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Parents of Maria Bush Sharpenstein

Jacob (b. c.1716) and Maria Bush (b. c.1724) Sharpenstein

Key words: Jacob Sharpenstein, Jacob Sharpsteen, Maria Bush Sharpenstein, Jacob and Maria Sharpenstein, Jacob and Maria Bush Sharpenstein

Jacob Sharpenstein and Maria Bush were married on 6 Dec 1741 in the Fishkill Reformed Church, New York.¹  They had the children:

Henrich (or Henry)  b. between 3 Jan and 22 Mar 1742, m. 22 Mar 1764 Phoebe Losee
Margaretha  9 Apr 1745, m. John Cronkhite b. c.1742, her first cousin
Hannah (1748 - before 1799), m.(1) ?James Harris and (2) ___ Bush
Molly  chr. 9 Jun 1751, m. George Cusick⁴
Catherina  c.1753 in Rhinebeck, NY - 20 Mar 1816, m. c.1768 in Montpelier, NY George Barnhart
Elizabeth  26 Apr 1755 - c.1835, m. c.1774 in Rhinebeck, Henry Germond
Peter  b.11 Jan 1757, m. Debora Germond (sister of Henry)
John  b. 6 Sep 1762 in Red Hook, Dutchess Co., NY - 26 Aug 1862, m. 1785 Rachel Wilbur

Jacob lived in Crum Elbow in 1743 and was naturalized 20 Dec 1763.  During the Revolutionary War he was a loyalist as were some of his children who later emigrated to Canada.¹ 

Jacob and several of his children were listed in the 1790 census under Washington, Dutchess Co., NY.²  Also listed in Jacob's household were two slaves.  Slaves were imported by the Dutch West India company when the Dutch were in control of New Amsterdam (later New York) and the use of slaves continued until 1827.  Although the number of slaves in New York was much lower than in the south, New York city was a major port for importing slaves and a major slave market.³

Jacob died before 15 Oct 1802.¹

Rationalization of the 1790 census

The 1790 census² for Washington, Dutchess County, NY contains the names of a number of Sharpstones and related families.  I will attempt here to place each of them by comparing them with the Sharpsteens listed in Anderson (2006).¹

The census lists a Henry Bush with two males over 16, 3 males under 16, and 3 females.  There are two Henry Bush's listed in Anderson (2006): the family patriarch, Johann Herich Bush b. 1701 in Germany, and his son Henry b. 1743.  However, as a loyalist the son moved to Ulster Co., NY in 1771 and died in about 1777.  So the Henry Bush listed in the census is probably the elder Henry, who would have been aged 89.  The elder Henry's will was probated in Jan 1791 in Dutchess Co., so he was likely to have been living there in 1790.  It is not clear who the other four males and three females are - probably one of his children and child's family.

Jacob Sharpsteen b. c.1716 who married Maria Bush was an immigrant from Germany.  Anderson (2006) does not list siblings who emigrated and the other Sharpstones listed in this census can all be accounted for as members of his family.  So I am considering Jacob as the ancestor of all of the Sharpsteens listed here.  He has no listed descendants born before 1790 and died "before 15 Oct 1802", so I'm assuming that Jacob b. c.1716 is the Jacob Sharpstone listed here.  His household contained two males over 16 (Jacob aged 74 and another male), no males under 16, and one female (Maria? aged 66).  The lack of younger males supports the idea that this was an elderly couple.  Two slaves were listed in the household.

George Cusack⁴ was the household listed before Henry Bush.  He would be the husband of Molly Sharpsteen, daughter of Jacob and Maria Bush Sharpsteen (the daughter of Henry Bush).  The household is listed as having one male over 16 (George aged about 40), five males under 16 (James H. aged 16, William aged 11, Robert aged 4, John aged 2, and Peter? aged 0), and 2 females (Molly aged about 39 and possibly one of the girls said to have died young?). 

Henry Sharpsteen b. c.1743 and son of Jacob and Maria Bush Sharpsteen is the only Henry Sharpsteen listed in Anderson (2006).  The household of Henry Sharpstone included four males over 16 (Henry aged 48, his son Peter aged 19, probably Henry's son John H. aged 24 [see commentary below], and another male [possibly another son not listed??]), one male under 16 (perhaps another son not listed??), and eight females (Henry's wife Phoebe aged 46, John H.'s wife Jane aged 24, John H.'s daughters Mary aged 3 and Phoebe aged 1, and four other females unaccounted for).  One slave was listed in the household.

Peter Sharpsteen b. 1757 and son of Jacob and Maria Bush Sharpsteen is likely the Peter Sharpstone listed in the census.  The other Peter that would be possible is Henry's son, Peter, but in 1790 he was 19 and unmarried and therefore would have been unlikely to have been listed as the head of this household.  The household contained one male over 16 (Peter aged 33), two males under 16 [possibly sons not listed in Anderson (2006)??], and one female (Peter's wife Deborah aged 23, however where is their daughter Anna aged 3?).  So there is not a very exact concordance between the family members listed in Anderson (2006) and the household, but there are no other likely Peters that this could be.

"John Sharpstone" could either be John Sharpsteen b. 1762 and son of Jacob and Maria Bush Sharpsteen, or John H. Sharpsteen b. 1766 and son of Henry and Phoebe Losee Sharpsteen.  However, for several reasons I believe that it is probably John b. 1762.  First of all the John b. 1762 needs to be accounted for.  According to Anderson (2006) his children were being born over the period of 1786-1800 but unfortunately their birthplaces were not given, so I don't know that he was in Dutchess Co. at that time.  I do not favor this "John Sharpstone" as being John H. b.1766 for two reasons.  One is that he and his family can be accounted for in the household of Henry (see above).  The other is that in the 1800 and 1810 censuses, John is pointedly listed as "John H. Sharpstone" with the "H." presumably used to differentiate him from his uncle.  If this household were John b. 1762, then the one male over 16 would be John aged 28, the male under 16 would be Stephen aged 2, and the four females would be John's wife Rachel aged 27, their daughter Catherine aged 4 and two other unidentified females.

This portion of the book is freely available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.  On the web, a link to this page would be helpful.

Comments?  Questions?  Contact Steve Baskauf

References:

1. J. Max Anderson.  2006. A History of Johann Jost Snyder and Anna Magdalena Elizabetha Flagler of Palatine Immigrants to America in 1710.  Salt Lake City, Utah.  p. 45.

2. U.S. Census of 1790 for Washington, Dutchess Co., New York, p.150  [blank 1790 form]

3. "Slavery in New York", from the Slavery in the North website.

4. Kee Rodgers "Descendants of Peter Cusick" Private Printing 2009, Lima, Peru. Contact the author for more information.

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