Ariaantie Sharp

by


Ariaantie Sharp most likely was born during the 1720s. She would have been the daughter of Thomas and Maria De Warran Sharp. Unlike her siblings, her baptism does not appear to have been recorded in the extant records of the Albany Dutch church or at St. Peter's where Thomas Sharp was a member. As late as 1786, "Ariantie Sharp" was listed among the subscribers at the Dutch church.

She grew up in a moderate-sized family in a barber's home in the first ward. Her mother died in 1748 but her father did not re-marry.

Thomas Sharp's will, filed in 1771, left the unmarried Sharp sisters his house and lot in Albany as long as they remained single. Never marrying, Anna and Ariaantie Sharp lived in the family homestead for the rest of the century. Their married sister and n'er-do-well brother were similarly long-lived and remained in Albany as well.

From the mid-1770s on, the names of Anna and Ariaantie Sharp appeared on Albany rolls but mostly under that of Jacobus Sharp although his father had barred him from inheriting the family estate. In 1790, his first ward household included three females. Most likely, two of them were the aging Sharp sisters.

Ariaantie Sharp or her sister probably died before 1800 as the census counted only one older women in the first ward home of their brother. In August 1802, church records noted the burial of "Jacobus Sharp's sister."


biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Ariaantie Sharp is CAP biography number 1855. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.





first posted: 7/20/08