double headstone, are the
following records:

"Here lys the body of Col. Alexander Osborn, who deceased
July y'e 11th, 1776, aged 67 years;" and, separated by a
dividing upright line, this record appears:

"Here lys the body of Agnes Osborn, who deceased July y'e
9th, 1776."

From these records it would appear that this worthy couple left the
scenes of earth for a brighter world only two days apart, and not on
the same day, as stated by some authorities. They left one son, Adlai
Osborn, who graduated at Princeton College in 1768. He was Clerk of
the Court for Rowan county under the Royal government, and continued
in that office until 1809. He was a man of fine literary attainments,
the warm friend of education, and one of the first Trustees of the
State University. He died in 1815, leaving a large family, among whom
were Spruce McCay Osborn, who graduated at Chapel Hill in 1806;
studied medicine, entered the army as surgeon, and was killed at the
massacre of Fort Mimms in the war of 1812; and Edwin Jay Osborn, who
was distinguished as a lawyer of eloquence and learning, and was the
father of the late Judge James W. Osborn, of Charlotte, one of
Mecklenburg's most worthy, gifted and lamented sons.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM SHARPE.

Captain William Sharpe was born on the 13th of December, 1742, and was
the eldest son of Thomas Sharpe, of Cecil county, Maryland. At the age
of twenty-one he came to North Carolina and settled in Mecklenburg
county, where he married a daughter of David Reese, one of the signers
of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He was a lawyer by
profession and had a large practice. Soon after his marriage he moved
to the western part of Rowan county (now Iredell) and took an active
and decided stand for liberty. The Journal of the "Committee of
Safety" for Rowan county, from 1774 to 1776, presents a noble record
of his activity and influence.

He was a member from Rowan county to the Provincial Congress which met
at Newbern in April, 1775; and also of the Congress at Hillsboro, in
August, 1775. In November, 1776, he was a member of the Convention at
Halifax which formed our first State Constitution. He acted as aid to
General Rutherford in his campaign against the Cherokee Indians in
1776. In 1777 he was appointed with Waightstill Avery, Joseph Winston
and Robert Laneer to form a treaty with the same tribe of Indians.

In 1779 he was appointed a member of the Continental