Photo #1.
Fuzzy and Vernie
Carroll Sharp with his wife Vernie Poole. It is believed that she was half Choctaw and never more evident than in this picture. Her mother was Missouri Poole, a full blood Choctaw. This is unproven and passed down oral history only. Everyone called Carroll, FUZZY. He was born around Booneville, Logan County, Arkansas. His dad, Charlie Sharp died when he was only two years old. A bad flu epidemic came through that area of Arkansas in 1882 and his dad, Charlie Sharp and Grandad, Adron Sharp died within a few days of each other. Fuzzy and Vernie married in 1899 at a place called Kully Chaha in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. It was somewhere near Poteau. Verb was their firstborn in 1901. They migrated to California in the late 1930's but not before moving around Oklahoma. I found them in 1910 around Jay, in Greer County and then they lived in Stephens County for many years before giving up on farming the blowing soil and heading West. Grandpa Fuzzy died in 1952 and Grandma Vernie followed in 1957. They are both buried in Woodlake, Tulare County, California.
Photo #2.
Verb and Nancy Sharp
Verb Sharp, and Nancy Taylor Sharp and all five of their children. This picture was taken in Stephens County Oklahoma, probably around Bray or East of Hope. Ossalee is the oldest, born in 1923, Genola (Ginny) is standing against the house on right. Genola was born in 1921. Mirlacoys (Mirt) is sitting to the left of her dad. Mirt was born in 1926. Verbie Jr. is standing in front of Ginny. Verbie was born in 1929. Bobby was the youngest. He was born in 1931. Verb was crippled and in a wheelchair with Rheumatoid Arthritis very young. He went to crutches in his early 30's. Nancy is standing up on the porch. Every single one of them have gone on to heaven now. Ginny died (2009) and Mirt died a year or two before Ginny. Verb and Nancy are both buried in Carney, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Oss is buried in Visalia, California, Verbie is buried in Bakersfield, California, Mirt is buried in Dallas Texas and Bobby his buried in Carney, Oklahoma.
Photo #3.
Sheena and Grandpa Verb
Me, (Sheena Sharp) and my Grandpa Verb Sharp. This is taken at Yettem, California. We had a Truck Patch there. My Grandma Nancy had to do most of the work. She would chop cotton all day and then come home and tend that garden because Grandpa was crippled and could not do it. She would bag up corn and okra and tomatoes and such and when cars stopped, it was my job to gather it up for them. If we ran out of something I had to go pick it. Hard to believe how much was expected of a three year old then compared to NOW but I loved it and I thought I was so important. Grandpa said I was his right hand man. There was an irrigation ditch across the road and I wanted to go over there so badly and catch pollywogs but Grandpa would never let me near it because he said he could not save me if I tumbled in. He took me fishing with him though and we caught crawdads by the bucketful and Grandpa cooked them for us when she got home.
Photo #4.
Grandpa Verb
My Grandpa Verb was one of a kind. I guess we ALL think that about our Grandpas. See his crippled hands. He would sit at his typewriter for hours and peck away one finger at a time to write a letter to the Editor of the local newspaper. Boy did Grandpa have opinions. He was born in 1901 in Oklahoma when Oklahoma was still Indian Territory. His father was Carroll Sharp but everyone called him FUZZY because he clipped his whiskers with scissors instead of shaving. His mother was Vernie Poole. I started my life living with them in a place called Yettem. It was a bunch of little houses clustered together and nestled right up against the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Not long before they settled this area, outlaws, train robbers and such had traversed the area hiding in the hills. One famous pair of outlaws, Sontag and Evans stayed in that area often and Sontag was shot to death nearby. Grandpa showed me the place several times. It was called Stone Corral. They came to California in search of opportunity. Oklahoma had failed them. They were Farmers and the dirt on their farm had dried up and was blowing away in the wind. It was the worst of times and they went WEST. Note the television in the background. It was my FIRST television. We did not have one at our home. I spent many Saturday nights with Grandpa and Grandma. We would watch Bonanza and Wonderful World of Disney. Grandpa loved the Beverly Hillbillies, he hated Perry Como. Grandma watched whatever HE wanted to watch. They both dipped snuff and kept their snuff cans nearby to spit into. Grandma kept 7-UP in her refrigerator and if you were spending the night with them, you got a whole soda pop. I did not have to take a bath. I had to sit up on the counter top and wash my feet good and then slept with Grandma and listened to her stories until I woke up to the smell of bacon frying and biscuits in the oven.
Photo #5.
Nancy Taylor Sharp
My best guess about this photo is that it was taken not long after they arrived in California. I can see the two hills in the background that we later called MUD GAP. If you lived in that area,Yettem, Seville, Elderwood, you KNEW MUD GAP. It does not appear on maps but we all knew you had to pass between those two hills to get to Elderwood where there was a store. Most of the time we went to Yettem to the store. It was owned by an Armenian man named MAC. It was called MACS GROCERY. That area was settled by Armenians. They called it YETTEM which meant EDEN in their language. My favorite memory of that little grocery store was the Coke Box! Bright red and full of ice water and rows of channels to slide your soda through until you could pull straight up and out with it. You could not pull one out until you put the DIME into the coin slot. Sometimes I got GRAPE and sometimes an Orange Crush but most of the time CHOCOLATE SOLDIER. Just look at my Grandma. What was she thinking? Is she barefoot? This was a NEW world for her. It would be defined by hard work. Chopping and Picking Cotton and being THANKFUL for the work because the land they had left behind in Oklahoma had let them down. They planted and prayed but the wind came and blew the soil away...
Photo #6.
Sharp Family
Front and center is my Grandpa Verb Sharp. His dad, Caroll Sharp is standing behind him. His mother, Vernie Poole Sharp and wife Nancy stand to the left of Caroll. Everyone knew Caroll as FUZZY. Grandpa's brother Oscar (Bawley) is standing to the right of their dad. Verbie Jr is to the right of Bawley (fresh home from the Air Force). I (Sheena) am in the background. I do not know the two men to the far right. Does anyone know them. If so, please leave us a message and let us know. This picture was taken at the Yettem home place in the early 1950's.
Photo #7.
Verb and Nancy Sharp
This picture of my grandparents, Verb and Nancy Sharp was taken on Easter Sunday 1969. This looks like Ossalee and Wanda Sharp's home in Visalia. I remember that pink dress so clearly. She would struggle to pull in down over her tummy and complain that she was too FAT. She worked so hard all her life with Grandpa being crippled with arthritis, SHE was the only source of income for them. Grandpa was a very creative man. Notice how bent his hands are with the arthritis....with THOSE hands he could create such clever objects. He would always save the backbone from the Thanksgiving Turkey...everyone saved them for him. He turned them into little creatures...I think he called them GO DEVILS. They had rose thorns running down the back spine and big eyes and he painted and decorated them. He loved to CREATE something out of NOTHING. Just about a year or so after this picture was made, they moved back to Oklahoma where they both lived until they died.
Photo #8.
Uncle Bawley and Hitch Hiker
This is one of my favorite pictures of my Uncle Bawley Sharp. Bawleys real name was Oscar Vansler Sharp. He was my Grandpa Verb's brother. He is on the right. He was a funny man. Full of mischief, great sense of humor. This is a hitch hiker that he picked up. He was famous for picking up hitch hikers. He took this one into a Cafe and fed him and then took his own shirt off and had his picture taken with him. Uncle Bawley bought and paid for the SHARP compound in California where they all lived around Yettem, with money he won playing poker in Reno. The money was a brown paper sack and he gave the original owner the sack of money and the deal was made without him even getting out of his car. Bawley was the son of Caroll Sharp and Vernie Poole.
Photo #9.
Verb and Nancy Sharp
This picture of my Grandpa Verb and Grandma Nancy was taken BEFORE they went to California. Grandma Nancy is standing over Grandpa Verb's left shoulder, Verbie Jr is standing with his arm outstretched. Ossalee stands at Grandpas right shoulder and I have to guess that Bobby is either in his lap or standing behind him. I cannot identify the others in the background and I hope someone looking at this will know who they are and comment. I notice in this picture the attempt to grow flowers. Grandma loved flowers and tried to keep something pretty growing wherever she lived in her life. Maybe someone can also identify the car off to the left.
Photo #10:
The Sharp name that once was prominent in the Booneville and Mixon Communities of Arkansas, is attributed to Adron and Charlie Sharp, who settled on that land that now comprises the Oak Hill City Cemetery, east of Booneville Creek. Adron bought two parcels of land in this area, first from William D. Sadler on the 5th day of March 1878 and the other from William Shambly on 11th of January 1882. The year 1882 was a bad year for the Sharp family as they were not spared the "grippe" (flu) which ran rampant in the latter part of the year. Charlie Sharp (son of Adron) died first, November 23, 1882, leaving behind his wife Matilda and children, Clarrissa, Adron, Pugh, Mattie, Eller, William, and Carroll Sharp. Adron's wife, Zelene M Potts Sharp, by his second marriage, died next on November 28th, and then Adron passed away December 4th., all within 11 days. Adron Sharp and Martha Lamb were married on January 26, 1823 In Lauderdale County, Alabama. Adron came to Lauderdale County in 1820 with his parents Charles Sharp and Matilda Anglin Sharp. Charles (father of Adron) was born in Virginia on Christmas Day 1777.
Adron Sharp was born August 21, 1810, in Patrick County Virginia, and came to the Lauderdale County area about 1820 with his parents and siblings. Adron and his wife Martha Lamb had 7 children. He had a mill on Brush Creek, which was burned by the Yankees during the Civil War. His home was moved and restored on the property of a local couple. Adron was the father of Rutha Barton Sharp Wood and Charlie Sharp. This is our connection to the Wood family in Lauderdale County, Alabama. He died in a flu epidemic December 04, 1882, in Booneville, Logan County, Arkansas.
Photo #11:
Grave site of Charles Sharp 1777-1867
Photo #12:
This is the cabin that Adron Sharp raised his family in. More information coming on this. In the next photo, you can see the mantle and the marks still visible from the Yankee mini balls.
Photo #13 & #14:
This history of Laura Belle Dowdy was printed in a newspaper when she passed away in 1937. Laura Belle Dowdy's mother came from a very outstanding Southern family. The Adron Sharp family owned a big southern plantation near Gravely Springs, Alabama, near Florence. Her mother was truly a southern belle. Laura's mother ran away from home at a very young age and married Mr. Dowdy, a poor man whom she loved dearly but could not accept his way of life as she had been reared in a home of wealth, culture and refinement. She died at a young age. Laura was her oldest daughter. Laura often visited at the Sharp plantation as a child, they had many slaves but were good to them. During the Civil War, Laura remembered trembling with fear when they would hear the rumble and beat of the soldier's horses coming. They would hide their food and valuables. One dark night three Yankee prisoners were brought to her grandfather's house. The grownups got up so the prisoners could lie down and rest as they were very tired. A short time afterwards a man who lived nearby was captured by the the Yankees, he told the officer if he would release him he would tell him something. He told the officer that Adron Sharp had carried three Yankee soldiers up the hollow and killed them, and instantly he was released The Yankees rode straight to the Sharp plantation and made Adron Sharp a prisoner, setting fire to his grist mill and feed barns. They went into the house and carried the piano out on the lawn and splintered it with rocks. They set fire to the house. They rode away with Adron Sharp leaving his wife and Mammy Cella pleading and crying. The slaves soon diminished the fire in the house but the mill and barn had already burned down. Months passed without a word from Adron Sharp. Late one evening he came limping into the house. Albert, a young negro slave saw him coming and he raisied his arms and shouted, "Mars Adron's comin I'm tellin ya". Great rejoicing was underway that night as they had thought he was dead. He sat in his favorite chair and told how the three prisoners he was accused of killing escaped, and returned to the camp where he was held prisoner. Of course there was some explaining to do. The three soldiers told how they were entertained in the Sharp home, the best food set before them, etc. Upon hearing this, the officer told Adron to go home and kill his betrayer the minute he arrived, which he had no thought of doing. He was happy to be getting home as he was old and feeble. Laura made her home with granddaughter, Mrs. Norwood McCarley of Boonesville, Mississippi.
Photo #15:
Adron (Ade) Sharp. Son of Charlie and Matilda and brother to Carroll Sharp. Birth: Feb. 1, 1867
Alabama, USA
Death: Apr. 26, 1906, Mixon Logan County Arkansas, USA
Adron "Ade" Sharp was the son of Charles Sharp and Matilda (Boles) Sharp.
Adron "Ade" Sharp married Matilda E. "Tillie" Voyles on 30 NOV 1888 in Booneville, Logan County, Arkansas.
They were the parents of 7 children:
1) Lemond "Monroe" Sharp, husband of JessieBonnie" Dorrough.
2) Virgil E. Sharp, husband of Ana Kate (Khilling) McCarson.
3) Claude Vester Sharp, husband of Willie Ann Maxwell.
4) Florence A. Sharp, wife of William "Lester" Maxwell.
5) Kelly Charles Sharp, husband of Ruth E. Maxwell.
6) Ade Sharp, husband of Archie Lewis.
7) Bivens Earl Sharp, husband of Dana Idell Bobbitt.
Family links:
Parents:
Charles Sharp (1830 - 1882)
Matilda Boles Sharp (1841 - 1915)
Spouse:
Matilda Elizabeth Voyles Sharp (1869 - 1935)*
Children:
Virgil E. Sharp (1892 - 1953)*
Claude Vester Sharp (1894 - 1969)*
Florence A. Sharp Maxwell (1897 - 1972)*
Kelly Charles Sharp (1901 - 1976)*
Burial:
Mixon Cemetery
Mixon Logan County Arkansas, USA
Maintained by: MillieBelle
Originally Created by: Ken Oliver
Record added: Jul 29, 2006
Find A Grave Memorial# 15078278
The picture above is of all the children together.Taken in the Fall of 1957 at the Sharp Place in Yettem, California. From the left: my brother, Ronny Sharp, Mike Poole, Me (Sheena) in the back and my hand is on my brother Bobby's head, my brother Dane next to Bobby...the tall boy in the front is Bill Hays, son of Mark and Mirl (Sharp) Hays. Mirl was a daughter of Carroll ( Fuzzy ) and Vernie Poole. (Mirl was my Grandpa Sharp's sister) and they they lived right here. I do not know the two little boys to the right of Bill. Crazy...I should know them. The last boy is Jimmy Poole, brother to Mike. Mike and Jimmy were sons of Burl and Eva Mae and Grandsons of Ocie and Alma Poole. The hills in the background are the foothills leading up to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The area behind us and little to the South was known to us as MUD GAP. The Yokut Indians had lived there before us and when I was a child in the 1950's you could find arrowheads and spears everywhere.
I found Matilda Bolles (wife of Charly Sharp) in the 1850 Census. She is only 12 years old in 1850. It says she was born about 1838 in South Carolina. but now in 1850 the family is in Fayette, Alabama. Her father, Gustaves Bolles is 42 and her mother, Sharlot is 45. There is Caloway, 18, Slerisa 16, Daniel 14, Matilida 12 and Sarah E is 10.
Photo # 16