Autobiography of Cecilia Sharp Barker, born 1863
Written about 1928
Note: There is another version of this short document in Lucile Barker’s Letter to Wayne Barker.
My father, Joseph Sharp, died before I was one year old, so that my mother had a double duty to perform in bringing me up. She lavished her affection upon me, and no care seemed too great where her children were concerned.
I attended district school until I was 13 years of age, when I had an opportunity of becoming a normal student at the Deseret University for about two years, from which I graduated.
When the Primary Association was first organized, April 16, 1879, by Eliza R. Snow, I was selected as 1st secretary in the 20th Ward, Salt Lake City. December 18, 1882, I was chosen Secretary of the Young Ladies meeting in the same ward.
I taught in the public schools of Salt Lake City, 7 years.
After my marriage and after the birth of my six children, I was chosen Secretary of Ensign Stake Relief Society, 29 October 1909, which position I held for a number of years. Since which time, I have continued in Relief Society work.
My grandfather, John Sharp, born 15 October 1785, Scotland, was the first to embrace the Gospel in 1844, when it was first taken to that country. He was a pioneer of this city, arriving in Salt Lake City, August 28th, 1850, with his [nine (sic) or five] children, his wife having died in St. Louis, June 1849. He died in this city, 1853.
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Source: Genealogical Survey, Vol 2 Ba-Be, pages 182-185, handwritten by Cecilia Sharp Barker, original available in the Salt Lake Family History Library.
Contains a short autobiography with other forms which contain:
· Birth information
· Some Sharp and Condie ancestors
· Home Address in Salt Lake City
· Barker family group information, and a short life sketch.
· Cecilia Sharp says in her Genealogical Survey that her grandfather embraced the gospel in 1844 (month and day unspecified). However, the first full baptism date we have is from IGI on 30 Oct 1847.
· Cecilia Sharp says that her grandfather, John Sharp (1785) brought his nine children to Salt Lake Valley.
o MCBS PAF shows John having seven children, and five of the children appeared to have journeyed to Salt Lake Valley. “Excerpts of a Letter written by Lucile Barker” also says Nine children. Family Search for a family group.
o Family Search - Family Group Record, Ancestral File, shows ♦John and Mary Hunter Sharp of Clackmannan, Scotland, had 7 children: Helen, Cecilia (died in 1830), Catherine, John, Agnes, Adam, Joseph. 5 of them are listed as having died in Utah, so they may have traveled with the Sharp family and are unlisted.
o The family history that Cecilia Sharp Barker got her information from, on her grandparents, John and Mary Sharp, could have been a typo, the 7 being mistaken for a 9. On every listing I have seen for their family, there have never been any more than 7 children for John and Mary Sharp. *
Compared to:
Note: Computerized from copy of the original, March 2003
By Marjorie Cecilia Barker Sorensen, Granddaughter, b 1934