Joseph SHARP

                   BIRTH: F.H.L.Film #102,097 Sterling Parish Records, Scotland.
MARRIAGE: **********
DEATH: Deseret News, 7 Sep 1864.

BAPTIZED: F.H.L. Film #104,150, Clackmannan Branch Records, Scotland.
ENDOWED: F.H.L. Film #183,393 EHOUS, p.62, #1598.  Ordained to Elder.
SEALED TO PARENTS: F.H.L.Film #1,239,617 SLAKE, p.423, #14110
SEALED TO SPOUSE:

Journal History
Joseph Sharp. Friday, October 16, 1857. Major Joseph Taylor and William R. R. Stowell of the Utah Militia were taken prisoners by the U.S. troops near Fort Bridger.
	Friday, November 6, 1857. Five hundred animals perished from cold and starvation around U.S. army camp on Blacks Fork.
	Monday, 16th. Two miles from the site of Fort Bridger and 115 miles from G. S. L. City. - Church Chronology.
	Three facts have been established. Bridger was about 115 miles from Salt Lake, Mormon prisoners were there, and it was cold.
	When Brigham Young heard of the capture of those two officers he wanted to send some word to Major Alexander who was in charge of Johnstons army at the time. What it was I do not know. His trusty scout, Port Rockwell, was away so he had to get someone else. Early one morning he sent for two men to come to his place. When they arrived he explained the nature of their trip. Told them of the cold, deep snow, possibilities of being held captives, and wanted to know what they thought of the whole affair.
	They said they would be ready in one hours time. They rode up and Brigham gave them two letters, one for Major Alexander, the other to General Daniel H. Wells in charge of the Utah Militia in Echo Canyon. Up Emigration Canyon they rode and then over Little Mountain, up Big Mountain where the snow was deep and it was bitter cold and the wind was blowing. It was dark when they reached Weber Canyon and about 9pm when they reached the camp of the Mormon Militia.
	General Wells took them to his tent and had supper prepared for them and then ordered beds made in his tent for the two men but they told him they had to go on, for Brigham had said the message was important. Two fresh horses were saddled and the men were preparing to mount when the General walked up to them, shook their hand and said, God protect any man who rides up Echo Canyon a night like this.
	The bugler was blowing the mess call for dinner as they neared Fort Bridger. A white handkerchief was waved and they rode in to the sentry who called a guard to escort the men into camp. The letter was given to some orderly who took it to the Major while they sat out there in the cold, too proud to ask for even a bowl of bean soup. The answer was given them and they headed back, arriving at Echo camp about 2am. The General was up and had a hot meal ready for them. Again he insisted on their remaining, but they insisted and were soon on their own horses headed for home. The sun was low in the west when two tired horses and two very tired men entered Salt Lake Valley. Straight to Brighams place they went. Seeing them he said, Well, what excuse? Too cold or two much snow? With fingers benumbed by the cold, one of the men undid his buckskin coat and brought forth the answer from Major Alexander.
	What about those being rugged men of the West and men of great courage? How would you like to spend 56 hours in the saddle with only two meals and a journey of about 230 miles horseback in the dead of winter? How do I know this story is true? Well, one of those two men was my grandfather, Joseph Sharp; the other, his brother, Adam. (James P. Sharp)


Journal History
7 Sep 1864

	The weather continued warm and pleasant in G.S.L. City.
	The President (Brigham Young) and party held another meeting in Fillmore, at which Elders Orson Hyde and Brigham Young preached.
	Capt. Jos. Sharp who was returning to G.S.L. City from the East died at Willow Springs. The Deseret News notes the sad event as follows:

	SUDDEN DEATH ON THE PLAINS: - by telegraphic dispatch received on Wednesday evening Bishop Sharp (John) got the mournful intelligence of the sudden death of his brother, Joseph, who departed this life at 7 a.m. of that instant at Willow Springs, abut 364 miles east of this city. Deceased was in charge of a freight train containing goods for Ransohoff & Co., and having lost between 30 and 40 head of oxen and being a very had working man, the probability is that he over-exerted himself in the management of the train and thereby brought on an internal disease for which there was no remedy at hand. Brother Sharp was born on the 8th of July 1830 in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints in the month of June, 1847. He journeyed with his brothers John and Adam, from his native land to this Territory in 1850. Brother Sharp has left a family of nine to mourn his loss.
	Immediately on learning the sorrowful news, Bishop John Sharp had a metalic [sic] coffin made, and on Friday morning at 4 oclock Mr. Patrick Lynch and the Whitesmith who made the coffin went east by the stage to bring in the remains, which after being brought westward some 62 miles, have been temporarily interred at the Three crossing of Sweet Water river.

Journal History	21 Sept 1864
	21 Sept 1864 - Returned - Brother Patrick Lynch, who went east for the body of Joseph Sharp reached his home in this city, about 4 oclock on Sunday morning, having seen the remains of Bro. Sharp securely encased in a zinc coffin, and deposited them in the train of which the deceased had been the Captain.    		Deseret News
Joseph Sharp
	Joseph Sharp, the youngest of the three Sharp brothers, was born July 8, 1830, in Clackmannanshire, Scotland of John and Mary Hunter Sharp. He joined the Church, emigrating to Utah. In 1849, while still in St. Louis, Mo. he married Janet Condie. Later, when she passed away, he married her sister Margaret Condie.
Along with his two brothers, Joseph engaged in the quar­rying and freighting business. He was an extremely strong and powerful man. It is said he could hold a fifty pound weight at arms length for one minute and could shoulder 150 pounds of wheat with his feet together.
As a freighter, he journeyed many times back and forth across the plains, going East with gold, purchasing oxen and wagons and the supplies to fill them, and then heading West to sell the merchandise in the Salt Lake area. He also freighted into Montana and Nevada.
In 1864, as Joseph Sharp was preparing to go East, he was asked by Brigham Young to take only a skeleton crew with him, and to let some of the newly arrived emigrants go with him as drivers, and return with their families. Against his better judgment, he agreed.
With the inexperienced help, the train moved slowly, with many wanderings and strayings. At Willow Springs in Wyoming, one of the new drivers allowed his wagon to get off the trail and the rear wheel sank into a mud hole. After five men couldn*t budge it, Joseph brushed them aside, placed his shoulders against the wheel, grasped two of the spokes and lifted the wheel clear of the hole and the oxen then pulled the wagon ahead. He died the next morning of a ruptured blood vessel, September 7, 1864 at the age of 34 years.
The body was taken westward some 62 miles and temporar­ily interred at the Three Crossings of the Sweet Water River.
Upon receiving the sorrowful news of his youngest brother*s death, Bishop John Sharp had a coffin made and Patrick Lynch and the Whitesmith who made the coffin, went East by the stage to bring the body of Joseph Sharp back to Salt Lake. The funeral services were held in the 20th Ward Chapel.  	Twentieth Ward History, p.47-49.

Sharp, Joseph

Sharp, Joseph, a veteran Elder in the Church, was born July 8, 1830, at Alvie, Stirlingshire, Scotland, the son of John Sharp and Mary Hunter. He married Janet Condie at St. Louis, Mo., in 1849; she was the daughter of Thos. Condie and Nellie Sharp and was born Aug. 4, 1831, at Clochmanan, Scotland. Joseph Sharp and his wife came to Utah in 1850 and he died Sept. 15, 1864, while crossing the plains as a freighter at a place called Willow Springs, now in Wyoming. His wife died Jan. 19, 1859, in Salt Lake City
(Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 vols. [Salt Lake Cit 479.

Stevenson, Eliza Maria Smith
Stevenson, Eliza Maria Smith, wife of George V. Stevenson, was born Feb. 5, 1850, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, the daughter of John Sivol Smith and Jane Wadley. She was born while her parents were en route from England to Salt Lake City in Wm. Snow's company. The company arrived in Salt Lake City Oct. 3, 1850, and the family, after wintering in the city, moved to Draper, Salt Lake county, in the spring of 1851. In 1856 they moved to Kaysville, where Sister Eliza's father purchased a farm of Bishop Kay. Sister Eliza was baptized Oct. 13, 1861, by Joseph Sharp and was married to Bro. Stevenson March 21, 1867; she became the mother of ten children, six of whom are still living. In 1893 she was chosen as president of the branch Primary Association and held that position for twelve years; since 1905 she has been a member of the Stake Primary Board.
(Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 vols. [Salt Lake Cit 252.)