CHARLES SHARP ESQ.,
A member of the Norfolk Bar; born in 1829, succeeded his father, the
late William W. Sharp; and has practiced continuously since 1851, except
during the term of the War between the States. He married, in
1856, Lucy S., daughter of Hon. Valentine W. Southall, of Albemarle,
and has two children.
* * * * * *
William Willoughby Sharp, father of Charles, practiced law in
Norfolk, from 1821 until 1861, succeeding Governor Tazewell. He was
the son of Colonel William Sharp, who, in the war of 1812-5, commanded
the 9th and 54th Virginia regiments, under Generals Robert B.
Taylor and Wade Hampton.
In 1800, Colonel William Sharp married Mary Willoughby. His first
paternal ancestor in Virginia—James Sharpe—from England, Kent
County, in 1621, and was a member of the colonial House of Burgesses,
as early as 1635.
Captain John Smith, "Father of the Colony," who had served on the
staff of General Lord Willoughby in the Netherlands, brought to Virginia
Thomas Willoughby (then a boy of fourteen years) founder of
the family in the colony. By royal patent this Willoughby acquired
12,000 acres of land, on the Southern Shore of Chesapeake Bay. From
him a number of Norfolk families have sprung, among others the descendants
of General Taylor, who still hold the manor-estate on Willoughby
Bay. In 1767, Henry Willoughby of Virginia became the 17th
Lord Willoughby of Parham, recovering the Barony and manors, in a
contest before the House of Lords. Hon. Willoughby Newton of Westmoreland
was one of this connection.
