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SHARPE Charles Nicholas

Male 1803 - 1850  (47 years)


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Generation: 1

  1. 1.  SHARPE Charles Nicholas was born on 13 Apr 1803 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States (son of SHARPE John Gibbons and WHITE Elizabeth); died in Jun 1850 in Chesterfield County, VA.

    Other Events and Attributes:

    • Census: 1830, Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States

    Notes:

    Mussel Forks Plantation and Notes on the Sharpe Family
    From the notes of Olive Willie West Jennings (grandaughter of Charles Rufus Sharpe). Olive West Jennings was born in 1907 and died in 1982.
    Mussel Fork Plantation

    Riding along Route #31 in Surry County, Virginia, just inside the Northern boundary line of the Town of Dendron, one notices to the west (east?) and some distance from the highway, a very handsome two-story fram farmhouse known as Mussel Fork Plantation. The house was clearly built in two stages differing in dates by about sixty years. The smaller northern section is the older part and is believed by some to date back as far as 1731, while the larger part to the south dates from circa 1800. During this time, the land, composed of nearly fifteen hundred acres, was owned by the Sharp family of Surry and Sussex counties. They lost their holdings in 1854 because of an unpaid debt. Other families to own the farm include the Holdsworths, Steeles, a Charles Goodrich, the Surry Lumber Company, nd its present owner, Mrs. J. I. Cuthbert of Suffolk. The name has been spelled at least three different ways: today it is spelled "Mussel Fork", in 1943 (when the Cuthberts purchased it) it was "Muscle Fork" and in 1885 it was Mussle Fork". The middle spelling seems to be the correct one since the house sits between two branches that meet to form what resembles a bulging bicep.
    Still in excellent condition, the house has suffered little over the years. All of the original woodwork survives as does an old kitchen to the right of the house. The 1800 section is protected by beaded weatherboarding and is a three bay structure with nine-over-nine sashes on both levels. The older portion's clapboards are not beaded and is likewise a three bay structure with nine-over-nines on the first level and six-over nines above., Both sections are covered with a tin roof greatly reducing the risks of leaks and rotting floors. All of the first floor woodwork is painted a pleasant cream including a beautiful sunburst mantel in the room to the right of the hall in the main part of the house. This mantel also boasts flanking Ionic columns. Most of the doors appear to the original and the stairrisers are painted to simulate wood graining.
    The story of the Sharp family decline is noteworthy in that they were at the time of the Revolution, one of the more prosperous families in the county. In 1854, Thomas Sharp, Senior, borrowed money of a William Joynes. A few years later, his son, Thomas, Jr., got even deeper indebted to Joynes. Thus adding to the amount left unpaid by his late father. In deed book 14, page 52, Thomas, Jr., admits he owes Joynes $1,060 to be taken out of lands left to him in his father's will. The deed reads: I Thomas R. Sharp do hereby grant, convey and assign to the said William Joynes, his executors and administrators for the purpose aforesaid, so much of my share and interest of the estate of my late father, real and personal, as shall be equal to the amount as aforesaid, and to so much in addition as may be herafter advanced to me as aforesaid by saif Joynes on the same account....".
    So, a bad debt lost one of Surry's most preminent families one of her nicest county homes. The house is still waiting to be saved and loved against the ravages of time. Once restored, it would add greatly to Dendron and to Surry County itself as one of the better pre-revolution homes still standing.
    This paper was copied from one that Aunt Lill Bevard's grandson gave her. A close friend of Glenn's worked with A William and Mary College Professor studying old homes in Surry County and knew that it was her ancestral home. Her father Charles Rufus Sharpe had mentioned Mussel Fork Plantation and the town of Dendron being built on it - November 1975 - Olive West Jennings

    Who was Thomas Sharp senior??
    John Gibbons Sharp born 1778 had a brother, Thomas born 1790
    His son, Charles Nicholas Sharp, born 1803, had a brother, Thomas born 1809 (Note added by RJS 8/4/2011 -This is the most likely candidate for the Thomas Sharp, Sr. - more research is necessary)
    His son, Charles Rufus Sharp, born 1835 (1840), had a brother, Thomas born 1827
    The date 1854, given in the record of the unpaid debt, might be either one. We know absoultely nothing about the one born in 1827; whether he died as a child or what. Our grandfather Rufus never talked of the 3 children apparently older than he, and mentiolned in his own mother, Maria Roger's Bible. He was not in that Bible listing but we know she was his mother. - OWJ

    Transcription of Maria Rogers' Family Bible
    This transcription was done by Anthier Elizabeth Sharp Holdsworth in 1942.
    The Bible was published in 1830 and was left with Mrs. Maria Sharp by the Bible Society of Surry. According to Elizabeth Sharp in a letter dated May 20, 1942 to Olive West Jennings she stated that the Bible had two stamps in it. One (Nicholas Sharp & C) and the other looks like (Christinia White)
    The Transcription reads:
    Maria Sharp wife of Nicholas Sharp was 28 years old the 14th of October 1832
    Nicholas Sharp was born 13th of April 1803
    Thomas Sharp son of Nicholas Sharp was born 24th day of December 1827
    Indiana Sharp daughter of nicholas Sharp was born 22nd of March 1829
    Nicholas M. Sharp son of Nicholas Sharp was born 1st day of March 1831
    Jesse B. Riggan was born September 22 1842
    Mary A Riggan the wife of Jesse B Riggan was born the 18th day of September 1843
    William S. Riggan son of Jesse B. Riggan was born 17th day of November 1870
    Mary R. Riggan the daughter of J. B. Riggan was born January 21, 1873
    Jesse T. Riggan was born April 23, 1878
    Lula Bell Riggan daughter of J. B. and Mary A. Riggan was born December 16th 1880
    Sarah E. Riggan the daughter of J. B. and Mary A. Riggan his wife was born January 12, 1883
    Lillian Osgood Riggan the daughter of J. B. Riggan and Mary A his wife was born August 20th 1891.
    Lillian died on Tues., October 4th 1898
    Notes by Rebecca Jennings Somerhalder - August 3, 2011
    My grandmother, Olive Wille West, who was the grandaughter of Charles Rufus Sharp, did extensive research in her lifetime on the Sharp family and was unable to find any information on the first three children (Thomas, Indiana and Nicholas) of Charles Nicholas Sharp and Maria Rogers. The fact that Indiana's birth is given as 1829 and Nicholas's birth is given as 1831 leads me to believe that the birth years we have found for Alfred and Charles Rufus are most likely incorrect (The census records for both men show inconsistency in their birth years- I have adjusted their birth years in my tree to reflect what I believe is more likely). I believe I have found the family living in Lower Chesterfield county in the 1850 census with Maria still alive and with 4 children: Alfred, Caroline (previously unknown), Charles R and Mary A. The children are listed as 15, 14, 10 and 6 years of age which make there birth years approximately 1835, 1836, 1840 and 1844. The 1850 Mortality Schedule for Chesterfield lists (Charles) Nicholas Sharp as dying in June of 1850 of consumption. The 1850 census record in which I found Maria and the children lists a Wren family living next door. Maria's mother was a Wren and possibly the family moved there for family support when Charles Nicholas and Maria became ill. My grandmother states in her research that her grandfather Charles Rufus Sharp was known to have relatives in Matoaca, Chesterfield. The other older children listed in the Bible very possibly could have already been living out on their own by that time or died earlier although there is no mention of their deaths in the family Bible which listed the Riggan family at a much later time. The stamps in the Bible could possibly be the Nicholas Sharp born 1831 with a wife Christinia White? More research is needed.

    Census:
    1830 United States Federal Census
    about Nicholas Sharpe
    Name:
    Nicholas Sharpe          
    Home in 1830:, Surry, Virginia View Map          
    Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:1          
    Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:1          
    Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:1          
    Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:1          
    Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23:1          
    Free White Persons - Under 20:2          
    Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:2          
    Total Free White Persons:4          
    Total Slaves:1          
    Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):5          

    Died:
    Not sure why Charles Nicholas was living in Chesterfield County where he died of consumption. His wife and their children were also living in Chesterfield also. There was a Wren family living nearby. Grandma said that there were relatives in Matoaca.

    U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules Index
    about Nicholas Sharp
    Surname:
    Nicholas Sharp          
    Year:1850          
    County:Chesterfield CO.          
    State:VA          
    Age:46          
    Gender:M (Male)          
    Month of Death:Jun          
    State of Birth:VA          
    ID#:MRT46_5911          
    Occupation:LABORER          
    Cause of Death:CONSUMPTION          

    Charles married ROGERS Maria on 23 Aug 1824 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States. Maria (daughter of ROGERS Benjamin and WREN Elizabeth) was born on 14 Oct 1804 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States; died after 1850 in Chesterfield County, VA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

    Notes:

    Married:
    Virginia Marriages, 1740-1850
    about Maria Rogers
    Groom Name:
    Nicholas Sharp          
    Bride Name:Maria Rogers          
    Marriage Date:23 Aug 1824          
    County:Surry          
    State:Virginia          

    Children:
    1. SHARPE Alfred Stith was born on 31 Mar 1835 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States; died on 21 May 1914 in Waverly, Sussex County, VA.
    2. SHARPE Thomas was born on 24 Dec 1827; and died.
    3. SHARPE Indiana was born on 22 Mar 1829; and died.
    4. SHARPE Nicolas M. was born on 1 Mar 1831; and died.
    5. SHARPE Mary Ann was born on 18 Sep 1845; died on 2 Sep 1928 in Waverly, Sussex County, VA.
    6. SHARPE Caroline was born about 1836 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States; and died.
    7. SHARPE Charles Rufus was born on 18 Aug 1840 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States; died on 11 Sep 1921 in Waverly, Sussex County, VA.

Generation: 2

  1. 2.  SHARPE John Gibbons was born on 23 Jan 1778 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States (son of SHARPE Burwell and GIBBONS Mary); died on 16 Dec 1822 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States.

    John married WHITE Elizabeth on 22 May 1801 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States. Elizabeth died after 1830. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  2. 3.  WHITE Elizabeth died after 1830.

    Notes:

    Married:
    Virginia Marriages, 1740-1850
    about Elizabeth S. White
    Groom Name:
    John G. Sharp          
    Bride Name:Elizabeth S. White          
    Marriage Date:22 May 1801          
    County:Surry          
    State:Virginia          

    Children:
    1. 1. SHARPE Charles Nicholas was born on 13 Apr 1803 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States; died in Jun 1850 in Chesterfield County, VA.
    2. SHARPE Thomas S. was born on 11 May 1809 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States; and died.


Generation: 3

  1. 4.  SHARPE Burwell was born about 1750 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States (son of SHARPE John I and SHARPE Constant --LNU--); died between Aug and Oct 1799 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States.

    Other Events and Attributes:

    • Will: 18 Aug 1799

    Notes:

    Spouse & Children
        
    Mary Gibbons
         1748 - 1787
         Wyatt Sharpe
         1774 -
         John Gibbons Sharpe
         1778 - 1822
         Thomas Sharpe
         1780 -
    Other Spouse & Children
        
    Sarah White
         1771 -
         Polly Sharpe
         Thomas Sharpe
         Mary Suzanah Sharpe
         1794 -
         Elizabeth Sorsby Sharpe
         1795 -
         James N. Sharpe

    Will:
    will written 8/18/1799 and probated on 10/22/1799. See below for transcript of will:

    Transcription of the Will of Burwell Sharpe
    Will of Burwell Sharp - Written August 18, 1799 and probated on October 22, 1799

    In the name of God amen, I Burwell Sharp of this county of Surry being sick and weak but of disposing mind do make and ordain this my last will and testament and first and principally I recommend my soul into the hands of God who gave it and my body I request may be buried in a Christian like manner at the discretion of my executors.
    Imprismis, my desire is that my just debts be paid first. Item, I lend unto my wife Sarah Sharp one third part of my land including the house and improvements thereon with one half my apple orchard and the still and its implements, also one third part of my Negroes during her life. At her death my will and desire is that the Negroes lent to her may be equally divided among all my children then alive, to them and to their heirs forever. Item, I give and bequeath unto my said wife one third part of all my personal estate (except the Slaves) to her and to her heirs forever. Item, My will and desire is that all my slaves (except those ? to my wife) may be equally divided among all my children, to them and to their heirs forever.
    Item, before any distribution of my personal estate, I desire my son Thomas Sharp may have my dark bay colt, now three years old to him and to his heirs forever.
    Item, my will and desire is that the remainder of my personal property may be sold by my executors at twelve months credit and the money arising therefrom to be equally divided among all my children to them and to their heirs forever.
    Item, That part of my Estate which may be allotted for those children I have had by my wife Sarah, I desire may remain in her possesion until they shall come of age, or marry and that she may not be accountable for the profits, hoping that she will take care to have them well brought up and educated, provided nevertheless, that should my said wife marry or die in the meantime, in either case I desire that they may have guardinan appointed by the Court.
    Item, I give and bequeath unto my son John Gibbons Sharp all my land (reserving unto my said wife the use of that part before mentioned during her natural life) to him and to his heirs forever. My will and desire is that my friends, Archibald Cocke, James L. Lane, Archibald Davis and David Sibell, or any two them (when requested so to do by my executors or by any of the legatees herein mentioned) do log off and ? apart my wife's part of the land and slaves, and make equal distribution of the remainder of the slaves agreable to the preceeding clauses of this will and lastly I do hereby nominate and appoint my friend James Kee and my son Wyatt Sharp my executors, hoping they will see my will performed; In witness whereof I have ? set my hand and seal this eighteenth day of August in the year of Lord Christ, one thousand seven hundred and ninety nine.
    Signed, sealed and published and declared before and in the prescence of
    Thomas (his mark) Clary
    James White
    Elizabeth (her mark) White Burwell (his mark) Sharp (Seal)
    In a court held for Surry County October 22 1799 -
    Burwell Sharp deceased, was presented in Court by James Kee, one of the Executors therein named and the same being proved by the oaths of Thomas Clary and James White two of the witnesses thereto, is by the Court ordered to be recorded and on the motion of the said Executor who made oath agreeable to law and gave bond with Mary Sharp and William Clinsh, Jr. his securities in the penal sum of six thousand dollars conditioned for the due administation of said decedents estate certificate is granted him for obtaining a probate therof in due form. Wyatt Sharp who is nominated executor to the within will personally appeares in Court and fefused to take upon himself the burthen and exception of the same which is also ordered to be recorded

    Burwell married GIBBONS Mary on 25 Jan 1773. Mary was born on 10 Oct 1748 in Charles Parrish, York County, VA; died on 21 Jun 1787 in Sussex County, VA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  2. 5.  GIBBONS Mary was born on 10 Oct 1748 in Charles Parrish, York County, VA; died on 21 Jun 1787 in Sussex County, VA.
    Children:
    1. 2. SHARPE John Gibbons was born on 23 Jan 1778 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States; died on 16 Dec 1822 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States.


Generation: 4

  1. 8.  SHARPE John I was born about 1725 in Virginia (son of SHARPE Francis and FITCHETT Elizabeth); died in 1759 in Virginia.

    Other Events and Attributes:

    • Will: 21 Apr 1759, Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States

    Notes:

    Red Lion Inn
    A BRIEF RESUME OF NOTES ON FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS
    ASSOCIATED WITH THE RED LION INN.(Note: This resume is confined to source data contained in the Research Department files.)
    AUGUST, 1932.
    RED LION INN Block 17 Bldg 3B
    One of the things that set Williamsburg apart from other Tidewater Virginia towns was the fact that by its very nature it had to be supplied with an unusually large number of taverns. Four times each year the general courts convened, twice each year the House of Burgesses sat, and on all of these occasions the officials, planters, lawyers, merchants and traders, frequently accompanied by their families, arrived at the little Capital city. Some few of the notables had town houses for the accommodation of themselves and their families, but the greater majority were dependent on public houses and the strain upon the housing facilities of the town was great.
    One Frenchman travelling through pre-Revolutionary Williamsburg said that as many as five or six thousand people were in town on court days. (1) Another traveller, in 1736, was amazed at the number of coaches thronging the streets bringing the planters, Councillors, Burgesses and others to their Capital. He wrote, "Williamsburgh is the most wretch'd contriv'd Affair for the Capitol of a Country, being near three Miles from the Sea, is a bad Situation. There is nothing considerable in it, but the College, the Governor's house, and one or two more, which are no bad Piles; and the Prodiguous Number of Coaches that crowd the deep, sandy Streets of this little City." (2)
    There were great taverns in those days, The Raleigh, Wetherburn's, Ayscough's, Mrs. Campbell's, The English Coffee House and the Sign of the King's Arms, to mention a few of those which accommodated the gentry, but where did the hundreds of others stay?
    There was the Red Lion Inn practically adjacent to the Capitol, the Sign of Edinburgh Castle, the Rose and Crown, the Blue Bell, the Market Square and the Brick House, in addition to innumerable others named for their keepers. In fact, in a very literal sense, every house became a public house in "public times" as they were called. There were few, if any, that did not at one time in their history serve as inns, or at least as lodging houses.
    Even with the town so liberally supplied with taverns, inns and ordinaries, and with private houses accommodating their share of lodgers, there was still tremendous pressure on housing facilities. There was one other solution to the problem, and if disgruntled travellers from abroad are to be believed, it was a frequent one.
    "In private houses as well as inns several people are crowded together in the same room", wrote one European, "and in the latter it very commonly happens that after you have been some time in bed, a stranger of any condition comes into the room, pulls off his clothes, and places himself without ceremony between your sheets." (1)
    Another commentator speaking of the crowding in Virginia houses says, "... and they make no ceremony of putting three or four persons into the same room, nor do these make any objections to being thus heaped together." (2)
    3
    The Red Lion Inn was probably typical of a large class of taverns and had the distinction of being one of Williamsburg's earliest public houses. It was built by Francis Sharp between 1718 and 1719. (1) On May 19, 1718 Sharp was granted his first license to keep an ordinary. (2)
    For this purpose he and two bondsmen pledged 10,000 pounds of tobacco to "Our Sovereign Lord the King" to "constantly find and provide in his said ordinary good, wholesome and cleanly lodging and diet for travellers and stableage, fodder and provender for their horses." He was further pledged not to "suffer any unlawful gaming in his house, nor on the Sabbath day suffer any person to tipple or drink more than is necessary."
    Sharp owned also the tavern to the east of the Red Lion called the Sign of Edinburgh Castle. After his death he bequeathed a tavern to each of his sons, Jacob and John, John inherited the Red Lion Inn. (3)
    In 1742 Thomas Penman, by trade a carpenter and joiner, became also an inn keeper. He rented Sharp's inn and agreed to repair and add to the buildings instead of paying rent. This agreement was to build a brick chimney to the "Billyard House" or to build a new kitchen. Sharp was to rebuild the "shed" to the "Mansion house" as the inn was called, and put it in repair. (4)
    Penman sub-let the inn to Seth Seekright who became involved in a law suit in 1743 with John Burdette, keeper of the ordinary next door, claiming that the latter's building encroached on his lot.
    4
    The York county court ordered an exact survey made of the disputed lot line, and Joseph Davenport, surveyor of the city of Williamsburg, made a plat. He drew on the plat a small scale elevation of each tavern, and this was entered in the court order books, thereby preserving the significant architectural features of two early taverns which were destined to disappear more than one hundred years later. (1)
    Penman won the suit and was awarded damages. Penman belongs rightly in the great oligarchy of Williamsburg innkeepers who were connected not only through their common business, but through ties of kinship and marriage. Penman's daughter, Elizabeth married Anthony Hay, keeper of the celebrated Raleigh. (2)
    While Penman was still leasing the Red Lion Inn, John Sharp sold it to Henry Wetherburn in October, 1772 forĀ£80. (3)
    Henry Wetherburn was one of Williamsburg's most enterprising innkeepers, who at one time held a large amount of good tavern property. He also married two wealthy widows who had extensive holdings of this sort, too. At one time he had been keeper of the Raleigh, but soon moved into a tavern of his own.
    His first wife, Mary, was the widow of Henry Bowcock, an innkeeper, who at one time owned a building on the Raleigh tavern site.
    John Blair in his diary wrote on July 3, 1751, "Very rainy while at Mrs. Wetherburn's funerl. He has found her hoard they say".
    5
    A series of three cryptic notes in John Blair's hand in an almanac of that same year refer to Wetherburn's second marriage:
    "July 1. Mrs. Wetherburn died
    3. now buried in wett
    11: H. Wetherburn married to Mrs. Sheilds." (1)
    Mrs. Sheilds (2) had been Ann Marot, daughter of Jean Marot, a French Huguenot who kept a tavern across the street from the Red Lion Inn in the early part of the eighteenth century. When her father died in 1717, Francis Sharp, keeper of the Red Lion was arrested on the suspicion of murder, but evidently was acquitted speedily as he took out his first ordinary license a year later. (3)
    Ann first departed from the innkeeper tradition when she married James Inglis, son of Mungo Inglis the first grammar master of William and Mary College. After his death, she married James Sheilds, owner of a tavern just west of the Red Lion Inn, and in 1750 he died. As a daughter of one innkeeper and widow of another, Ann Marot-Inglis-Sheilds brought with her a large estate when she married her neighbor, Henry Wetherburn a year after her husband's death, and just eleven days after the first Mrs. Wetherburn's demise. She survived him.
    As Henry Wetherburn kept a tavern himself in several places chiefly in the so-called "Richard Bland" house across from the Raleigh, he rented the Red Lion Inn to various tenant keepers during the rest of his life.
    Little record of these tenants exists. The inn, so convenient to the Capitol continued to receive its usual share of the custom. Men met here to complain of the burden of taxation imposed by the Crown, to game at one-and-thirty and backgammon, to play billiards, to tipple (but not more than was necessary") and to transact business.
    The sign which hung before the inn, the sign of the Red Lion, was significant of the desire of the Virginia innkeeper and his patrons to transplant the atmosphere of the English inn to their new environment. In England, in Essex county alone, there were thirty-eight Red Lion Inns at one time, and so in each of the American colonies an echo of this old country popularity could be found.
    There are two advertisements in the Virginia Gazette of lessees of Wetherburn which are of interest:
    "November 6, 1766. Stephen Buck Tailor from London, Begs leave to inform his Customers, and others, that he has remov'd from the Red Lyon to a house adjoining Mr. Attorney's; where he continues to carry on his business with the greatest expedition... N.B. Ladies Riding Habits neatly Made..." (1)
    "March 24, 1768. Walter Lenox, Perukemaker, Begs leave to inform the Publick in General, and his Customers in Particular, that he has moved to the house known by the name of the Red Lion, next door above Mr. Rind's Printing Office, where he carries on his business in all its branches as usual; and as he has good accommodation for private lodgers, he will be much obliged to those Gentlemen who may please to favour him with their Custom, and they may depend upon the best usage for themselves and horses..." (2)
    7
    During the Revolutionary War the council of the state of Virginia ordered that a warrant be issued for one pound eighteen shillings to Walter Lenox, "for boarding sick soldiers". (1)
    When Wetherburn died in 1760 he bequeathed the bulk of his large estate to his nephew, Edward Nicholson (2), who in this way acquired the Red Lion Inn, which he too, leased to various keepers.
    In the patriotic fervor of the Revolution any name so frankly English as the "Red Lion" savored too much of loyalism so the ancient name was changed to Union Tavern. (3) This was a common phenomenon of the war in all the colonies, and patriotic Williamsburg obliterated all traces of names like Sign of the King's Arms and Red Lion Inn by a deluge of Eagle Taverns and Union Taverns.
    Habits of a lifetime were not changed however with the mere repainting of an offending Tory sign - Union Tavern it might have been for the brief period of militant enthusiasm but the old habits reasserted themselves, and as the Red Lion Inn its memory was passed down to the descendants of the patriots.
    In 1789 Henry W. Nicholson sold the inn to Samuel Crawley while it was in the tenure of Ebenezer Ewing and Joseph Bryan.(4) In 1802 the building was tenanted by John Crump who insured it with a Richmond insurance company which drew such careful plats of insured property that they made a valued contribution to the architectural history of Williamsburg. (5)
    8
    The removal of the capital to Richmond brought about the decay of many formerly flourishing taverns. Travellers were no longer amazed at the throngs of carriages in the dusty streets or the thousands who attended during court sessions, instead they painted a picture of decay. Isaac Weld wrote that the town was to ruin at the close of the eighteenth century and that a number of houses were uninhabited. (1)
    Johann David Schoepf (2) a German traveller, describing the Williamsburg of that day wrote, "Thus like so many older ones in Europe, do cities of this New World lament for the uncertain fate of a past glory."
    Without its former patronage the Red Lion was one of those that succumbed to the passage of time. Mrs. Victoria Lee who wrote "Williamsburg in 1861" (3) said that at that time the house was occupied by three families of refugees from the War Between the States. The house at that time called the Red Lion Inn, and Lee recalled a hunting scene painted above the mantel in one of the lower rooms which had doubtless looked down on many scenes of past conviviality. Some years later the house was so dilapidated that it was razed to make room for a new one. (4)
    From a number of contemporaneous drawings, insurance policies and documents it is possible to reconstruct a replica of this inn upon its old foundations, so that not even a relatively obscure inn which flourished in the day of the colonial capital can be said to have passed into oblivion.
    Harold R. Shurtleff, Director
    Department of Research Record.
    History by:
    Helen Bullock.

    Will:
    Transcription of the will of John Sharpe
    Will of John Sharp
    In the name of God, Amen, this twenty first day of April, one thousand seven hundred and fifty nine, I John Sharp of the county of Surry, being in a low state of health, but of perfect mind and memory, thanks be to Almighty God, but calling to the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men living once to die. Do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament that is to say, principally and first of all, I recommend my soul into the hands of Almighty God that gave it and my body in the ground to be buried in a Christian like manner at the discretion of my executrix, hereafter named. Nothing doubting, but at the general resurrection, I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God. Ye as touching much worldly estate, wherewith it has pleased God to help me within this life, I give and dispose of the same in the following manner and form-
    I give and bequeath to my loving wife, Constant Sharp, my desk corner cupbord and falling table during her life, also one feather bed and furniture. Likewise, I give her the labour of my three negroes, James, Charles and V. Jane during her life. Also I give her the labor of three other negroes, Daniel, Frank and McCall until the legatees, hereafter named, comes to the age of twenty one to receive them and further my Will and desire is that my loving wife should have the sole use of all my land and plantation during her natural life and after her death to my son, Burwell Sharp and if he should die before he comes of age, to be sold and the money arising, thereby to be equally divided between my three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary and Cherry. I give and bequeath to my son Burwell Sharp, one feather bed and furniture and also do set him free at the age of eighteen years to act and do for himself, free from under anyone's jurisdiction or command as fully as though her were twenty one years.
    I give to my daughter, Elizabeth Sharp, two negroes
    I give to my daughter Mary Sharp, two negroes
    I give to my daughter Cherry Sharp, two negroes
    I desire that the remainder of my estate after legacies and true debt is paid, should after decease of my wife be equally divided among my four children.
    I appoint my loving wife, Constant Sharp and my Son, Burwell Sharp.
    Signed,
    John I Sharp
    Probated September 18, 1759

    John married SHARPE Constant --LNU-- about 1750. Constant and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]


  2. 9.  SHARPE Constant --LNU-- and died.
    Children:
    1. 4. SHARPE Burwell was born about 1750 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States; died between Aug and Oct 1799 in Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States.