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SHARPE Charles Nicholas

Male 1803 - 1850  (47 years)


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  • Name SHARPE Charles Nicholas 
    Birth 13 Apr 1803  Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Census 1830  Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • 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          
    Death Jun 1850  Chesterfield County, VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Cause: Consumption 
    • 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          
    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.
    Person ID I11110  Booth Family
    Last Modified 22 Aug 2015 

    Father SHARPE John Gibbons,   b. 23 Jan 1778, Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 16 Dec 1822, Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 44 years) 
    Mother WHITE Elizabeth   d. Aft 1830 
    Marriage 22 May 1801  Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • 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          
    Family ID F3729  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family ROGERS Maria,   b. 14 Oct 1804, Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1850, Chesterfield County, VA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 46 years) 
    Marriage 23 Aug 1824  Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • 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,   b. 31 Mar 1835, Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 21 May 1914, Waverly, Sussex County, VA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 79 years)
     2. SHARPE Thomas,   b. 24 Dec 1827   d. Yes, date unknown
     3. SHARPE Indiana,   b. 22 Mar 1829   d. Yes, date unknown
     4. SHARPE Nicolas M.,   b. 1 Mar 1831   d. Yes, date unknown
     5. SHARPE Mary Ann,   b. 18 Sep 1845   d. 2 Sep 1928, Waverly, Sussex County, VA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years)
     6. SHARPE Caroline,   b. Abt 1836, Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     7. SHARPE Charles Rufus,   b. 18 Aug 1840, Dendron, Surry, Virginia, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Sep 1921, Waverly, Sussex County, VA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years)
    Family ID F3728  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 22 Aug 2011 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsDeath - Cause: Consumption - Jun 1850 - Chesterfield County, VA Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Sources 
    1. [S1160] Maria Roger's, Maria Roger's Family Bible (Reliability: 3).