Jeanne Hemingway Sharpe, the second daughter of John and Edna Josephine Hemingway Sharpe, was born on December 7, 1913 in Cleveland, Ohio.  He mother was 28 years old, and her father was 38.

John was a Scottish immigrant and a newly ordained Presbyterian Minister, receiving his Doctor of Divinity degree from the Auburn, NY, Theological Seminary.  Auburn was where he had met Edna, who had been born and raised there.

Tragedy struck the young family shortly after Jeanne's birth, when Edna developed a Peritonitis infection and died on January 5, 2014.  Such medical calamities were not uncommon during that age, before the discovery and development of antibiotics.  John Sharpe, having lost his wife and consequently being a single parent with 3-year old Madeline and newborn infant Jeanne, arranged for Edna's family to care for the children, while he worked as a minister and put his life back together.  (Read more about John Sharpe).

Edna Josephine Hemingway  was from a long-line early-American settlers, dating back to circa 1632 when the first Hemingway emigrated from England to Roxbury, MA.  (Read more about the Hemingway Family).  Researchers have written that all Hemingway's in America descended from Ralph Hemingway, (Henenway), 1603-1678.

Jeanne and her sister, Madeline, spent more than three years in the Hemingway household in Auburn, when their Father and his new wife, Mary Adams Sharpe retrieved his daughters and returned to Ohio.  By 1930, John and Mary, (Mimi), settled in Martins Ferry, Ohio, on the banks of the Ohio River and just upriver from Wheeling, WV.  Other than a few short years in the late 1970's, Jeanne lived her entire life in Martins Ferry and later Wheeling.

Jeanne suffered from Scolioses, a curvature of her spine, and was taken to Pittsburgh when she was 12-years old for surgery.  She told the story that during the first year after her surgery, her parents left her in Pittsburgh to recover and rehabilitate her back, never  in that year returning to visit.  I believe that through that experience, Jeanne further learned how to cope with adversity, a strength that she passed on to her sons in her guidance on how one should conduct themselves, solve problems, and generally have a good and positive attitude.  She would regularly say to us, "look on the bright-side".

Jeanne graduated from Martins Ferry High School in 1931 and attended Western College for Women for one year.  Upon returning to Wheeling, she enrolled in Elliott's Commercial College, where she met her future husband, Nelson Charles Erb Hamm, (Bud).  Bud and Jeanne were married by Jeanne's father on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1937 when Jeanne was 24 and Bud was 28.