J.W. Moran's Wallet 1904

What I know about the wallet, the calling card and the photo:

1.  This wallet belonged to J.W. Moran because his name and the date January 15 1904 are written inside.

2.  It came from Latham, Alexander & Co. Bankers on 10 & 18 Wall St. New York.  It's printed on the inside cover as you can see above.  You can also see where a critter started nibbling on the wallet.

3.  The Calling Card belonged to Mrs. Elmer Clinton Sharp.  It says "Mrs. Elmer Clinton Sharp" and written in pencil is "Mr. &, son & daughter in law of Sam Sharp Corinth Miss".  That same critter took a few bites out of the calling card as well.

4.  On the back of the card is pencilled "Have to leave on 2:30 C & O Train, E.C. Sharp"

5. The only other item included is this picture of a man that was taken in Nashville Tenn.  The photographer's information is on the back of the photo but there is water damage so I don't know who the photographer was, only that it was in Nashville.

In a perfect researcher's world it would be wonderful to say that the man is obviously Elmer Clinton Sharp since his card was found with the photograph in the wallet.  Unfortunately a lot of time has passed and there's no way for us to know if the card and photo go together or if someone down the years just placed them inside the wallet and trundled them to the attic with most of the other items we have.  

It does seem that the Sharp family was special to J.W. Moran because he had a picture of Major Samuel Sharp (Elmer's father) and a picture of  Ida May Sharp (Elmer's daughter).     Major Sam Sharp was also a comrade in arms of the Civil War.  Another interesting item, at least to me, is that one of Sam's grandsons was named Carl Moran Sharp.  Coincidence?  

Major Samuel Sharp (CSA) and Family

Major Samuel Sharp

Today I'd like to present Major Samuel Sharp and his grand-daughter Ida May Sharp. He was the son of Henry Raiford Sharp and Mary Chambers. Major Sharp served in the Confederate States of America and was in the same unit as John W. Moran, the 31st Tennessee.  He was born in McNairy County Tennessee on February 20, 1838 and died in St. Louis Missouri on December 16, 1906 at the home of his daughter, Ida Lee Sanders..  His wife was Mary Jane Idotha "Dosh" Fulghum.  Samuel and Dosh had five children:  Ida Lee Sharp 1867-1945, William Raiford Sharp 1875-1878, Elmer Clinton Sharp 1877-1942, John Benjamin Sharp 1879-1912 and Thomas Jefferson Sharp 1881-1913.

His grand-daughter, Ida May Sharp, is the daughter of his son Elmer Clinton Sharp and Edna Browning Sykes.  Her step-mother was Louise L. Sharp.  According to information on ancestry.com Ida May was born September 3, 1905 and died May 23, 1996 in Jackson Mississippi. She married Leon White Burton.   The picture we have is signed and dated 1911, Corinth Mississippi.

There may be another connection between the Moran and Sharp families.  Samuel Sharp's son, John Benjamin Sharp had a son named Carl MORAN Sharp 1901-1984.  He in turn named his son Carl MORAN Sharp Jr. 1933-2004.  In the obituary below another son is listed as Kenneth MORAN Sharp but according to Sharp family sources Kenneth's middle name was Darwin, not Moran.

Sophia E. Ezzell and John Williamson Moran
about 1905

Are the Sharps related to the Moran's or did they give them the Moran name in honor of the friendship between Major Samual Sharp and Captain John W. Moran?   It seems most likely that the Sharp's used the Moran name because of the friendship and military connection of Samuel and J.W.  I am presuming that the reason we have Ida May Sharp's picture is because the two men both had grand-daughters about the same age and they probably exchanged pictures as proud grand-parents like to do!  J.W. Moran's grand-daughter was Sophia Eleanor Ezzell, 1898 - 1995.

Ida May Sharp

Here is the obituary for Carl Moran Sharp Jr:

CORINTH - Carl Moran Sharp, 71 died Friday, July 23, 2004, at his home.  He was born April 6, 1933, to Carl Moran Sharp Sr. and Maude Mahar Sharp.  He was a retired accountant for the Richards Medical Company.

Services will be at 2pm Wednesday at the Corinthian Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev Ralphp Culp officiating.  Burial will be in Henry Cemetery.

Additional services will be at 10 am Saturday in the chapel at White Station Church of Christ in Memphis.

Survivors incude a son, Jeffery Lynn Sharp of Memphis; a daughter, Laurie Anne Sharp of Pflugerville, Texas; two brothers, Billy Fred Sharp of Memphis and Joseph Franklin Sharp of Cleveland, Tenn.; six granchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Anne Robinson Sharp; his parents; a son, Steve Sharp; and two brothers, James Logan Sharp and Kenneth Moran Sharp.