From: "Mary Smith"
<carthage42@hotmail.com>
To: SHARP-L@rootsweb.com
Message-ID:
<F133GYdRGy9tCx1Dy3r000105b8@hotmail.com>
Subject: [SHARP-L] William SHARPs of Patrick Co.,
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Betty and Roberta:
Deeds and other records do indeed support the belief
that the William SHARP who moved to Franklin Co., Tenn., ca 1811/12 was the
William SHARP on the Patrick Co., Va., Land Tax Lists from 1791-1811.
In 1811 and 1812 John BURNETT and Thomas REAVES were
taxed on land sold to them by SHARPs who were identified only by their surname
in the Tax Records:
1811
John BURNETT -- 860 acres from
SHARP
1812
Thomas REAVES - 1000a from SHARP
John BURNETT -- 860a from SHARP,
140a from SHARP
The deed to REAVES is from William SHARP, Sr.; I have
a photocopy. I haven't seen the deeds to
BURNETT, but William SHARP Sr.'s sons, Richard and James, also disappear from
the land tax records in 1811/1812.
The real problem comes with the other William
SHARP(s). Beginning in 1809 a William
SHARP, Jr., appears on the tax list with 50 acres. Although only in 1813 do the tax lists begin
to specify where land is located, the 1808 deed from John HALL to William
SHARP, Jr., indicates that the 50 acres was on Goblingtown Creek (the area
where William SHARP Sr. owned most of his property.) In 1810 and 1811 William Jr. is taxed on this
land (plus 100 acres that he bought from Robert SHARP -- assuming that both
these William SHARP Jrs. are the same person).
Then in 1811 William Jr. sold the 50 acres to William Sr., who we know
was in the process of leaving Patrick Co.,
for Franklin Co.,
Question: Was the William Jr. who sold the 50 acres
the son of William Sr., and, if so, did he also emigrate from Patrick Co. ca
1811? Or was he the William Jr. who
continued to be taxed on the land he had bought from Robert SHARP? It's possible that there were two William
SHARP Jrs. in PCVA at the same time; one might have been slightly older than
the other; and although they both might have owned land, it's also possible
that only one did. (If Roberta's William
SHARP Jr. was born in 1790, he seems a little young to have purchased land in
1808.)
In any event we are left with one William SHARP, Jr.,
on the Patrick Co. Land Tax Lists. In
1821 the tax lists start referring to him without
the "Jr.", although the 100 acres on the
Then between 1827 and 1829 some real confusion
occurs. We go from land tax on WILLIAM
SHARP --
1827
100a on waters of So. Mayo R., 3 mi. So. of Courthouse
56a on waters of Russell's Cr.,4 mi. SW of Courthouse
to 1828
6 acres on Russell's Creek
In the same year Hiram ROGERS is taxed on 100 acres
on Russell's Creek, which was transferred from William N. SHARP
In 1829 WILLIAM N. SHARP is taxed on:
190 acres on headwaters of Russell's Creek (new grant),
5 mi. SW of Courthouse
(The only "new grant" I have found was in 1824 for
380 acres)
56 acres on headwaters of Russell's Cr.,
5 mi. SW of Courthouse
That same
year Samuel GILBERT is taxed on 137 acres on the headwaters of Russell's Creek,
which was transferred from William N. SHARP.
(The actual 1828 deed says the property lay "on the head waters of
Russells Creek and South Mayo.")
The property sold to Hiram ROGERS is specified in the
deed as part of a grant; this is not the case with that sold to GILBERT,
although the land described in the deed sounds as though it may have been.
Is William SHARP the same person as William N.
SHARP? It sounds like it, but the pieces
of land don't really add up either.
Roberta's work in tracing the different William
SHARPs in
--
but that William appears to have been the William N.
SHARP of the land tax records, who must have died ca. 1835/36 (if the fact that
Philipena SHARP alone gave consent to the marriage of her daughter Luvenia in
1836 is any proof). Although it may be
only a coincidence, William N. SHARP disappears from the Patrick Co.,
The 200 acres of land which William N. SHARP sold to
James DUVALL in 1832 was land on the headwaters of Russell's Creek, which SHARP
had mortgaged in 1831 to secure a debt with the Danville Bank of
Of course it's possible, though unlikely, that
instead of dying in 1835, William N. SHARP left for Knox Co.,
But whether
that William SHARP was the same as William N. SHARP of Patrick Co.,
I gather from Roberta's message that Martin HANCOCK
was a brother of Sarah HANCOCK, William SHARP Jr.'s wife. A Martin HANCOCK appears in Patrick Co.,
Mary
__________________________________________________________________________________
From: "Roberta Sharp"
<rsharp@csupomona.edu>
To: SHARP-L@rootsweb.com
Message-Id:
<v03110702b81604b4b760@[134.71.206.39]>
Subject: [SHARP-L] Heirs of James Sharp
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To Betty and Mary,
>Does the petition deal with land in Patrick Co.,
The petition quoted from in the next paragraph has to
do with assignment of the heirs of James Sharp of Franklin County, TN. James and
his wife Mary had no children.
The petition clearly identifies William Sharp of
" To the Honorable A. J. Marchbanks, one of the
circuit judges of
The children of Jesse Corn decd who died in
James' Sharp's estate was also the subject of a suit
brought much later, 1869, by Nancy Hill vs. the heirs of James Sharp. In this document, Thomas Finch.
refers to William Sharp as "dead, & left several children but deponent
knew but one, Wm H. Sharp." I think
it is important to keep in mind that this 1869 document was written
approximately two decades later than the one above when memories of William
Sharp had faded and the families had been split by civil war. William's son Robert Martin Sharp was in
>Roberta, have you found a marriage record for
your couple in PCVA in 1817?
I did find the record in an index of Patrick County,
Tennessee, at the Tennessee State Library. Unfortunately, I experienced the
classic case of finding and an important item just at closing time and did not
get to make a copy. At the time I found
it I was not certain it was the William I am researching as I had not yet seen
the document quoted above. I suppose
that I should write for it as I live in
Later the record
did show up on Worldconnect, and I printed that item.
>I gather from Roberta's message that Martin
HANCOCK was a brother of Sarah HANCOCK, William SHARP Jr.'s wife. A Martin HANCOCK appears in Patrick Co.,
Yes, Sarah Hancock was a daughter of Martin Hancock
of Wilson County, Tennessee, so actually the Martin mentioned above would be
Martin Hancock, Jr. Mary, if you have more detail on the Martin Sharp in
Patrick Co., Va., such as the date of the deed, I would be interested to know
about it.
Roberta
rsharp@csupomona.ed
_____________________________________________________________________________
Joy Q. Gallagher (GallagherJ@Cafe.net) found a loose
Franklin Co., TN Chancery Court record styled "Nancy Hill et al vs J.W.
Syler Admr & c Deposition of R.E. Lasater filed Nov. 15, 1873 T.H. Finch C
& M." It was in the vertical files of the Franklin Co., TN Historical
Society in the Franklin Co. Library. Here is the portion relating to the heirs
of William Sharp:
........That the heirs of Wm. Sharp, an original
heir, one of six original heirs of James Sharp dec.d are as follows.
1. Wm. H. Sharp in
2. Eliza who intermarried with John Bell, who died,
she afterward married _____
3. Harriett who intermarried with James Keel, she is
dead, & left 5 or 6 Heirs, names not known
4. Martin Sharp, residence unknown thought to be in
5. Saml. Sharp, dead, not known whether he has left
any family or not.
6. George Sharp, moved west, residence unknown, not
known whether he left a family or not.
7. Henrietta, married ______
R. E. Lasater
Sworn & Subscribed to
before me Novr. 15th 1873
T. H. Finch C & M
_____________________________________________________________________________
More About WILLIAM SHARP, JR.:
Residence: Abt. 1847,
Notes for SARAH HANCOCK:
Several genealogists show Sallie as the first wife of
William's. However, judging from an 1844 law suit brought by Ephraim Hunter
against William, it might seem more likely that Sallie was his 2nd wife. There
are a number of Hancock's mentioned as in-laws of William, and the fact that he
married Penny in 1811, makes it more difficult to think that Sallie's in-laws
(if they are) would be connected with a suit more than 30 years after Willima
had remarried.
___________________________________________________________________
I keep finding more and more connections between
William Sharp (m. Sarah Hancock) of
For example,
the petition of heirs of William SHARP filed after
the death of his son,
James SHARP
says in one place"William Sharp of
Tennessee-brother of said James Sharp,
deceased." Even stronger evidence
comes from Chancery Court Records of Bedford County,
TN: Ephraim Hunter
[1843]
recovered a judgement against William Sharp and William Sharp, Jr.
. .
"Orator claims that Sharp pretented to sell property to Martin
Hancock. Martin and Samuel Hancock are
the brothers in law of said
William Sharp, Sr.
The deed and witnessed by John Bell who is a son in law of William
Sharp, Sr. and by William Sharpe, Jr. who is the son of William Sharp, Sr. also, slaves were sold to James Sharp of
Franklin Co.,
I am still wondering
whether William and Jamima's son William married twice, first to a Penny
Fitzgerald and second to Sarah Hancock. I think
they married about 1816, so William could have had a
first marriage to Penny. Did she die
young? So many young women did die from
childbirth in those days. I believe that
most if not all of the children I named were children of William and Sarah Hancock. Some of the names
evidently come from the Hancock line;
Martin was the given name of
Sarah Hancock's father.
William of Bedford County was listed on the census as
age 59 on the 1850 census, so he would have been born about 1790 or 1791, but
the
difference between 1780 and 1790 could be a typo or
transcription error. The William and Sarah Hancock Sharp whose children I named
were living in
What evidence specifically connects William Sharp of
Roberta
rsharp@csupomona.edu