Capt. Alexander Sharp and Isabella Oliver

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Husband Capt. Alexander Sharp ^{1 2 3}

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            AKA: Alexander Sharpe 4 5
           Born: 1756 - Pennsylvania
     Christened: 
           Died: Dec 1824 - Newton Twp, Cumberland Co, PA
         Buried: 

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         Father: Thomas Sharp (      -      ) 1 2 6 7
         Mother: Margaret Elder (      -      ) 1 2 6 7

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       Marriage: 

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   Other Spouse: Margaret McDowell (Abt 1759-1810) 1 8

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Wife Isabella Oliver ^{9 10}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: James Oliver, Esq. (      -      ) 9
         Mother: Mary Buchanan (      -      ) 9

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Children

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• They had no children.

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General Notes: Husband - Capt. Alexander Sharp

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He served several short enlistments in the early part of the Revolutionary War, and later was engaged in the service of furnishing supplies to the army. He located in Newton township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, shortly after the close of the Revolution, on land entered by his father in May, 1746. He was a man of great energy, and much of the improvement and development of his part of the county in that day were due to his enterprise. He engaged extensively at farming, milling, tanning and distilling, and shipped his surplus products by wagon to Baltimore. Captain Sharp, as he was familiarly called, inaugurated the custom of keeping wagons continually on the road, and by intelligent and careful management made the traffic pay. He saw the advantage of having narrow tread wheels for mud roads, and broad tread for turnpikes, and when the turnpike was completed from Baltimore to Hanover, he kept an extra set of wheels for each of his wagons at Hanover, and would change from narrow to broad tread on reaching the beginning of the turnpike.
He took a paternal interest in the young men in his employ, directing their efforts so as to give them a good start in life. Among the employes in his tanneries was a young man named Robert Garrett, who showed extraordinary capacity for business. This young man he advised to go to Baltimore, Maryland, and open a commission business, promising him all the patronage he had, and to use his influence to secure him that of others. Young Garrett was then only about twenty years of age and had never been to Baltimore. He was reluctant to go, but having implicit confidence in Captain Sharp's judgment he yielded and subsequently became one of Baltimore's most prominent and successful businessmen. This young man Garrett was the father of John W. Garrett, and the founder of the famous Garrett family of Baltimore.

He became the largest land owner in Newton township, Cumberland County, his holdings extending from near Newville, to the turnpike above Stoughstown, a tract about four miles long and several miles wide, nearly all of which, though divided, was still in the possession of his descendants into the twentieth century. Its northern boundary was the headwaters of the Green Spring.

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General Notes: Wife - Isabella Oliver

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In 1805, she published a volume of "Poems," thus becoming the first poet in the Cumberland Valley.

1 —, Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 17.

2 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 64.

3 Margaret White Loomis, The Presbyterian Families of White, Crawford, Hanna and Sharp (Winnetka, IL: Self-published, 1940), Pg 13.

4 —, History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887), Pg 687.

5 —, Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 66.

6 —, History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warners, Beers & Co., 1886), Pg 394.

7 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 201.

8 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 65.

9 —, Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 18.

10 —, Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905), Pg 66.