Isabella Oliver

Isabella Oliver, (July 16, 1771—June 7, 1843)¹, once known as the “poetess of the Conodoguinet,”² or more colorfully as that creek’s “muse,”³ was the second--and the first female--published Cumberland County poet in 1805 with Poems on Various Subjects, following the unknown writer of The Unequal Conflict in 1792.⁴

Isabella Oliver was born in that portion of East Pennsborough Township which has since become Silver Spring Township, on the estate of her father, James Oliver, Esq. (1731–1786).⁸ Her mother was Mary (1746–1831), daughter of Walter Buchanan.⁹ On January 14, 1812, Isabella was married by Rev. John Hayes, pastor of Silver Spring Presbyterian Church, to Capt. Alexander Sharp of Newton Township, son of Thomas and Margaret (Elder) Sharp, at that time 55 years old, whose previous wife, Margaret McDowell of the Kishacoquillis Valley, had died in August 1810, leaving five sons and a daughter.¹⁰Capt. Sharp, who had served in the Revolutionary War but whose rank may have been honorific, died in Newville December 8, 1824.¹¹

Her style was of less standing in her mind than a drive to promote “virtue and piety.”⁵ She had a brilliant father but lost him early and was given a basic “English” education, yet she enjoyed casting her thoughts into rhymes and composed her poems in her mind entire before a friend set them down on paper from her recitation. In this fashion, as the preface to her work prepared by Rev. Dr. Robert Davidson (writing as “R.D.”)⁶ describes, she prepared eighty-five poems for what has now become the most popular of all the early books printed in Carlisle. She wrote of love, the misery of war, her hatred of slavery, and many other facets of life. She personalized them, addressing them to friends by their initials, and it was this habit which made her work popular. In her book, which was published by Archibald Loudon, the list of subscribers runs to more than 1,000 names. The subjects of her poems include a memorial of Rev. Dr. Charles Nisbet, the first president of Dickinson College, and the deaths of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. Her poems are in the Augustan Age and other 18th-century forms, although they include one which D. Wilson Thompson identified as “a 17th century idea in 18th century dress.”⁷ No evidence has come to light of any of Oliver’s further poetic activity. Rev. John Hayes admired Isabella Oliver’s poetry, as in his own Rural Poems, he wrote:

With softer grace, but with no meaner skill,
The pensive muse of Conno—’s winding bank
Touches the obedient strings, and wakes the soul
Of harmony, breathed soft thro’ all her strains
Sacred to friendship, or on wings of love
Ascending grateful to the source of good.
With soul that vibrates to the finer touch
Of nature’s hand, would she descend to sing
The flowery lawn, the various rural charms,
My muse would then suppress her harsher voice,
And listen to the song: to nobler themes
She tunes the lyre, and idle deems the strain
That warbles not her loved Redeemer’s praise. ¹² [T48]

Isabella Oliver Sharp, who had no children of her own, lived in Newville in her declining years,¹³ and was buried in the Newville Cemetery.