Clinton Courier Jan. 22, 1981 A man described once as a walking history book of Anderson County, William H. Sharp, 91, of Lake City, died Monday at Harton Hospital in Tullahoma. Sharp and his twin brother, Gordon H. Sharp, were born in a log cabin near Andersonville.Their father, Rufe Sharp, was a coal miner and the family moved to Briceville in 1899 so he could be closer to his work in Coal Creek Coal Co. Mines. At age 12, the Sharp twins went to work as water boys in the mines.Their first jobs were at the Fraterville Mine on May 19, 1912, the day 184 miners were killed in an explosion, in one of the nation's worst mine disasters.Their older brother, Alexander, 29, was one of those killed. Nearly a decade later, the Sharp twins were working in the Diamond Mine when an explosion took 84 lives.Sharp continued to work in the mines for 52 years. Gordon left the mines to work for L&N Railroad in Knoxville in 1914.Sharp's twin brother died in 1970. Sharp retired in 1954 as a mine foreman for Southern Collieries at Beech Grove. Sharp married Elizabeth Massengill in 1919 and the couple had five children. Mrs. Sharp died in 1936 and Sharp was wed again in 1951 when he and Irene Pemberton married.She died in 1960. Sharp was honored by the Masons in 1969 for being a member 50 years of Coal Creek Lodge 492 F&AM. Sharp was a member of First Baptist Church of Lake City. He is survived by two sons, Leon Sharp of Maryville and Kenneth Sharp of Detroit, two daughters, Mrs. Helen Hakals of New Jersey and Mrs. Mildred Vowell of Manchester, six grandchildren, and a sister, Mrs. Nola George of Lake City. Funeral services were held Wednesday at Martin Funeral Home in Lake City with the Rev. Wayne Markham officiating. A Masonic service was held Tuesday. Burial was in Leach Cemetery.