Biography

John Townsend Sharpless was born to Jesse and Joanna (nee Townsend) Sharpless. He was one of 10 children born to the family of Quakers. He became a physician and remained unmarried, living with his sister Lydia, also unmarried. They cared for their niece, Emma Wood (nee Parker), the daughter of their sister Eliza, for 8 years, according to Fanny Adeline Seward's account in her 1862-63 diary. Fanny writes of meeting Dr. Sharpless and his sister Lydia when she called on Miss Parker (Emma Wood).