The furniture house of Philip Sharer is the oldest establishment of it's kind in Ohio. Mr. Sharer, its founder, was a native of Germany, near Manheim. He landed in New York, August 1, 1837, after a perilous voyage of sixty-eight days.
The panic of that year had so depressed business in the metropolis that it was impossible to procure a day’s work and after four weeks of persistent effort his limited means became exhausted, he left his trunk and its contents as security for a board bill, and started out on foot for Pittsburg, PA.
For six weeks he tramped, begging his way through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, until reaching Adamsburg, Westmoreland county, PA., where he got work at the carpenter's trade at thirty-seven and a half cents a day of fourteen or sixteen hours. He remained there for four years, when he was married and started west again on foot, accompanied by his young wife, his tools and their few household necessities being all carried on a small one-horse wagon.Reaching Freedom, now a part of Alliance, Ohio, on October 1, 1841, he started a cabinet shop and undertaking business. The business was conducted in the name of Philip Sharer from 1841 to 1868. Philip’s eldest son, John, joined the firm and it was known as Philip Sharer & Son from 1868 to 1882, when he retired.
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Philip Sharer
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