All of us at some time begin to wonder about our ancestors and whether the family had any wealthy landowners, war heroes, murderers, famous inventors etc. among the ranks.  I began collecting information about twenty years ago from my mother who was able to give me a number of names from her side of the family, Smith, (not the easiest of names to research!) but was strangely reticent about the history of the Sharpes.  My father always avoided the subject and as good as forbade me to look into the family history, which whetted my appetite even more!! The only piece of information he gave was that "the Sharpes once had a lot of money but drank it all away".

When I started serious investigations my sister and I were the only two remaining members of the family so we truly were working with a blank sheet.

I signed up to Ancestry co.uk and was able to fill in a lot of spaces using the available censuses then moving on to birth, marriage and death records to obtain more detail for dates etc.

I am now back to the late 1700's and can reveal that there was never a kings ransom in the family, although they were as they say comfortably off, but references to alcohol suggest that Dad wasn't too far off the mark.

At this point I should warn any budding genealogists that they must accept they they may uncover the unsavoury as well as the bits that can give you a warm glow!! 

The Sharp(e) Family

When providing a stranger with my surname it is customary to add "that's with the e" as the name comes in two varieties and my family have used both versions starting to add the "e" in the mid 1800's.

The family originate from the village of Stickney in Lincolnshire moving no more than a few miles in 200 years. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Stickenai where there are "3 carucates of land to the geld.  [There is] land for 3 ploughs.  33 sokemen and 5 villans have 3 ploughs there.  There is a church, and 40 acres of meadow"

A carucate is a measure of land; as much as one plough team of 8 oxen could plough in a year.  The exact acreage thus varied.

Location of Stickney

To view a tree of my ancestors back to my great great great grandparents, click here. It is a PDF file and you can enlarge the images via the "+" button on the toolbar.

A further tree detailing the descendants of my great great great grandfather (paternal) is here.

To date I have 285 names in my "All in One " tree (a paper version will cover a wall!) whose average lifespan is 56 years 2 months and a collection of 87 certificates detailing births, marriages and deaths.

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Great great great grandparents

Not a lot is known at the moment about William and Judith Sharp as records (parish) are somewhat sparse and in poor condition.  They were born  c.1759 & c.1768 and both died c. 1817 (compulsory registration commenced in 1837 resulting in several approximations when determining dates of events prior to this year) after producing seven children, one being my great great grandfather James

Great great grandparents

James Sharp was born c.1805 and married Elizabeth Thompson, who came from the nearby village of Revesby, in February 1836. By the 1851 census they were living in their own home and farming 15 acres. They had 7 children between 1837 and 1852, the final one being my great grandfather, Adley.  One of his sisters was given the biblical name Mehetabel which was different to say the least and he also had a brother James, a name which crops up frequently. His life was rather short being born on New Year's Eve 1848 and dying from pneumonia in the following October. 

Initial research suggested that there were eight children, two of them named Elizabeth, which seemed unlikely as the first one was still alive, and further investigations showed that the fourth child was Isabella but the vicar made an error filling in the parish register inserting the mother's name instead of the child's! 

James (senior) died in December 1859, the death being the subject of an inquest.  On the death certificate the cause of death is given as "Visitation of God".  Although amusing to us, at this time it was not an unusual term and was short for "Visitation of God by natural causes" being used for sudden deaths such as stroke or heart attack.

The inquest report says it all! "Mr. J.Sharpe, farmer, had been from home most of the day, and returned between twelve and one o'clock, a.m., the worse for drink. He complained of feeling cold, but soon went to sleep.  Mrs. Sharpe did not wake until 7 o'clock in the morning, when she found him dead. He had complained of shortness of breath and palpitations of the heart, and he had also drunk hard. Verdict, "Visitation of God".

Or put another way, he was as drunk as a skunk and had a heart attack!

The census following James' death indicates that his widow Elizabeth was now farming 32 acres and should have been able to have a comfortable life for the 25 years leading up to her death but................................. the certificate declares that cause of death was due to "Chronic Alcoholism of ten years duration" 

Their second daughter Elizabeth, unmarried, had been assisting in the running of the farm but following her mother's death her choice of homes is rather sketchy.  She died in 1910 and the rather elaborate gravestone (Stickney church yard) suggests that not all the family wealth had gone to subsidise the local merchants of alcoholic beverages.

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More will be added from time to time.