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Biography of Summers Hedrick Sharp

exerpted from The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III,pg. 539-540 Pocahontas

SUMMERS HEDRICK SHARP. Pocahontas County has citizens of great worth, many of these being descendants of old pioneer settlers who did much in early days to substantially develop this section of West Virginia. A very early settler who left an impression because of his admirable traits of character, his industry, his reliability, his generous recognition of the rights of others and his devotion to church,family and friends, bore the name of John Sharp, and he was, undoubtedly, the first of his family to become an American citizen. Among his descendants is a distinguished citizen of Pocahontas County of today, no less a personage than Hon. Summers Hedrick Sharp, who was judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of West Virginia.

John Sharp, the great-great-grandfather of Judge Sharp, was a native of Ireland, but prior to the Revolutionary war he came to the American colonies with the tide of Scotch-Irish that spread throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other sections. He married Margaret Blaine and established a home in Rockingham County, Virginia. His rapidly increasing family led him to seek another home farther west, where land was cheaper, and thus in 1802 he came to what is now Frost in Pocahontas County, where he became a citizen whose sterling worth was appreciated and he survived into old age. His children are recorded as follows: John, Robert, Daniel, William, James, Joseph, Margaret, Anna, Isabella, Rosa, Elizabeth and Polly.

William Sharp, son of John Sharp, seems to have inherited the sturdy qualities and admirable attributes that made him, like his father, a man of worth. He was naturally endowed with mental gifts, and was industrious, law-abiding and charitable. To his marriage with Margaret Nesbitt, one son and two daughters were born: John, Mary Paulina and Eliza Jane. John Sharp remained with his parents until he established a home of his own. He mar ried Elizabeth Slavin Wade, of Highland County, Virginia and they had children as follows: Charles Osborne Wade, William Alexander Gihner, John Benjamin Franklin, Aaron Uriah Bradford and Emma. All these children were born and reared near Frost and some of their descendants still reside there.

Charles Osborne Wade Sharp developed into a man creditable in every way to family training and tradition. From childhood he had been taught that the duties of an American citizen meant veneration for the Almighty, just dealing with his fellow men, obedience to the laws of the land and loyalty to the Constitution of the United States. When friction developed between the North and the South in 1861 his convictions led him to become a soldier in the Federal Army, although many of his friends and neighbors saw duty differently and had espoused the cause of the Confederacy.

He had an honorable career as a soldier, and afterward retired to his farm and former occupations near Frost. In early manhood he married Miss Amanda Grimes and they became the parents of the following children: Hannibal Hamlin, Charles Hanson, David Franklin, George Winters,Summers Hedrick, Austin John, Trudie Montgomery, Isa Amanda and Esta Medora.

Summers Hedrick Sharp was born at Frost, West Virginia, June 20, 1880, and spent his early years on the home farm. After completing the public school course he attended the normal school at Concord, and in 1907 graduated from Marshall College. In 1908 he entered the law school of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and in 1910 graduated therefrom with his degree. In December, 1910, he was admitted to the bar and at once opened a law office at Marlinton and has maintained his home at the county seat ever since. In 1912 and again in 1916 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Pocahontas County, proving fearless and exceedingly efficient in this office, but he resigned in 1917 in order to accept the appointment of judge of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit. In 1918 he was elected to this high office to serve out the unexpired term of the former incumbent. In the meanwhile the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, by legislative enactment, had become the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, and in 1920 Judge Sharp was elected circuit judge for the full term of eight years. Although one of the youngest sitting judges in the county, Judge Sharp demonstrated great judicial ability.

Judge Sharp married Miss Grace Stewart, who was a daughter of William J. Stewart, of Tulsa, Oklahoma and founder of Stewart Oil Company. They had two children: Jean Stewart in 1913 and George Stewart in 1919. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he belonged to the Masonic fraternity. In political life Judge Sharp was a Republican and ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for governor against Chapman Revercomb in 1936. During the World war he was foremost in all patriotic movements, and served as chairman of the Legal Advisory Board of Pocahontas County.