Sharp-Healy Family
The Story of the first two Generations
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Generation 1
Margaret Healy 1887-1980
Margaret Healy was born on 30 June 1887 in Kyeburn, Central Otago. Her mother was Margaret Healy was aged 31 from Ireland, and her father Thomas was aged 40. She was baptised on 29 March 1891; father Th. {Thomas} Healy; mother Maggie Gallagher; minister John Sheehan; Omakau Book 11 (# Bap 1), pg 60/7; her sister Catherine was also baptised on the same day.
Margaret was enrolled at Kyeburn School on 1 October 1894 (Register No 149 and 238). The teacher at the time was Miss M.R. Sherriff.
When Margaret was 18 years old she was admitted to Naseby Hospital for the removal of the coccyx in her lower spine after falling off a horse at Kyeburn. Apparently her father Thomas Healy had imported some Arabian horses, and had told Margaret not to ride the horse. The horse was put in the corral and then he went off up into the hills to muster sheep. But Margaret decided to try to ride the horse. However, according to Eileen, it threw her off and she injured her lower spine. She had great difficulty walking around for a few days. When Grandad returned home and wanted to know why Margaret was limping around the house, she had to tell him what happened, and she was immediately admitted to Naseby Hospital on 6 February 1906 for an operation which cost 21 shillings, and she was in hospital for 8 days at a cost of 30 shillings.
Later, Margaret left Kyeburn and managed to get a position as companion help to a Mrs Miller and her daughter in Pitt Street. Her son-in-law also lived in the house.
Mr Miller was attached to the exchange building in Dunedin, with something to do with sharebroking and was also an artist of some note in painting. He tutored Margaret for some time in painting, and she tried her hand at this, but with the family business later on, she was not able to continue. Several family members have paintings done by Margaret which are now family heirlooms.
About 1911 Margaret became engaged to a young man named Frank Sherriff, he was an up and coming young businessman, and was of strict Scotch Presbyterian religion, and didn't approve of ballroom dancing, of which Margaret was very fond.
On 11 January 1911 Rose Healy, Margaret's sister, married William Johnson, and it was at this wedding that she met John Bently Sharp, and a courtship began, so the engagement to Frank was broken off, and as time went on, John and Margaret enjoyed their life together dancing and socialising.
On 15 January 1913 John and Margaret were married in the registry office in Dunedin, however no wedding notice or photo has been found. A friend gave them their wedding reception at her home and later they went for their honeymoon. On return from their honeymoon, John's father gave the newlyweds one of his three cottages in Caversham overlooking Carisbrook. They remained there until 1914 when they decided to go into business - a grocery shop, in Hanover Street. There were lots of grocery shops run by couples in those days, as there were no supermarkets.
Fire 4 June 1914
FIRES. The Fire Brigade received a call yesterday to 62 Hanover street, a fire having broken out in a seven-roomed dwelling and shop, occupied by Mrs Sharp. The outbreak was caused by a gas heater melting the connecting pipe. Not much damage was done, and the fire was quickly extinguished by the brigade. The stock of the shop and the furniture were insured with the Standard for £120. The insurance on the house is not ascertainable. [Otago Daily Times, Issue 16091, 4 June 1914, Page 8] (Note: the address mentioned in the newspaper article is incorrect. The actual address was 72 Hanover Street, according to the 1914 Stones Directory where the listings are: Sharp John B, Mrs, fruitr, 72 Hanover Street, Dunedin, and Sharp, John Bentley, clicker, 72 Hanover Street, Dunedin.)
See more of the story on the John Bentley Sharp webpage.
Margaret and John had 7 children:
| Name | Born | Died |
| Eileen | 4 July 1913 | 16 January 2010 |
| Joan | 1 December 1914 | 29 April 1975 |
| Doreen | 29 August 1916 | 24 September 1998 |
| Denis John Thomas | 30 August 1918 | 6 February 2004 |
| John Ross (Twin) | 2 December 1926 | 11 June 2010 |
| Desmond Dynes (Twin) | 2 December 1926 | 6 January 2012 |
| Norwood (Norrie) | 29 June 1931 | 20 February 2013 |
Painting and crafts
As mentioned previously, Margaret was a painter, mainly using watercolours. She was inspired to paint scenes around her home when she was relaxed, and two paintings are of the Nelson area. She also painted the Sydney Harbour Bridge and various other landscapes.
She worked in the Otago Central Hotel in Hyde, Commercial Hotel, Green Island in Dunedin, and the Trafalgar and Royal Hotel in Nelson.
Fires at Nelson
Margaret was involved in two fires at the Trafalgar Hotel while in Nelson. The first one was where a chimney caught fire in December 1941, and the second a fire confined to the roof, rafters and ceiling of one block comprising about a third of the building, caused by a spark lodging under the eaves following a chimney explosion. Margaret was injured with severe burns to her hands and one arm.
Margaret also used to create bark pictures of Central Otago scenes, crochet and embroidery, and sent them to her grandchildren as Christmas presents in her later years. Many members of the Sharp family have a bark picture or a painting created by Margaret.
Unfortunately the marriage with John Bentley split up in 1949, though they remained in touch. Margaret returned to live in Dunedin, as did John Bentley.
(pictured: Margaret Sharp (right) with Margaret Bremner, Dunedin. Margaret has written on the back of the photo: "This snap was taken at Christmas time. I had to go with Margaret and help her with her shopping, she is quite grown up now! and very pretty. Mum" Margaret Bremner remembers: "I do remember Grandma coming back to Dunedin from Nelson - I would have still been at primary school. She stayed with us for a while then she became the head housekeeper at the Grand Hotel [now the Southern Cross] and she was in charge of the day to day running of the maids and all the linen, cleaning up and bed changing etc. She used to live-in there and came and stayed with us at the weekends and I can remember it was a big treat on Sunday night to take her back to the hotel as it was a ride in the car at night time! After her days at the hotel finished, she had a small flat in a boarding house in High Street before she got a council flat in Helensburgh road [near where Aunty Doreen lived]. She lived there till she broke her hip and had to go into the Home of Compassion down at Company Bay. She looked after John and myself when Mum and Dad were away on business trips etc and she was always lovely with us."
Trip to Government House
In November 1959, Margaret was invited by the Governor-General to visit Government House in Wellington to watch her son Desmond receive his British Empire Medal. Margaret was extremely proud of her son and his award, and when she arrived in Wellington by boat, she was picked up from the wharf by Desmond and Daughan, and daughters Dale and Lesley.
Margaret (Grandma Sharp as she was affectionately known to her family) died on 28 September 1980 aged 93 years. She was the last of her generation to pass away. At the time she was a resident of the Methodist Home in Company Bay, Dunedin. She is buried at Andersons Bay Cemetery, Block 251, Plot 49 with her husband John Bently Sharp.
The headstone inscription reads:
In Loving memory of John Bently Sharp, died 26th June 1964, aged 78 years, and his beloved wife Margaret, died 28 September 1980, aged 93 years.
Margaret's direct descendants number over 100.
Dale Hartle at Sharp Family Plot, December 2019.