Notes |
- "William Anderson Sharp was born September 2, 1854 in Gibson County, Indiana. He married a cousin, Nancy E. Holloman, on September 12, 1877 in Posey County, Indiana. Nancy was born March 18, 1858 in Stewartsville, Posey County, Indiana. Her parents were William and Emily (Sharp) Holloman."
William and Nancy lived in the bottoms of Wabash Township, Gibson County, Indiana, surrouonded by parents, aunts, uncles and cousins who helped develop the county from the pioneer period before Indiana became a state. Willliam helped build ththe old red covered bridge which still stands down by Griffin, close to the home now owned by distant cousins, Wayne and Loretta Sharp. But the ties that bound these many families together in the common quest of survival in a rural area, ravaged by icy weather and flooding in the winters and blessed with hot summers, could not hold together William and Nancy's marriage. They were divorced in 1892."
"Nancy took the children to live with her and she remarried to Andrew McCarty in Bellmont, Illlinois but they lived close to William Sharp in the Wabash bottoms. William Sharp remarried to Rebecca (Simpson) Garrett on December 24, 1892 in Bellmlmont, Illinois, and they stayed in Crowleyville. Rebecca's parents were James and Charlotte (Thompson) Simpson, and her sister's name was Amerintha Simpson. (Rebecca's first husband was James L. Garrett. They had one son, William Garrett, born about 1887.) William and Rebecca raised a large family of girls."
"William Sharp's ex-wife, Nancy (Holloman) Sharp McCarty, died shortly after giving birth to a child on February 7, 1895 in Gibson County, Indiana. The children later recalled that it was a bitter, cold, wintery day and after the service, theey walked home from the cemetary(sic) to live with their father and his second family. The youngest child of Nancy and Willilam Sharp, Albert, was adopted by a couple by the name of Billit. They took Albert to Arkansas with him (them) and later Albert went to southeast Missouri."
"William and Nancy's older daughters worked as servants in nearby relatives' homes, as well as their own, so they were eager to marry early in life as soon as they were old enough to strike out on their own. They stayed near their father for a few years and started their own families, so these grandchildren of William Sharp knew who he was and interacted with their aunts from their grandfather's second marriage. However, William never spoke to his grandchildren from his first marriage. Later, Effie and her husband moved to southeast Missouri and Myrtle and her family moved to Arkansas. Myrtle came back later, as did some of her children. Effie's husband, Tom Crackel came back to Gibson county and stayed in tough (touch) with the Sharps, but Effie (went) to California. Florence and her husband moved to Mt. Carmel, Illinois. Their son became a musician and moved to New Jersey. Oscar and his wife Juanita remained close by, In Pose County, Indiana."
"William Sharp died January 12, 1942 in Gibson County, Indiana, and is buried in Maumee Cemetary, Johnson, Indiana. Many of his offspring still live in the southwest Indiana area."
See John Sharp Notes.
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