Sharp and Condie Dates and Places
Journey from Scotland to Utah
Notes from Adam Sharp Family Association Reunion
Held June 17, 1967 – Salt Lake City, Utah
Research by LeGrande G. Sharp, June 2, 1967 – Updated by Marjorie C.B. Sorensen
Then to New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States of America
a) Erin’s Queen sailed from Liverpool September 7, 1848, arrived in New Orleans on: October 28, 1848. On this ship were John (1785) and Mary Sharp with three sons [John, Adam, and Joseph] and their children.
Note: “Do” stands for “Ditto”.
In Jensen’s Church Chronology we read, “September, Thurs.7. The ship Erin’s Queen sailed from Liverpool, England, with 232 Saints, under the direction of Simeon Carter, bound for [New Orleans first and then] St. Louis, where the emigrants arrived November 6th. Most of them remained there during the winter.”
New Orleans
In Sketches of the Intermountain States, it tells that something happened in New Orleans. [Joseph Sharp appears to have become a business man.] “Joseph Sharp seems to have begun to grow rich as soon as he landed in New Orleans with his elder brothers, John and Adam, for he is found to have been the owner of a freighting train with many teams before he started to cross the plains.”
The Sharp Families Arrive In Saint Louis
From “Family Genealogy and History” by Gibson A Condie: “About seven miles out of St. Louis were coal mines called Grovi Diggings. In the early part of April, 1849, the family located here, and found many old friends from Clackmannan who had come the previous year: the Sharps, Fifes, Wilsons, and others.”
Situated on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in 1850, St. Louis was the seventh largest city in the United States, rivaling Chicago, Illinois.
There was a small branch at Gravois, located just outside of the city, but it is now part of St. Louis. On our family group sheets it is sometimes called Gravis, or Gravis Diggings, or Grave Diggins or Grovi Diggins. In Whitney’s History of Utah, it states, “Included in the St. Louis Conference were the branches of Alton and Gravois. There were gathered the coal miners—sturdy, reliable men such as John Sharp, Adam Sharp, Adam Hunter, and others.” It was here that the Condies found them when they arrived from Scotland in April of 1849.
Death of Mary Hunter Sharp in St. Louis
In June 1849, Mary Hunter Sharp died of cholera in the city of St. Louis. Gibson Condie states, “During the summer (1849) cholera broke out—a real plague—many died. Then, a fire destroyed much property in St. Louis. This seemed to clarify the atmosphere and the disease cleared away. Fever and ague were prevalent.” The Encyclopedia Brittanica tells that the plague lasted from 1849 until 1851, causing almost 4,000 deaths or 1/20th of all inhabitants of St. Louis. In 1849, a great fire burned along the levees and adjacent streets, destroying steamers, [many] buildings.
The John Sharp Company’s Possible Route to Salt Lake City
They began in St. Louis, Missouri, then traveled along the Missouri River to the Santa Fe Trail at Kansas City (now Kansas) and Oregon Trail north and west to Overland Trail on Platte River, west of Council Bluffs, Iowa, (through Nebraska and part of Colorado). Then, through Wyoming: Willow Springs, Independence Rock, Castle Rock, Fort Bridger, Utah: Echo Canyon, through Emigration Canyon and finally entered the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.
The Santa Fe and Oregon Pioneer Trails in 1870
Note: The Mormon and Overland Trails do not show on the map above. The Mormon Trail was north of the Platte River, and the Oregon Trail was on the south of the river. The Overland Trail was probably a little south of the Oregon Trail, dipping down into Kansas and Julesburg, Colorado. (See birth places of the two Sharp children on the pioneer trail in the table above.)
A family member, Howard Sharp Bennion, at one time stated that he had seen and handled records of the Sharp Family’s trek across the plains. But, they have since been lost or destroyed. Because of this lack, a short account of a portion of the trail is described by Orson Hyde.
July 30, 1850
“We crossed the Platte [River] yesterday. Ferried over wagons and swam our horses, leaving Captain Milo Andrus and company on the banks crossing. All well…
“Grass is scarce though the rains through the Black Hills have been constant and powerful. But how the vast multitudes of cattle and horses are to get through, God only knows. There will be no lack of water, but grass is eaten up root and branch; and in many cases, the animals have eaten out the wild sage.
August 1, at Independence Rock on the Sweetwater
All well. We have just passed through the ‘valley and shadow of death’ a country of about fifty miles in extent, where the waters are deeply impregnated with nitre, salaratus, sulphur, etc. There is little or no grass at all through this region, but is mostly a sandy desert. The carcasses of cattle and horses lying along the roadside are very numerous, having perished through fatigue, hunger, and through drinking poisonous waters.
This country lies between the upper crossing of the Platte and the Sweetwater River on the banks of which we are now comfortably encamped…We are now beginning to overtake the California and Oregon emigration. They have suffered much in the loss of teams and animals; and oh! The sacrifice of wagons, clothing, fire arms, beds, bedding, buffalo skins, trunks, chests, wretchedness and woe, and yet thousands and tens of thousands follow on the way with the hope of securing the wealth of the world…
There are about five hundred new graves on the south side of the Platte and but three deaths are reported at Laramie as having occurred on the North side [the Mormon Trail]… If wood were as plentiful as tools, wagon tires and iron in general on the road, we could have our hot dodger, coffee, and fried or boiled bacon whenever we pleased.”
At this time, the Mormons usually traveled the north side of the Platte for two main reasons: 1) they could avoid most of the California-Oregon bound traffic, thus reducing the problem of finding food for their animals and 2) also reducing contact with the people themselves, hostile Missourians, and those who were stricken with Cholera.
Family writings from the Joseph Sharp family say that the Sharp brothers, John, Adam, and Joseph, all arrived on the same date in the Salt Lake Valley. The Deseret News announced the arrival of “a few families of Saints on Wednesday, August 28th, 1850. Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah states, “The John Sharp Company, an independent one, arrived in the Valley August 28th, 1850.
It is interesting to read Orson Hyde’s concerned and somewhat careful account of their trip across the plains to that of the Gibson Condie account in 1852, who was then a young teenager.
LeGrande Sharp wrote:
“Upon their arrival, they went to Red Butte Canyon [north of Salt Lake City] and made camp. Why they did not join the Saints in the city at that time, I cannot explain. One story has it that some members of the family had not been thoroughly converted and so were undecided as to whether to stay or go on to California and look for gold; while another story says there had been some sort of a misunderstanding between the Sharp people and some of the Church officials back in St. Louis.
Whatever their reasons, they were still in Red Butte Canyon when snow came early that year, and so the Sharps dug into the hillside, used wagon boxes for roofs, walled up the front with stones and waited the winter out.
By the time spring arrived, their knowledge of quarrying and working with stone had stood them in good stead. Shortly, the Sharp brothers were given a contract by Brigham Young for the stone for the Tabernacle, the Tithing House, and the old Council House where the Deseret News Building now stands. Later, of course, they opened the Cottonwood quarries and supplied the granite for the [Salt Lake] Temple.
When they decided to stay that first winter, the die was cast. The Sharp brothers stayed on and played a great part in building the Intermountain west.
When I first took this assignment and could only turn up at that time six dates and places, I could see no reason to waste much time trying to develop the subject. But, as I got into reading and research, I became more and more absorbed with the family, until now I look upon this emigrant group, not as a list of names, but as friends of mine with whom I am proud to be associated. They faced and overcame problems and hardships that I would not like to have to stand up to. As Whitney stated, “They were sturdy and reliable.” When another century has passed, may the same be said of us.
LeGrande G. Sharp
1939 Laird Drive
Salt Lake City, Utah
June 2, 1967
The Sharp Brothers Were Tough, Smart, Sturdy and Reliable
Later, in 1969, at the insistence of Howard Bennion that there surely must be some remaining evidence to pin-point the exact location of that first winter camp in Red Butte Canyon, LeGrande Sharp set out to find it. He discovered that the land at that time was part of Fort Douglas and later the University of Utah, who gave him permission to explore the area.
The winter camp was located in either the first or second gully upon entering the canyon and on the north side, but a detailed search of the area revealed noting. Observation of the location and a check of photographs taken from above and across the canyon also revealed no trace.
He learned that in the WPA days of President Roosevelt, a new, wider road had been built along the north side of the stream, and this eradicated any evidence of the camp that might have remained. But, the sego lilies blossomed as they did that spring of 1851 and the harsh red sandstone ledges still protrude from the hills across the canyon to the south; a soft, green blanket of spring covered the canyon walls even as it did over a hundred years ago. And in this spot, all is today much the same as it was then, but of the winter camp of the Sharp families, there now remains no single trace.
Sources:
Barker, Sharp and Condie family group records.
Family Genealogy and History by Gibson A Condie, born 1866, son of Thomas Condie born 1842
Gibson Condie History born 1835, son of Thomas Condie (1805)
LDS.org website, Church History, Pioneer Companies of 1850, John Sharp, and 1852, Howell.
Mormon Immigration Index CD with Erin’s Queen and Zetland ship logs.
Research and writings of LeGrande G Sharp, son of James Palmer Sharp, born 1877, of Salt Lake City, Utah. See address above.
Research and writings of Howard Sharp Bennion, son of Israel Bennion and Jennet Sharp. He was born in Vernal, Utah, 1889, later of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah
Thomas Condie (1805) Family History – Typescript from the Gibson Condie Family Organization.
Pictures used in this document can be found on the Sharp & Condie Scotland & Pioneer CD:
1. Map: 1D-PioneerTrails,1870 from Family Tree, a genealogy magazine.)
2. 2-Crossing River,Horse.
3. Also, see more of Condie histories in separate documents, Thomas Condie History (1805) and Gibson Condie History (1835), and Temple Square and Sharp Journey.
Source: Marjorie Cecilia Barker Sorensen