Sharp, Solomon

Sharp, Solomon, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Carolina County, Md., April 6, 1771. His parents were pioneer Methodists. In 1791, when about twenty years old, he began to travel "under the presiding elder." In 1792 he was admitted to the conference and sent to Milford Circuit, Del.; and he continued in the service, occupying almost all important appointments in New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania down to 1835, when he was reported superannuated. He died at Smyrna, Del., March 13, 1836. Mr. Sharp was an original, an eccentric, but a mighty man. "His sermons were powerful, and delivered with a singular tone of authority, as if he were conscious of his divine commission." He was noted for his courage, and it is believed that he was hardly capable of feeling fear. See Minutes of Conferences, 2, 409; Stevens, Hist. of the M.E. Church, 3, 413-415; Sprague, Annals, of the Amer. Pulpit, 7, 217; Manship, Thirteen, Years in the Itinerancy, p. 49; Simpson, Cyclopaedia of Methodism, s.v. (J.L.S.)