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History of Siskiyou County, California
Illustrated with Views of Residences
D.J. Stewart & Co., Oakland, Cal 1881
William H. Sharp
Includes portraits for both William and Augusta
Now of Scott valley, was born in the Mohawk valley, New York, September 14, 1825, and at the age of two and one-half years his parents moved to St. Lawrence county, New York, and settled in Ogdensburg. William H., was the eighth of a family of nine children, seven of whom are still living. He was the son of Jacob and Sarah (Ranney) Sharp, his mother being a sister of General Ranney. William grew up in Ogdensburg, working at various trades, being ready, as he says, to do anything honorable for a livelihood. In 1846 he left the parental roof and went to Bellevue, Huron county, Ohio, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In one year he married Miss Augusta Bassett, daughter of Doris Bassett, a native of New York. In 1849, hearing of the rich gold discoveries in California, he was thereby induced to dispose of his property, leave his family with friends and start via the emigrant trail of that day, for the coast, in company with nineteen others. They left Ohio in march and arrived at Hangtown (Placerville) in November. Here Mr. Sharp mined four weeks with his friends, then went to Sacramento and from there to Mariposa county. While returning some time after from a mining excursion to the Four Creek country, one of the party was killed by a bear. After settling in Mariposa again, Mr. Sharp engaged in teaming from Stockton. He ran six teams of from six to eight animals each, and followed this business till the fall of 1851, when he opened a corral. In the fall of ?51 he sold the corral and returned to the States for his wife and child, by the water route. Remaining one year in Ohio and not being content, he returned to California in 1853, across the plains with ox-teams. Upon his arrival he stopped at Feather river and at Stockton, where he engaged in farming one season. Not being satisfied with the San Joaquin valley, he saddled a mule and started a search of a better. Finding what he wanted in Siskiyou county he returned for his family, and came with them across the Scott mountains. He experienced the hardest trip he had ever made, and landed in Scott valley on Christmas morning of 1854. He brought with him chickens, pigs, and the first turkeys in the valley, for which last he was offered as high as fifty dollars per pair. He went at once to farming on the place he now owns, which at that time he rented. In 1856 he moved over to the place where Marsac now lives and put in about 500 acres of grain. Here nine of his family were sick at one time with typhoid fever, and his doctor?s fill was $1,500, but settled with Dr. Kinney of Fort James for $700 in the following year. He then moved to the east side of the valley and purchased the home where he now resides. Mrs. Sharp died in 1877. There were born to them ten children, viz.: Emily, Philip, Frederick, Augusta, Friedell, Eugene, Josephine, Frank, Walter, and William who is deceased. Mr. Sharp comes of a long-lived family. His mother is yet living and has numbered 103 years. His father died in Ogdensburg, New York, in 1830. Mr. Sharp?s education was limited to what he could learn at the common schools of his native county. He is a Baptist in religion and a Republican in politics. He is a member of Fort Jones Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Mrs. Sharp is buried in the Odd Fellows cemetery, with a beautiful monument above her grave. Mr. Sharp has always been a hardworking, upright man and has won the good-will and esteem of a large acquaintance.
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Bassett Family Association Database
(Age 48 years)