W. Z. Sharp Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 381-382

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


W. Z. SHARP, a well-known, popular citizen of Forestburg, South Dakota, 
and one of the leading business men of that place, has shown in his 
successful career that he has the ability to plan wisely and execute 
with energy, a combination which, when possessed by men in any walk of 
life, never fails to effect-notable results. 

Mr. Sharp was born in Ohio, on the 23d of March, 1870, and is the 
younger in a family of two children whose parents were John P. and 
Abbie V. Sharp. When he was only a year old they moved to Kansas, where 
after engaging in farming for three years, the father embarked in the 
manufacture of woolen goods. He has been engaged in that business and 
merchandising most of his life. 

As soon as large enough to be of any assistance, our subject began work 
in the woolen mill, and by working in every department he gained a 
thorough knowledge of its operation. At the age of fourteen, he came 
with his parents to Sanborn county, South Dakota, and located on a farm 
two and a half miles north of Forestburg, remaining under the parental 
roof until the age of twenty. The first three years he spent in this 
state, he herded cattle along the James river bottom, and in this way 
helped to keep up the family expenses as his parents were then in 
limited circumstances and had nothing with which to commence farming 
here. The first position of any importance which our subject held was 
as second man in a grain house at Artesian. Within two months he was 
buying grain for J. N. Graling & Son, and after working in their 
warehouse at Forestburg for two years, he bought the house from them. 
He has since successfully engaged in the grain business at that place 
and is now the only grain buyer there. He is also a dealer in coal and 
farm machinery, buys and sells live stock, and is in fact the leading 
business man of Forestburg. Besides his interests in the town, he owns 
three hundred and twenty acres of good farm land, of which one hundred 
acres are under a high state of cultivation. In 1898 he was appointed 
agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Forestburg, but 
as the company has but little business to look after here, he finds 
plenty of time to devote to his own interests. 

In 1894, Mr. Sharp married Miss Maud Fairfield, a native of Canada, 
whose parents are now farming people of Sanborn county. Two children 
have been born to this union: Esther and Marguerite. In his political 
views, Mr. Sharp is a strong Republican, and is now most capably and 
satisfactorily serving as township treasurer and justice of the peace. 
In 1898 he was the nominee of his party for sheriff, but failed of 
election. He belongs to that class of men whom the world terms self-
made, for commencing life empty-handed, he has conquered the obstacles 
in the path to success, and has not only secured for himself a 
competence, but by his efforts has materially advanced the interests of 
the community with which he is associated.