Robert Sharp

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Robert Sharp (c. 1615–1654)

Abigail Wright (c. 1623–1702/7), daughter of Captain Richard Wright

The origins of the migrant ancestor Robert Sharp are unknown, although it has been suggested that it is possible that he was the Robert, son of Robert Sharp, who was baptized on 21 September 1617 in St. Mary Islington, Middlesex, England. Robert was born about 1615. He died on 26 July 1654. He married Abigail Wright by 1642. He married Abigail Wright. [1]

Abigail Wright was born about 1623. She died between 28 November 1702 and 31 October 1707. [2] She married first Robert Sharp. [2][3] She married second as his second wife Thomas Clap of Weymouth before 24 April 1656. [2][3] Thomas, the son of Nicholas Clalpp, was probably born in Sidbury, county Devon about 1609. [3] He died on 20 April 1684 in Scituate. [2] She married third as his second wife Captain William Holbrook of Scituate. [2][3] William, the son of Thomas Holbrook, was baptized on 12 June 1620 in Glastonbury, county Somerset and died on 3 July 1699 in Scituage. [3]

In November 1701 Abigail Holbrook of Scituate, age 78, deposed that she was the daughter of Richard Wright and that she was about eight when she came to New England with her father Richard Wright. [2][3]

Robert was a carpenter. [1]

On 17 June 1635 Robert Sharp, aged 20, enrolled at London as a passenger on the Abigail. In 1643 he had an eight-acre home lot in Rehoboth, next to that of his father-in-law Richard Wright. He was on the Plymouth grand jury on 7 June 1648 and 4 June 1650. He was a surveyor of highways in Rehoboth on 6 June 1649. He was a freeman on 4 June 1650. [1]

Inventory was taken on his estate on 19 January 1645/5 and it amounted to about 172 pounds with debts of about 83 pounds and it included books. [1]

A 15 April 1655 petition to the court regarding Robert’s estate mentions Abigail Clapp, his relict and administratrix, and his three children: John, age 22, and his daughters Abigail and Mary, the eldest age 17 and the youngest age 15. [1]

Alice Sharp, one of Mr. William Ting’s maidservants, was admitted to the Boston church on 9 October 1642. She married Peter Aspinwall of Dorchester. As Peter managed Robert’s estate, Alice was almost certainly Robert’s sister. [1]

Abigail wrote her will on 28 November 1702. She mentioned her daughters Abigail Vorce and Abigail Tilden, her son-in-law Stephen Tilden, her grandchildren William Sharp, Nathaniel and Joseph Tilden, Elizabeth Tilden, Elizabeth Crafts and Martha Buckminster. Inventory on her estate was taken on 31 October 1707. [2]

Children of Robert Sharp and Abigail Wright:

i. Lieutenant John Sharp was born on 12 March 1642/[3?] in Braintree. He married Martha Vose, the sister of his sister Abigail’s husband. [1]

ii. Abigail Sharp was born about 1648. She died on 18 May 1712 in Milton. She married Edward Vose.

iii. Mary Sharp was baptized on 5 December 1652 in Roxbury. She married Nathaniel Tilden on 5 November 1673 in Scituate. [1]

Endnotes

1. "Great Migration 1634–1635, R–S," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, Volume VI, R–S (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009), 255–9.

2. Ellen Vose, Robert Vose and his Descendants (Boston, privately printed, 1932), 15.

3. Gale Ion Harris, "Captain Richard Wright of Twelve-Mile Island and the Burnhams of Podunk," The American Genealogist 67 (1992): 32–46.

Revised July 13, 2023