Phebe Sharp

 Frontier Doctor and Woman of Character

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                Phebe Haines Sharp was the first and only doctor in Logan County until1809, according to historical accounts.  It is written that Mrs. Sharp was well versed in the simple but effective remedies that ere used in curing diseases suffered by the early pioneers and Native Americans alike.  Here she treated patients in poorly lit cabins and crude structures, traveling alone among muddy paths and trails. Homes were sparsely scattered throughout the county and she could not be sure what threat lay around the bend.

                Mrs. Sharp arrived in Logan County and settled in what is now Zane Township on December 25, 1801, with her husband, Job Sharp (considered the first white settler in Logan County), three of her children (Assah, Joshua, and Sarah), and her brother Carlisle Haines.  A light covering of snow lay on the ground when they arrived.  In the unbroken wilderness, facing numerous hardships, Mrs. Sharp assisted her husband in carving out a living on the 500-acre tract of forested land.

                A “three faced camp” was erected to protect the family from both the harsh elements and the abundant wildlife.  They were pleased to find four trees stored with honey on their property.  The family lived in this structure until 1808 when the Sharp family built their first log cabin.  It had a shingle roof and all the lumber was cut with a whipsaw.  It had two stories, three bedrooms, a cellar below, and two bedrooms above.  Mrs. Sharp kept her office in one corner of the cabin.

                In the spring of 1802 a small clearing was made where the family raised a crop.  Mr. Sharp also planted an apple orchard for his wife.  In 1803 Mrs. Sharp, on horseback, visited her daughter Esther, who had remained in Chillicothe with her husband, Rev. Thomas Antrim.  When Mrs. Sharp prepared to leave, she broke a switch off of a pear tree to coax her horse, Old Dobbin.  Upon her arrival home, she stuck the switch into the dirt next to the cabin.  The switch grew in a pear tree that remained for many years.

                In 1803 Esther and her husband moved to Logan County.  In the following years a number of relatives and friends of the Sharps also moved into the area.  In 1807 Quaker settlers joined to erect a meetinghouse, which would also serve as the first school.

                In the following years the Sharps continued to make improvements that benefited not only their family, but also proved helpful to their neighbors.  In 1805 the family built a gristmill to grind grain.  Settlers soon heard about the mill and traveled to the Sharp farm to have their corn and wheat ground.

                The Sharps, originally from New Jersey, came to Logan County by way of Virginia before migrating to Chillicothe.  They remained in Chillicothe a couple of years before traveling to Logan County.  Daniel Antrim, the son of Rev. Thomas and Esther Antrim, continued the tradition of firsts in Logan County by being the first white male born in the county. 

                Job and Phebe Sharp both died in 1822.  Phebe was 63  Her dying request was that she should be buried not in a cemetery, but at the roadside, “so that friends might see her grave when passing, and thus call to mind her beneficence.”  Her request was complied with.

~Written by Bridget Early