Veteran Bio

A letter from J. F. Perry, Peach Point, Texas, March 28, 1836 was published in the Southern Recorder at Millidgville, Georgia, April 19, 1836 and may be found in the Georgia State Library. The following was extracted from the letter.

"Mr. Sharp has arrived from Houston's camp--he left there on the 24th in the evening--states that there were 800 Mexicans encamped in the prairie just above Houston's camp--and Sharp thinks there has been an engagement. Houston has resolved to attack them, and so sanguine was he of success, that he was about to take measures when Sharp left, to prevent them escaping by sending a body of 300 men beyond the enemy. Prisoners taken by our men states that the enemies force did not exceed 5000 men after leaving Bexar. Houston had with him about 2000, and his force was daily augmenting--nothing certain had been heard from Fannin the reports are that he is retreating. The garrison at San Patricio of 95 men had had an engagement with 1200 of the enemy, killed 150, and wounded as many more, and retreated without loss."

The Telegraph and Texas Register, Columbia, Texas, of November 2, 1836 carried this notice: "Married. On Tuesday 25th, John Sharp and Sarah J. W. Calvit." His bride was Sarah Jane Wharton Calvit, daughter of John Calvit, who was one of the "Old Three Hundred" of Austin's colonists. The wife of Mr. Calvit was Barbara Mackall Wilkinson, a sister of Mrs. Jane Wilkinson Long. Mr. Calvit died in Brazoria County, January 7, 1836, leaving a widow and three daughters. The eldest of them, Mary Ann, was married to Jared D. Groce, Jr., the second, Sarah Jane Wharton, was married to Mr. Sharp and the third, Barbara Mackall, was married to John H. Herndon.

Mr. Sharp died at Velasco, August 17, 1840. The Brazos Courier of September 1, 1840, carried the following item regarding him: "Died at Velasco, 17th ult. John Sharp, Esq. Notary Public and U. S. Consular Agent of the Port. Mr. Sharp emigrated to Texas in 1833 and had since been a resident of this (Brazoria County)..He served with credit in the campaign of 1836, and shared in the perils and honors of the memorable day at San Jacinto. On the year following he was a passenger on board the schooner Julius Caesar when she was captured by the Mexican squadron, and in consequences he was taken to Matamoras where he was for some time the prison companion of the late Wm. H. Wharton. The deceased was well know to the inhabitants of this vicinity, many of whom have witnessed the firm and honorable course he ever pursued through the trials incident both to the early settlement of the country and its struggles for independence; and from the stand he maintained throughout the trials he claims our remembrance as a specimen of the True Texian, a character well know and abounding at home, but never yet duly appreciated abroad."

Sometime after the death of Mr. Sharp his widow was married to Robert S. Herndon, brother of John H. Herndon. Mr. Herndon died in Brazoria County in 1845. Mrs. Sharp-Herndon was alive in 1895.

In the Headright Certificate No. 150 issued to Mr. Sharp in 1838 for one league and one labor of land by the Board of Land Commissioners for Brazoria County it is simply stated that he arrived in Texas prior to May 2, 1835.

Postmaster at Brazoria in April, 1836.

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