Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 10

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 988

USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 10
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 10

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Some fourteen years previously (in the spring of 1769), a large body of settlers from Connecti- cut and other colonies had been sent by the Sus- quehanna Company to take possession of the Wyoming region on the East Branch of the Sus- quehanna river. Zebulon Butler was an incon- spicuous member of that body, but within a short time he became prominent in the affairs not only of the little Wyoming settlement, but of the Sus- quehanna Company, and thenceforward, until within four or five years of his death, "the life of Zebulon Butler is the history of Wyoming. Al- most every letter of our annals bears the impress of his name and is a record of his deeds," as Charles Miner states in his "History of Wyom- ing." From the beginning he made his home in Wilkes-Barre, and was not only the military com- mander of the men of Wyoming in their various

conflicts and frays with the Pennamites, and in their warfares with the Indians, but, as the holder of various civil offices to which he was either ap- pointed by the General Assembly of Connecticut or elected by his fellow-citizens, was the advisor and leader of the people in their affairs of peace ..

In July, 1771, at the head of an armed band. of sixty-five Connecticut settlers, within a few: days increased to one hundred and twenty, Zebu- lon Butler invested and attacked the Pennamites. in their wooden fort on the River Common in Wilkes-Barre, and after a siege of twenty-six days compelled them to evacuate the fort and re- tire from the valley. In December, 1775. at the liead of some four hundred of the men of Wyom- ing, the majority of whom were enrolled mem- bers of the Twenty-fourth Connecticut Regiment, previously mentioned, Colonel Butler opposed an invading force of Pennamites numbering over six hundred men and commanded by Colonel William Plunket, of Sunbury. A battle was fought at "Rampart Rocks," near Nanticoke Falls, at the lower end of Wyoming valley, and, after some loss of life, Plunket and his men were compelled to beat a retreat. At home from the army on a brief leave of absence at the beginning of July, 1778. Colonel Butler, who of all men then on the ground, was conceded to be the most experienced in matters of warfare, was urged by the officers of the Twenty-fourth Regiment to take command of the almost undisciplined Amer- ican force about to march forth to oppose the in- vading British and Indians. A few days later the memorable battle of Wyoming (which resulted so disastrously to the brave defenders of the val- ley) was fought on Abraham's Plains, some six miles north of Wilkes-Barre, Colonel Butler be- ing in command of the right wing of the Amer- ican line of battle.

In September, 1770, when Fort Durkee (oc- cupied by the New England settlers at Wilkes- Barre) was captured by the Pennamites, Zebulon Butler was taken prisoner and conveyed to Phila- delphia, where he was detained in the city jail for several months. At a meeting of the Susque- hanna Company held at Windham, Connecticut. January 9, 1771, it was "Voted, That Capt. Zeb-

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

ulon Butler, Capt. Lazarus Stewart, Mapor John Durkee and John Smith, Esq., be and they are hereby appointed a committee to repair to our settlement at Wyoming with our settlers, to order and direct in all affairs relating to the well order- ing and governing said settlers and settlements." Captain Butler was at that time still in the Phila- delphia jail. (See Harvey's "History of Wilkes- Barre," II : 671, 677).

At a meeting of the Susquehanna Company held April 1, 1772, Captain Butler was appointed with four others a committee "to order and regu- late the settlement" of the lands in the "Susque- hanna Purchase." June 2, 1773, he was appointed by the Susquehanna Company, one of the three "Directors" empowered "to take upon them the well ordering and governing of the town" of Wilkes-Barre, and "to suppress vice of every kind, and preserve the peace of God and King therein." July 22, 1773, at a general meeting of the Susquehanna Company, proprietors and set- tlers, held at Wilkes-Barre, Captain Butler was "chosen to be ye Judge of the Probates" for the company of settlers. When, in January, 1774, the General Assembly of Connecticut erected the Wyoming region into the town of Westmoreland and annexed it to the county of Litchfield, in Con- necticut, Zebulon Butler was appointed by the Assembly and commissioned by Governor Trum- bull a justice of the peace in and for said county, and was authorized and directed to call the free- men of Westmoreland together and conduct an election of officers for the new town. At this election Zebulon Butler was chosen town treas- urer, and a few weeks later he and three other citizens of Westmoreland were elected to repre- sent the town at the May ( 1774) session of the General Assembly of Connecticut. Colonel But- ler also represented the town as one of its two deputies in the sessions of the Assembly held in October, 1774, May and October, 1775, and Octo- ber, 1776.

When by enactment of the Pennsylvania legis- lature, in September, 1786, a large part of the Wyoming region was erected into the county of Luzerne, Colonel Butler was appointed one of the three commissioners authorized and empowered

to locate and erect a court-house and jail for the new county. At that time Colonel Butler resided at the southeast corner of River and Northampton streets, Wilkes-Barre, and in his house the courts of Luzerne county were duly organized in May, 1787, and for some time thereafter were regularly held. Colonel Butler was commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania "lieutenant of the County," in and for the new county of Luzerne, in August, 1787, and this office he held until January, 1792. Three and a- half years later (July 28, 1795) he died at his then home at Coal `Brook, in the township of Wilkes- Barre. A tablet has lately been erected by the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, in memory of Colonel Butler, containing the follow- ing inscription :

IN MEMORY OF COLONEL ZEBULON BUTLER, Born Ipswich, Mass., 1731. Died Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1795. Commanded The American Forces at Wyoming, Pa., July 3, 1778. Ensign, 3d Regt. Conn. Troops, 1757-1758. Lieutenant, 4th Regt. 1759. Captain, 1760-1762. Served in the Havana Campaign. Col. 24tlı Conn. Regt. Wyoming, 1775. Lieut .- Colonel, Continental Line, 1776-1778. Colonel, Continental Line, 1778-1783. Retired June 3, 1783. Member Connecticut State Society of the Cincinnati, 1783. Member Conn. Assembly, 1774-1776. Justice, 1774-1779. Judge, 1778-1779.

County Lieut., Luzerne Co., 1787-1790. Erected by Some of His Descendants July 25, 1904.

Zebulon Butler was married (first) at Lyme, Connecticut, December 23, 1760, to Anne, born April 4, 1736, daughter of John and Hannah (Rogers) Lord, of Lyme. Mrs. Anne (Lord) Butler died at Wilkes-Barre in the spring of 1773. John Lord, born at Lyme about 1704, was

artBullen

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

the second son of Lieutenant Richard and Eliza- beth (Hyde) Lord. He lived on Eight-mile river in North Lyme, where he died January 7, 1776. His wife, Hannah, (to whom he was married November 12, 1734), was born in 1712, the daughter of Lieutenant Joseph and Sarah (- -- ) Rogers, of Milford, Connecticut, and she died December 25, 1762. Children of Ze- bulon and Anne (Lord) Butler: I. Lord, born December 11, 1761 ; died March 3, 1824 ; of whom later. 2. Zebulon, born at Lyme, November 12. 1767; died at Wilkes-Barre in the spring of 1773. 3. Hannah, born at Lyme, February 28, 1770 ; married in 1788, at Wilkes-Barre, to Rose- well Welles ; died at Wilkes-Barre, October 31, 1807.

Colonel Butler was married (second) at Wilkes-Barre, August, 1775, to Lydia, born 1756, eldest child of the Rev. Jacob and Mary (Gid- dings) Johnson, of Wilkes-Barre. (See John- son Family). The only child of this marriage was Zebulon Johnson, born at Wilkes-Barre, May, 1776; married, February 22, 1798, to Jem- ima, born 1777, married September 30, 1819, daughter of Captain Jabez and Sarah (Avery) Fish. Captain Zebulon Johnson Butler died at Wilkes-Barre, March 23, 1817, survived by his wife and nine children.

Mrs. Lydia (Johnson) Butler having died at Wilkes-Barre, June 26, 1781, Colonel Butler was married (third) in June. 1783. to Phebe Haight, born 1756, died at Wilkes-Barre, January 19, 1837, daughter of Daniel Haight, of Dutchess county, New York. The children by this mar- riage were the following-named, all born in Wilkes-Barre : I. Lydia, born 1784; married, July 3, 1801, to George Griffin ; died in the city of New York, May I. 1864. 2. Anne, born 1787 ; married, January 12, 1808, to John W. Robinson ; died in Wilkes-Barre, May 11, 1856. 3. Steuben, born March 7, 1789 ; died in Wilkes- Barre, August 12, 1881.

GENERAL LORD BUTLER, eldest child of Colonel Zebulon and Anne (Lord) Butler, born North Society of Lyme, New London county, Connecticut, December II, 1761, and in Decem- ber, 1772, removed thence with the other mem-

bers of his father's family to Wilkes-Barre. Here he lived the remainder of his life except for two or three years prior to 1778 spent at school in Connecticut. In October, 1778. he was appointed by his father, then in command of the Wyoming post, at Wilkes-Barre, quartermaster at the post. The duties of this appointment he performed un- til the following January, when he was appointed acting deputy quartermaster in the Continental establishment, and quartermaster at the Wyoming post. He was then only a few weeks over seven- teen years of age. Before June, 1779, he was promoted acting quartermaster in the Continental establishment, and in the following October was promoted acting deputy quartermaster general, with an assignment to the Wyoming post. This office he held until February, 1783, when the Continental garrison was withdrawn from Wyo- ming.

When the "Second Pennamite War" was be- gun in the autumn of 1783, Lord Butler was one of the foremost of the younger men identified with the Connecticut party in Wyoming to come to the front to oppose the schemes and imposi- tions of the Pennamites. He was one of the thirty-seven "effective men" who, in August, 1784, under the command of Captain Jolin Swift, marched over the Wyoming mountains to Locust Hill, near the present village of Stoddartsville, and attacked a band of invading Pennamites, killing one of them and wounding several others. A few weeks later Lord Butler was one of thirty Wyoming settlers who were taken prisoners by the Pennamites, bound, and marched under guard to Easton, Pennsylvania, where they were lodged in the jail of Northampton county. Eleven of these prisoners, including Lord Butler, were de- tained in the jail until about November 1, 1784, when, being released, they returned to Wilkes- Barre.

In April, 1787, the new county of Luzerne having been organized, as previously mentioned, Lord Butler was appointed and commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of the State, sheriff of the county, to serve until the election of his successor. In the following October he was elected to serve a full term as sheriff, and in No-

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

vember was duly commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council. He served till the last of October, 1789, when he was succeeded by Jesse Fell. In May, 1788, he was elected first lieuten- ant of the Troop of Light Dragoons of the Lu- zerne County Militia. Prior to 1798 he had be- come captain of this troop. In April, 1799, he was commissioned a brigadier-general of the Pennsylvania militia. He was a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania from October 30, 1789, till December 20, 1790, when the Council went out of existence. He was appointed and commissioned, August 17, 1791, as the successor of Colonel Timothy Pickering, prothonotary, clerk of the orphans' court and of the court of quarter sessions, register of wills and recorder of deeds in and for Luzerne county. These various offices he held until January, 1800, when he was removed from them by Governor McKean for political reasons only. Lord Butler was the first postmaster of Wilkes-Barre, being appointed in 1794, and holding the office till 1802, when he took his seat for one term in the Penn- sylvania legislature as one of the two representa- tives from Luzerne county. Upon the organiza- tion of the first town council of the borough of Wilkes-Barre, in May, 1806, Lord Butler was elected president of the body, and this office he held until May, 1808. He was burgess of the borough from May, 1811, till May, 1814. In 1801 and for several years thereafter held the office of county treasurer, and from 1815 till 1818 he was one of the commissioners of Luzerne county. He was one of the incorporators of the Wilkes-Barre Academy, and was a member of its board of trustees from 1807 until his death in 1824, for seven years of which time he was presi- dent of the board.

General Butler was for many years one of the most prominent and active men in public life in Luzerne county. Charles Miner, who knew him well for many years, says of him ("History of Wyoming," appendix, page 7) : "In all his various offices General Butler sus- tained the highest character for faithfulness and ability. No public servant ever deserved better of the public. If he would not condescend to

flatter their prejudices, he yet delighted all with his intelligence and zeal to promote their best interests. Decided in his political opinions and free in expressing them, his opponents said he was proud. If an unworthy pride was meant, the charge was unjust. He was a man of stern integrity, and lived and died highly respected and esteemed, while in the family and social circle he was justly and tenderly loved. He was always and everywhere the gentleman." He died at his home in Wilkes-Barre, March 3, 1824.

Lord Butler was married May 30, 1786, to Mary Peirce, born October, 1763, died October 28, 1834, third child of Abel and Ruth (Shep- pard) Peirce, originally of Plainfield, Windham county, Connecticut, and later of Wyoming val- ley, Pennsylvania.

Abel Peirce (Ezekiel, Timothy, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Massachusetts, 1634), born at Plainfield, Connecticut, December 15, 1736, was the eldest child of Maj. Ezekiel and Lois (Stevens) Peirce, and the grandson of Judge and Col. Timothy Peirce, of Plainfield, and his second wife Hannah Bradhurst. Maj. Ezekiel Peirce was one of the original members. of the Susquehanna Company previously men- tioned, and was one of the original settlers at Wyoming under the auspices of that company in 1762 and 1763. Upon the organization of the town of Westmoreland, March I, 1774, he was elected town clerk and recorder of deeds. in and for the new town. This office he held until 1777 or 1778. He was a member of the- Twenty-fourth Regiment, Connecticut militia, previously mentioned, and was a survivor of the battle of Wyoming. He died at his home in Kingston township in 1779 or 1780. Abel Peirce, the first above mentioned, was one of the origi- nal Connecticut settlers at Wyoming in 1762 and '63. He next came to the valley in May, 1769, in the company of settlers led by Maj. John Durkee. Subsequently he settled in Kingston, and was constable of that township in 1772. He served in the Plainfield, Connecti- cut, "Lexington Alarm Party" while on a visit there, April 20, 1775. He was a justice of the

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

peace in Kingston 1781-1782. He was mar- ried about 1757 to Ruth (born 1733, died 1820), daughter of Lient. Isaac and Dorothy (Pren- tice) Sheppard, of Plainfield. Abel Peirce died at his home in Kingston, May 23, 1814, and was survived by his wife and two daughters, the younger daughter being Mrs. Lord Butler, and the elder being the second wife of Capt. Daniel Hoyt, of Kingston. Chester Peirce, the only son of Abel and Ruth (Sheppard) Peirce, was killed by the Pennamites in a skirmish in Plymouth township, July 20, 1784. Lord and Mary (Peirce) Butler had the following-named children, all born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania :

I. Louisa, born February 23, 1787, died De- cember 17, 1787.

2. Peirce, born January 27, 1789, of whom later.

3. Houghton, born November 8, 1791, died October 3, 1807.

4. Sylvina Peirce, born March 5, 1794, died March 28, 1824 ; married June, 1811 (as his first wife) to Garrick Mallery, born at Middlebury, Connecticut, April 17, 1784, died at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1866. Mr. and Mrs. Mal- lery were the parents of five children.

5. John Lord, born February 9, 1796; mar- ried, November 9, 1826, to Cornelia Richards, born December, 1801, died at Wilkes-Barre, July 12, 1887: daughter of Capt. Samuel and Sarah (Welles) Richards, of Farmington, Con- necticut. Captain Richards died, Wilkes-Barre, August 4, 1858. John L. and Cornelia (Rich- ards) Butler were the parents of two sons and two daughters. Sarah Richards Butler married, June 3, 1857, Hon. Stanley Woodward. (See Woodward Family.)

6. Chester Peirce, born March 21, 1798; married January, 1829, Mrs. Sarah (Hollen- back) Cist, born July 1, 1789, died August I, 1854, daughter of Judge Matthias Hollenback and the widow of Jacob Cist, of Wilkes-Barre. Chester Peirce Butler represented the counties of Luzerne and Columbia, Pennsylvania, in the thirtieth and thirty-first congresses. He died in Philadelphia, October 5, 1850. He had George

Hollenback Butler, born September 22, 1829, died March 16, 1863.

7. Ruth Ann, born January II, 1801, died July 31, 1879; married December 17, 1823, to John N. Conyngham, born December 17, 1798, died February 23, 1871. (See Conyngham Fam- ily.)

8. Zebulon, born September 27, 1803, died Port Gibson, Mississippi, December 23, 1860; married November 12, 1829, to Mary Ann Mur- dock. He was a clergyman at Port Gibson for a number of years.

9. Lord Nelson, born October 18, 1805; married February, 1832, to Abi W. Slocum, born 1808, died March, 1887, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Fell) Slocum and granddaughter of Judge Jesse Fell, of Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Butler died November 27, 1861. (See Fell Family.)

IO. Phebe Haight, born January 16, 1811, died July, 1879: married, 1835, to Dr. Alexan- der C. Donaldson, of California.

Peirce Butler, eldest son of Gen. Lord But- ler and Polly (Peirce) Butler, born January 27, 1789, died Kingston, Pennsylvania, March 30, 1848, was a farmer and lived in Kingston, Penn- sylvania. "He was possessed of an uncommon share of native good sense and sound discrim- inating judgment, a happy, benevolent disposi- tion. Few men ever had fewer enemies, and none ever had warmer and more sincere friends." He married, February 2, 1818, Temperance Colt, born December 27, 1790, died May I0, 1863, daughter and eldest child of Arnold Colt, of Lyme, Connecticut, and Wyoming, Pennsylva- nia, and his wife, Lucinda Yarrington. Children of Peirce and Temperance (Colt) Butler : I. Houghton Seymour, born December 15, 1818, died August 22, 1870; married to Caroline Amanda Meyer, March 18, 1847. 2. Mary Lu- cinda, born January 13, 1822, died November 21, 1897 ; married to Elijah W. Reynolds, No- vember 21, 1842. 3. James Montgomery, born February 9, 1826, died December 9. 1861, of whom later. 4. Peirce, jr., born October 13, 1832; married to Catherine A. Kelley, January 17, 1855.

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

James Montgomery Butler, third child and second son of Peirce Butler and Temperance (Colt) Butler, was born in Kingston, Pennsyl- vania, February 9, 1826, died there December 9, 1861 ; married, March 18, 1852, Martha Lazarus, born September 28, 1832, daughter of John and Polly (Drake) Lazarus. Mrs. Butler's ances- tor, John Lazarus, born 1796, in Northampton county, died December 14, 1879, was son of George Lazarus and Mary Hartzell, and early in 1800 removed from Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and settled in Hanover township, Luzerne county. George Lazarus was of Ger- man descent, and was born in Northampton county in 1761, died in 1844. Evidently he was a man of means, as in 1818 he purchased his farm in Hanover township of Matthias Hollen- back. He became the sole owner of 469 acres of land, being all of certified lot number five and a part of certified lot number six in the first di- vision of Hanover township; the former lot be- ing known as "Hyde Park" and the latter as "Southampton." James Montgomery and Mar- tha (Lazarus) Butler had: I. Blanche Mont- gomery, born April 27, 1853, died September 19, 1869. 2. Peirce, born March 31, 1855, lives in Dorranceton, Pennsylvania. 3. George Hol- lenback, born September 2, 1857, of whom later. 4. John Lord, born March 18, 1860, died Sep- tember 13. 1880. 5. James Montgomery, born May 23, 1862.

George Hollenback Butler, third child and second son of James Montgomery Butler and his wife, Martha (Lazarus) Butler, was born in Kingston township September 2, 1857 ; mar- ried May 8, 1890, Gertrude Taylor Stoddard, daughter of Joseph Marshall Stoddard and his wife, Eliza Fahnestock. He was educated in the select schools of W. S. Parsons and W. R. Kingman, in Wilkes-Barre, and also in Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pennsylvania. He read law with Edwin P. and J. Vaughan Darling, of Wilkes-Barre, was admitted to the Luzerne bar June 6, 1881, and since that time has been en- gaged in the practice of law in Wilkes-Barre, maintaining, however, a home in Dorranceton. Mr. Butler is a member of the Wyoming Com-

memorative Association and its corresponding secretary and a member of the Pennsylvania So- ciety Sons of the Revolution. He is a director and the secretary of the Central Poor District of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Butler is a member of the Wyoming Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution by right of descent from Lieut. Isaac Ashton, sec- ond lieutenant of artillery, Philadelphia, 1777. She is also a member of the Pennsylvania So- ciety of the Colonial Dames of America by right of descent from George Mifflin, of the Common Council of Philadelphia, 1730. Mr. and Mrs. George H. Butler had the following children : I. John Lord, born December 28, 1892. 2. Georgene Gilbert, born September 26, 1894. 3. Gertrude Stoddart, born September 26, 1894, died October 6, 1895. H. E. H.

RICHARD SHARPE, (5), (1813-1895), subject of this sketch, was born at Langham, Rutlandshire, England, April 10, 1813, of Rich- ard (4) and Mary A. (Swingler) Sharpe, de- scendant from Richard Sharpe (I), of Lang- ham (born 1691, died 1757), who owned land "in fee and copy hold." From him, and his wife Elizabeth Williamson ( 1690-1765) the line of descent is traced through their son William (2), (1723-53) and his wife Rachel Wate (1721-51) through their son Richard (3), (1751-85) and his wife Sarah Chester (1754-1823) and con- tinuing through their son Richard (4), (1781- 1836) and his first wife, Mary A. Swingler, (1787-1822), daughter of Robert and Ann (Flavel) Swingler, and granddaughter of John and Margery Flavel.1

* In a volume called "The Norman People and their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States of America." published in Lon- don in 1874, we find mention as among those who crossed the English Channel and "helped to build the wonderfully energetic Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon races, the names of Roger Sharpe, of Poinant, Nor- mandy, 1180: Roger Sharpe, 1198; Richard and Hugo Sharpe, 1272." This family name thenceforth appears in the old records of Lincolnshire. Leicestershire, Kent. Rutlandshire and Yorkshire. In the Yorkshire records of the town of Bradford the name occurs as early as

Georgesfollenback Butter

THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.

Richard Sharpe (5), and his brother Wil- liam (5) came to this country with their father Richard Sharpe (4), and his second wife, sail- ing from Liverpool in December, 1826, cabin passengers in the ship "Sarah Ralston," landing in Philadelphia in January, 1827. Soon after their arrival the family came to the Wyoming Valley, where they bought a farm and made their home. Articles of personal property and inven- tories still in possession of the family show it to be one of ancient lineage. Among the books, some of them inherited through several genera- tions, were included "An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles," published 1699; Milton, Virgil, "The Spectator," Pope, Cowper, Johnson's Dictionary, Latin Grammar, Mythology, works on ancient and modern history and philosophy, Chesterfield's Letters, Bruce's Travels, Newton's Letters, etc. Mr. Sharpe (4) made a short visit to England for the purpose of selling some lands which he held there in fee and copyhold. He

the fourteenth century, various bearers of that name having been set down as owning property and paying taxes. No less than ninety-two wills bearing the name of Sharpe,and dated between 1601 and 1602, are still preserved among the venerable records of York, Eng- land; and the given names of Richard, Thomas, John and William are still to be found throughout these old documents, generation after genration. In the "Valor Ecclesias" made between April, 1634, and April, 1635, is the name of Thomas Sharpe, incumbent of Rothwell, near Ledshan. In 1605 the records bear the name of Richard Sharpe de Ledshan, later those of John Sharpe, 1644-1713, archbishop of York and primate of England, and those of his son Thomas Sharpe, 1693- 1758, archdeacon of Northumberland and prebendary of the cathedral and collegiate churches of York, South- well, and Durham, and also of his grandsons (sons of Thomas), John Sharpe, 1723-92, who was prebendary of Durham, archdeacon of Northumberland and vicar of Hartburn; Thomas Sharpe, D. D., curate of Ban- borough; William Sharpe, of Fulham House, an emi- nent surgeon 1728-1810; Granville Sharpe, 1735-1813 "to whom England owes the glorious verdict of her highest court of law, that the slave who sets his foot on British soil becomes at that instant free." The old town of Bradford twice suffered siege during the civil wars, and most of the old records, excepting some registers were lost or destroyed. It was during one of these investments that John Sharpe earned the title of "The Hero of Bradford."

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Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 10

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin Publication date: 1906 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 988

Author: Hayden, Horace Edwin
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 988