, served with the rank of captain in the Virginia Colonial Militia in 1759 during the French and Indian War (1754 -1763). He received government funds and land, and the document was signed by Thomas Jefferson. The land was 171 acres on Cub Run, corner Frederick Harmantrout.
About 1780, Mathias and Catharina’s son John Sharp served during the Revolutionary War in the Virginia Militia under Captain John Johns Triggs of Bedford County. He also served as a spy on the Tories under Colonel Evans S. Shelby and provided material aid to the Virginia troops.
In 1781, Solomon Sharp, the son of John Sharp and Anne Dooley, served as a lieutenant with the Bedford County Militia.