Thomas Sharp was born about 1790 in North Carolina. His wife was Sarah, born 1792 in South Carolina, and her maiden name is thought to be Anderson. He was a farmer, and his children were born in Tennessee, Alabama, Illinois, and Madison Co., Arkansas. He was a member of the Primitive Baptist Church of Kingston, Arkansas. At the age of 74, Thomas, who was blind, was sitting in his chair by the fireplace when Yankee soldiers invaded his home. When a young slave girl was struck by one of the soldiers, Thomas stood up to defend her, and the soldiers threw him into the fireplace. They killed everyone in the home that day; Thomas, the young girl, a grandson, and a neighbor.
John S. Sharp, son of Thomas, was born in Tennessee or Alabama in 1820, and he married Telitha C. Gage in Madison Co., Arkansas, in 1835. He was a farmer, and moved to Potts, Franklin Co., Arkansas, to homestead the "Sharp Homeplace". John died before the Homestead Law went into place, so the original homestead papers are in his wife's name. The homestead is still owned by one of his descendants.
John Sharp died two months before his last child, John A. Sharp, was born in 1857. Because he had never laid eyes on his father, many people believed that John A. Sharp was a "Faith Healer". John didn't really believe in his "powers", but he never refused people who brought their babies to him. They believed that John could cure "thrush mouth" by breathing into the child's mouth.