Emma Carter was born in 1879 in Titusville, Pennsylvania, the fifth child of John J. Carter and Emma Gibbs. She attended public school in Titusville and then Walnut Hill College in Massachusetts.
Emma’s story must include some background information about her notable father. John J. Carter was born in 1842 in Westport, Ireland, and emigrated to America in 1846, living in New York. John’s mother had died when he was a toddler, and his older sister raised him until she married. John’s father was a traveling salesman, and John was shuffled among several different families as a child.
At age 19, John entered the Union Army on April 12th, 1861, and was discharged in August 1865 as a Lieutenant Colonel. He served in the Civil War with the 33rd New York Infantry and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for personal valor at the Battle of Antietam on September 17th, 1862.
After the war, he went to Titusville, Pennsylvania, where he worked in the mercantile business. In 1877, John worked in the oil fields, learning the oil business. He bought property for $60,000, a fortune back then. But John became a millionaire when the land produced a million and a half barrels of oil, making him one of the largest oil producers in the Northeast.
In 1893, the Carter Oil Company was incorporated and organized as a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company, and its holdings were transferred to the new company. He retired in 1915 at the age of 73 and died one year later. But back to Emma’s story.
Emma Carter married Alexander Beatty Sharpe in 1906 at Titusville. He was 35 and she was 27. They had three children; Sarah, born in 1912, passed away as an infant. Mary Alice was born in 1914, and Alexander Jr. was born in 1920. Alexander was born in Steubenville on North 5th St. on April 1st, 1871, and was president of the family business. The Ohio Foundry between Slack and South Streets in Steubenville made gas stoves, pots and pans, and farm implements.
The business was founded in 1846 by Alexander’s grandfather, William Linton Sharpe. In 1853, the company expanded and opened a foundry at 118 N 5th St. A fire destroyed that site in 1891, and the business was rebuilt. Alexander Beatty Sharpe was the third generation to run The Ohio Foundry.
The Sharpe Mansion at 426 Franklin Ave. was built in 1818 and 1819 for $35,000. President John Adams signed the original deed conveying the property from the government to Bezaleel Wells on January 15th, 1798. On November 20th, 1799, Bezaleel Wells sold the property to James Ross, who conveyed it to J.B. Salmon and W.H. Mooney. Records show that on May 25th, 1873, Salmon and Mooney conveyed lot #18 to James Turnball.
Shortly after Turnball bought the land, a frame building was erected, and a Sunday School mission was conducted under the auspices of the second Presbyterian congregation. This lasted about 20 years, when a more modern building replaced it. In the fall of 1896, the building was leased to the Saint Stephen’s Congregation, which occupied it until the completion of their new church in 1903.
The building was then leased to a society of evangelists known as “The Brethren.” It later became the property of the Honorable J.J. Gill, who conveyed the property to Emma Carter Sharpe in 1916 for $1 plus other considerations. A copy of this deed is displayed in our museum.
Oral history states Emma’s father, John, had the home built as a wedding gift for the couple, but their son, Alexander Jr., denied this rumor when he visited Steubenville in the late 1980s. Research shows that John Carter died in 1916, two years before construction began.
When Emma and Alexander married in 1906, they resided at 310 Clinton St. until the house was finished in 1919. The home is classic English Tudor style, with nineteen rooms on three floors and a full basement. Mr. Edward Frantzheim of Wheeling designed the house, and Mr. Jefferson Bushfield of Toronto was the contractor.
Emma Carter Sharpe was very civic-minded and became involved in several areas of charity during her lifetime. In 1907, she worked with the local Grand Army of the Republic, distributing clothing and food to those affected by the flood of 1907. In 1911, she felt there was a need to coordinate financial assistance to the poor in Steubenville, and she helped form a group known as the Social Service Union. This became Family Services and later became a part of the Community Chest after its formation in 1931. Emma was a charter member and served on its Board of Directors until her death.
The Jefferson County Red Cross was formed in Steubenville on April 30th, 1917, with Mrs. Sharpe as one of its charter members. She served on its board for 45 years. Emma also served as chairman of the Home Service and Civilian Defense Committee before World War I. She participated in the International Tuberculosis Association conference in Amsterdam, Holland, and contributed to founding the Jefferson County Chapter of the Tuberculosis Association.
When the Ohio Valley Hospital started a fund drive in 1922, a consulting firm reported that the desired funds could not be raised in Steubenville. The hospital directors then asked Emma to organize a Women’s Advisory Board. She became the president with thirty volunteer members, and they exceeded their goal. The following year, she suggested starting the hospital “Twigs.”
In 1930, the Steubenville School Board could not afford a health nurse, so Emma paid the costs of a public health nurse for the schools for three years.
The Community Chest was started in 1931, and Emma and R.C. Kirk were the first co-chairpersons. Emma headed the women’s division and remained on its board until her death. She also served on the boards of First National Bank and the Ohio Foundry.
But Emma’s life was not without tragedy. Her firstborn, Sarah, died shortly after birth in 1912. And then, in 1927, her husband, Alexander Sr., suffered a stroke. The couple was on a cruise when he took a turn for the worse. They disembarked the ship and returned to New York City, where Alexander died on March 9th, 1930. Emma and Alex had been married for 24 years. She lost her firstborn child and then her husband. At that time, her other children were 9 and 15 years old, but she had a live-in caretaker for assistance and continued her civic duties.
One of her favorite associations was with the 134th Machine Gun Battalion, which consisted of local men who served in World War I. Emma and several other local women would send packages to these men during the war, and in March 1919, when the men were returning home, Emma heard that several of the soldiers had no money. She sent a check for $100 to Major John Axton, Chaplain, with instructions that the funds be used for those men who may be short on cash when they arrive in New York City. The men adopted Emma as their “godmother.” She would attend their annual reunions as a guest of honor. A picture of the 134th Machine Gun Battalion hangs in our military room.
Emma offered her home to the Boy Scouts as a meeting place, often having as many as 50 young men attending. In 1935, she let a group of little neighborhood boys use her sun porch as their club room, and they would visit her almost daily.
She opened a home for young working girls on N 4th Street where they could stay for $0.25 per night with access to a kitchen and laundry facilities. Once the YWCA was formed, she turned it over to them. Emma was an active member of Saint Stephen’s and Saint Paul’s Churches. She held membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution and was a Vice Regent. She was also a member of the Query Club and the Steubenville Women’s Club.
In 1936, Emma Carter Sharpe wed Reverend Harold Zeis, rector of Saint Paul’s Church. They were married at Bexley Hall, Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, on January 3rd, 1936. Emma’s son, Alexander, was the best man and only attendant. Harold resigned as pastor of Saint Paul’s Church and went to work for the Ohio Foundry as a vice president in sales. They lived at the home on Franklin Ave. until he died in August 1942, of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 46. Emma was at her summer home on Lake Muskoka, in Ontario, Canada, when he died. Her marriage to the Reverend Zeis lasted only six years.
Her children by Alexander were Sarah, who had died shortly after birth in 1912; Mary Alice, born in 1914; and Alexander Jr., born in 1920. Mary Alice was educated in Steubenville public schools and attended Spence School in New York. She studied in Paris and Rome and met her future husband, William Y. Thompson of Somerset, England, in the summer of 1933 in France. They were married at Saint Stephen’s Church in December 1933, and a reception was held in the Sharpe home on Franklin Ave. After their marriage, the couple spent a few weeks in Steubenville and then left for England. Emma’s obituary notes that in 1962, Mary Alice was married to Douglas Bantik of London, England. Mary Alice had two children, a son and a daughter, Judith Ann and Peter, by her first husband.
Alexander Jr. was born in 1920 and attended school in Aiken, SC. He also spent two years at La Rossi School in rural Switzerland, one year at Fessenden School in Newton, Massachusetts, and one year at Exeter, NH, and several years at Orford Academy in Pleasantville, NJ, with plans to enter Kenyon College in 1938.
He served in the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II, attaining the rank of captain. After the war ended, he returned to Steubenville and worked for the Ohio Foundry as a Vice President. He remained in the USMC Reserves, and on February 19th, 1953, when the local Marine Corps Reserve unit was organized, Major Alexander Sharpe was appointed the commanding officer. Alexander Jr. later moved to Woodstock, IL, where he was involved in selling products produced by the Ohio Foundry. After the Ohio Foundry was sold, Alexander moved to Canada.
Emma was appointed Chairman of the Steubenville Planning Commission Board in 1950. At age 71, she began taking college classes to learn about zoning. In 1953, the city passed its first zoning ordinance, and Emma worked with the Chamber of Commerce and the Streets and Highway Department Committee to improve the Fort Steuben Bridge.
By the end of her third year, she had spent over 1,000 hours on this committee, including trips to Boston, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Lima. In early 1953, Emma suggested organizing the Provisional League of Women Voters because the Planning Commission needed the support of the local women.
The Reverend Kevin Keelan remembered Emma for her charity to the Franciscan College in its early days. In 1951, they awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree. She would open her home and bear the expense of entertaining the early graduating classes because the college had neither the finances nor facilities to provide for them. She gave students financial aid when needed, and she actively organized young women’s groups on campus.
In 1960, the College of Steubenville awarded her its highest honor, the Poverello Medal for “One who exemplifies the Christian spirit of charity that filled the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.” At the Founders Day dinner where Emma was awarded the medal, she said, “If you only knew the fun I had doing the things I have done, you might not see fit to give me this award.”
Emma’s Death & Legacy
In Emma’s later years, her sister Alice and Mrs. W.E. Reigel, Emma’s niece, lived with her at the Franklin Avenue home. Emma died on October 16th, 1962, at Ohio Valley Hospital in Steubenville after a seven-year bout with chronic leukemia. She was 83.
Her charitable ways continued even after her death. She left generous donations to the Ohio Valley Hospital, Jefferson County Red Cross, the Family Service Association, and Saint Paul’s Church.
Most of her estate went to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, but current and former employees were also remembered. Her will ordered that the property at 426 Franklin Ave and the summer home in Canada be sold, and the proceeds split between her heirs.
Mr. David Fortunato purchased the house for $35,000 in 1962. He and his family lived there until 1976, when the Jefferson County Historical Association purchased it and turned it into a museum and library. Our cost for the building was $65,000.
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