Oil and the Hiram Sharpnack Family
by Sheri Sharpnack Siebold
As of this writing, there is little known as to why some of the Greene County, Pennsylvania Sharpnacks began to move down into Virginia, but by the 1840s the subject of this profile began to appear in the records of Wirt County, Virginia (now West Virginia).
Hiram Sharpnack, eldest son of John and Hannah (Vernon) Sharpnack of Jefferson Township (Greene County), Pennsylvania, was born June 27, 1824. William Sharpnack (Sr.) of Tyler/Wetzel County, Virginia was an uncle. Others who were related in the area of Wirt and Ritchie County were William Sharpnack (Jr.) and Hiram Sharpnack.
Early mistakes regarding the history of the Sharpnack (Scharpenack, Sharpneck) family: Error No. 1) Johannes Peter Sharpnack and wife Elizabeth Weyberg came to America on the ship Lydia from Elberfeld/Wuppertal, Germany on September 27, 1740, not 1759 as stated in various history books. Peter apparently died while crossing the ocean, but his wife and children continued on to Philadelphia and settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Error No. 2: The Greene County Sharpnacks did not originate from Henry Sharpnack, but from the American-born Peter Sharpnack, son of Johannes Peter, who was born soon after reaching the shores of America. By 1795, Peter Sharpnack and others moved from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania to Greene County. One of his sons, John (Sr., born 1764 in Pennsylvania), also moved west to Greene Co. It is John (Jr.) Sharpnack who moved with his brother, William, into Virginia.
Now back to Hiram Sharpnack: Not much is known about his childhood, but it was said that his Uncle Jacob "Jake" Vernon had a strong influence in his life. John (Jr.) and Hannah Sharpnack, his parents, had moved to Buffalo Run (Ritchie County), Virginia (now West Virginia) the 1840s.
Hiram married Sarah Ann Morehead, a local girl from Wirt County, Virginia, around 1848. She was the daughter of Samuel O. and Sarah Ann (Robinson) Morehead and born 30 December 1831 [calculated from tombstone data].
Hiram was in partnership with his neighbor and uncle, Jacob Vernon, who in 1849 ran a mill on Reedy Creek, Wirt County, purchased from E.W. Taurman. The 1850 census shows Hiram's occupation as a miller in Wirt County. Hiram in 1851 deeded his interest in the mill and 100 acres to his uncle for $116.
With the natural "out cropping" of petroleum in the area, and being a fast learner, Hiram entered into the business of leasing land and producing barrels of oil for various products. The family story says that he helped build the second oil well (wooden rig) in the United States. Until recently, that event has been said by historians to have occurred in Pennsylvania. Recent evidence seems to correct this notion and shows that West Virginia was well advanced in its methods before Drake in Pennsylvania. [See: David L. McKain & Bernard L. Allen's Where It All Began: The Story of the People and Places Where the Oil & Gas Industry Began, West Virginia and southeastern Ohio (Parkersburg, WV: D. L. McKain, 1994).] It seems more likely that Hiram may have been active in the area of the bustling Burning Springs of West Virginia, rather than in Pennsylvania.
Hiram and family were living at Cow Creek (Pleasant County), Virginia before 1858. He continued to lease land from individuals and oil companies along Cow Creek and Stanley's Run. During the Civil War Hiram served in Company C of the 191st Regiment of Virginia Militia under Capt. J. H. Henderson and Capt. Abner Smith. These militia companies served to protect the oil-producing areas, roads, supplies and other vital areas of concern.
Hiram didn't become wealthy overnight like some in the West Virginia oil boom, but he was able to feel secure in this new business of oil production. In 1865 Hiram purchased 60 acres of land across the Ohio River at Letart (Falls), Meigs County, Ohio. The family Bible states that the family became members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Parkersburg, West Virginia (Williamstown Circuit) in 1866.
Hiram with his partners, James Alexander, H. Ellis Wright and James Sumers, again secured more oil leases in Wood County, West Virginia in 1867. Along Horseneck Creek in Pleasants County, he secured in 1867 oil leases from Owen Frank, Wm. Whittlesey, Arius Nye, and Anselem Nye, of Marietta, Ohio.
Sometime during 1867, Hiram moved his family to their newly built home in Ohio. Unfortunately, Hiram's wife, Sarah Morehead Sharpnack, didn't get to enjoy the new home for long, as she died in 1869, leaving her husband and eight children to mourn. Hiram later remarried and eventually moved to the state of Kansas.
For more on this family, contact Sheri Siebold sherigen@yahoo.com.