Harry
C.
Sharp

HARRY C. SHARP was born in September of 1859 to Isaac and Eliza Sharp. He first served on Camden's Board of Education in 1888. He retired as that body's president in 1923.

Harry C. Sharp's early years were spent in Gloucester Township. It is likely that he was born there. His father, Isaac Sharp, was a wheelwright. The family lived in a section of Gloucester Township then served by the Chews Landing post office. The family later moved to Delaware Township (present-day Cherry Hill) NJ, where the family resided when the census was taken in 1870. Isaac Sharp was then working as a wheelwright. 

When the Census was taken in 1880, Harry C. Sharp's farther had passed away. Eliza Sharp and her family lived at 59 State Street in North Camden. Harry, the oldest child, worked as a shipping clerk, an occupation he followed for many years. Also at home were younger brothers, Frank, 17, Sherman, 14, and Isaac, 9. Both Frank and Sherman were also working by this time. In 1881 Harry C. Sharp married. His wife, Ella bore at least two children, Harry, in December 1885, and Hazel in June of 1889.

By the mid 1880s Harry C. Sharp was living at 335 Clinton Street, where he would resided to at least 1888. In that year Harry C. Sharp was first elected to Camden's Board of Education. By late 1890 he had moved to 318 Berkley Street. In 1891 Harry C. Sharp was first elected made president of Camden's Board of Education. When the Board was abolished by state law in 1892, Sharp stood down, but returned to service in 1902 when Camden's Board of Education was reinstated. Harry C. Sharp was selected vice-president of that body, and held that post continuously until 1920. The following year Harry C. Sharp was elected president of the school board, and served until his retirement in 1922. 

Harry C. Sharp moved his family to 313 South 3rd Street during the 1890s. The family was still at that address when the Census was taken in 1910. During the 1900s Harry C. Sharp took a position as a salesman for one of Camden's pen factories, most likely the Esterbrook or Hunt concerns. During the 1910s he bought a house at 616 Benson Street. By the end of 1919 he was the manager of the pen factory for which he worked.

Harry C. Sharp was elected by his fellow board members President of the Camden Board of Education in 1921. He served for two years before retiring, ending a career on the board that had spanned over thirty years, during which time many changes in education and in the ethnic make-up of Camden occurred. Many schools were built during his tenure, the majority of which are still in service. During his final year on the Board, the Harry C. Sharp Public School opened, at 928 North 32nd Street, in Camden's Cramer Hill section.

Harry C. Sharp and Ella Sharp, and their unmarried daughter, Hazel Ella Sharp, were still living at 616 Benson in April of 1930. Harry C. Sharp passed away on June 15, 1930. His wife Ella was still living at 616 Benson Street in that year, when the City Directory was compiled.

Philadelphia Inquirer
March 27, 1889

Ella Sneed
South 10th Street
Florence Street

Fred W. George
James Ware
Harry C. Sharp
J. Wesley Sell

Philadelphia Inquirer * February 11, 1890

...continued...

Philadelphia Inquirer - October 16, 1898

John Cherry
Joseph Burt
J. Willard Morgan
Harry C. Sharp
Caleb Williams
C.J. Mines Jr.
T.P. Varney
Fred W. George
James O. Smith
Edwin Hillman
Charles Hope
George W. Miles
Samuel Jaquillard

Philadelphia
Inquirer

September 15, 1904

Charles H. Ellis
Frank Ford Patterson Jr.
W. Penn Corson
O. Glen Stackhouse
George A. Frey
John S. Roberts
E.E. Read
Harry C. Sharp
Kirby Garwood
George Schneider
Charles H. Mills
George E. Cender
Clifford K. Deacon
William J. Fox

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Philadelphia Inquirer - September 15, 1904

Dr. Grant E. Kirk - Dr. Frank O. Stem - E.E. Jeffries
Edward WIlcox - Harry C. Sharp

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Philadelphia Inquirer - September 15, 1904

Benson Street - Isaac Sharp -  Eliza Sharp - Harry C. Sharp

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Herbert W. Johnson
Mahlon F. Ivins Sr.
William J. Bradley
Maurice B. Rudderow
William C. Coffin
Harry C. Sharp
William D. Brown

Philadelphia Inquirer
January 2, 1907

Frederick Finkeldey Sr.
Louis Mohrman
Harry C. Kramer
Isaac V. Bradley
William H. Day
William Steinmetz
Charles H. Ellis
John Baker
Jacob Schiller
Dr. Marcus K. Mines
Edmund E. Read
Harry C. Sharp

Camden Post-Telegram * January 19, 1915

Philadelphia Inquirer - March 19, 1915

Harry C. Sharp School
November 6, 2005

Photographs courtesy of John Myers