Esther Sharp Sanderson
Esther Sharp Sanderson (Oct. 31, 1896 – Sept. 21, 1979) was a Scott County educator and historian who authored several books. She stands with H. Clay Smith as one of the two preeminent historians of Scott County.
Biography
Born October 31, 1896, Esther Sharp was the daughter of Joseph Jonathan Sharp (1856-1933) and Caroline Lewallen (1872-1944). The Sharp family was one of Huntsville’s most prominent families at the time of her birth. Her paternal grandfather was William “Uncle Billy” Sharp (1825-1918), a well-known businessman in Huntsville. Her maternal grandfather was John Lewallen (1812-1896), the first sheriff of Scott County.
Esther’s siblings included Cassie Lee McLean (1893-1952), Helen Mary Sharp (1894-1982), Martha Ellen Sharp (1898-1966), Joshua Jonathan Sharp (1901-1976), Agnes Marie Stauber (1903-1988), and Wilma Margaret Fox (1915-1987).
Esther first married Lemuel Phillips (1895-1930), the son of Andrew Johnson Phillips (1863-1933) and Arlena Sexton (1869-1962) of the Paint Rock community. He was a descendent of Thomas Phillips, who was part of a migration to Scott County with his wife’s father, Revolutionary War veteran Abraham Goad, around 1800. They lived in Detroit, Mich. for a time before returning to Scott County and had one child, Herman Andrew Phillips (1917-1986). Following Lem’s death in 1930, Esther remarried to Fred Killion Sanderson (1890-1970), the son of John Bascom Sanderson and Marie Elizabeth Sanders.
Education career
Esther Sharp Sanderson was a school teacher in Scott County for 45 years, and began a long tradition of public school educators within the Sharp family. She twice received the Freedom Foundation’s Teacher of the Year award.
Sanderson began her teaching career after passing a state examination and receiving a lifetime teaching certificate. Among the schools at which she taught were Low Gap Elementary School, Almy Elementary School, Oneida Elementary School and Huntsville Elementary School.
Sanderson’s niece, Jean Sharp Riggins, wrote for the FNB Chronicle, “Esther enjoyed teaching and was considered a very good teacher. She directed many good and successful school operas, plays and programs, often using large groups of children. And with the help of other teachers, parents and friends, she would manage to have appropriate costumes which were homemade, using crepe paper as the cheapest of materials. These performances she directed helped children by giving them self assurance, confidence and experience at an early age by speaking and performing before large groups of people.”
Historian
In addition to teaching, Sanderson was a prolific historian and author. Her first book, published in the mid 1950s, was County Scott and Its Mountain Folk. She went on to publish Scott County Gem of the Cumberlands, Freedom Foundation Award Essays and Courageous Mountain Men, Bicentennial Edition of the Scott County History and Folklore, and The History of the Huntsville Presbyterian Church Academy and Mossop Memorial School. She received 11 awards from the Freedom Foundation for her historical essays.
Death
After two months of illness, Sanderson died on Friday, Sept. 21, 1979, at Scott County Hospital in Oneida, at age 83. She was buried at Potter Cemetery in Huntsville.