My name is Charles A Sharp Jr. I have 5 siblings from my father, Charles Melvin Sharp. He passed in Wisconsin 12/20/2011. My parents divorced in 1978. My siblings and I hadn’t seen or known much of our father since the 1980s and knew even less of his family.
Recently a representative from a firm in Oklahoma contacted my brother and told him my father’s kids were the beneficiaries for a 640-acre tract in Oklahoma associated with my father. This company has offered roughly a million dollars for a 3-year lease and 3/16 interest in production.
When I was a child my father had told me a few stories of his family history but in my childhood mind I was sure they were fiction based. He told me his father had inherited 3,000 acres from his father that supposedly had 30,000 acres. My grandfather’s land was dispersed to his heirs.
By the 1980s my father supposedly traded his land rights to family members, in exchange for their mineral rights.
Up until 3 days ago I didn’t know my paternal grandparents’ full names and frankly I’m still not sure if I’m 100% right but it seems my grandfather’s name was John Francis Sharp. He died in 1958, buried in Seminole, Oklahoma. He had 3 children with my grandmother, Geneva Sharp. She was supposedly 1/4 or 1/2 Cherokee and I think her maiden or tribal name was WhiteCloud.
Both had multiple marriages and children from each. Geneva apparently passed in the 1980s.
If any members have information about my grandparents’ identities that would be helpful as it appears there are few surviving descendants.
John Francis had a son by the name of Terry Sharp with Velma Sharp. Velma has passed (red hair intact I’m sure). Terry is presumed living in Fresno, California.
Geneva gave birth to Loretta, Delores, and Charles aka Chuck Sharp.
It appears she remarried at least once and had at least one son.
I’m awaiting copies from my brother of the offer from Oil Co. We didn’t know he owned these rights and are heading to Oklahoma to file death certificate from Wisconsin and it appears the Sharp family were early arrivals on the land scene.
My initial reaction was fear, taxation, is it a scam, will they destroy the land, will they leave a mess, will oil company add on a bunch of billables to reduce my revenues? So any input on those issues would also be helpful.