On Jan 24 2002 I received an email from Jane Engbrock(jengbrock@@yahoo.com] advising me that her her grandfather, Deryl PerrySparks, died while her mother, Deryl Jean, was a small child. Hergrandmother, whose identity is unknown, abandoned Deryl Jean to the careof Deryl's grandmother, Effie Cranford Sparks, who raised her.

See SQ p. 2973:

"Jane Elizabeth [Jenny] Sparks, daughter of Solomon and Susan (Black)Sparks, was born on June 16, 1844, at Clear Ridge, Pennsylvania. Shemarried George Washington Amick on November 30, 1865. He was born onOctober 8, 1837, at Bedford, Pennsylvania and was a son of David andHanna (Robertson) Amick. Jenny Amick died on april 24, 1898, and Georgedied in November 1913. They were the parents of eleven children."

SQ p. 5706:

Jane M. Sparks, born April 11, 1862, died March 18, 1918. Her father gaveher age as 51 in his sworn statement to the Bureau of Pensions on August13, 1912. Her age on the 1870 census of Snow Creek Township, MitchellCounty, North Carolina, was 9 years. She was married to David English onJuly 23, 1878, in Mitchell County - - on the marriage record preservedthere, her name was spelled "Jain Sparks." Although she was shown on the1880 census of Whitfield Sparks's household as Jane M. Sparks, age 18,"daughter," the "D. English, s.l. [i.e., son-in-law"] also living inWhitfield's household in 1880, was Jane's husband, while 1-year-old"Hanah English, g.c. [i.e. grandchild]" was doubtless Jane and David'sfirst child. Jane's death certificate (No. 83 in Mitchell County'srecords of death), gives her name as "Jane English, daughter of W. M.Sparks and Elizabeth Buchanan, born on April 11, 1862, died March 18,1918.

SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1980, Whole No. 109, pp. 2183-84:

Jane Phillips Sparks, daughter of Josiah and Susannah (Phillips) Sparks,was born on May 12, 1810, in Tennessee, probably in Jefferson County. Sheaccompanied her parents to Adair County, Kentucky, where, on October 14,1828, she was married to Thomas Ownsby Wright. The bondsman was G. W.Taylor. Thomas was born on December 24, 1802, in South Carolina and was ason of George Thomas and Polly (Taylor) Wright.

Jane and Thomas continued to live in Adair County until 1840 when theymoved to Sangamon County, Illinois, where they settled on a farm near
Springfield. Descendants say that their reason for leaving Kentucky wasthe strong anti-slavery feelings of Thomas, which were probably supportedby his wife as well. It was apparently well-known that Josiah Sparks, Sr.was an opponent of slavery. The Wrights were probably accompanied toIllinois by Jane's brother, Truelove Sparks, and his family. (See theDecember 1979 QUARTERLY, Whole Number 108, pp. 2160-2166.)

In September 1871, with the Civil War over and their children largelygrown, Thomas and Jane decided to move westward by covered wagon toNebraska. It took them three weeks to make the trip to the little villageof Watiska in Saunders County. There they joined Truelove Sparks who hadgone west at the same time.

The Wrights remained in Nebraska until 1876 when they returned toSpringfield, Illinois. There they remained for a short time and then wentto live with a daughter, Sarah Jane, in Litchfield, Montgomery County,Illinois. It was in Litchfield that Thomas died on July 7, 1881. Janesurvived him about sixteen years and died on February 10, 1897, at thehome of a daughter, Mollie, in Springfield. The Wrights are buried inElmwood Cemetery in Litchfield. They were members of the MethodistChurch.

Thomas and Jane (Sparks) Wright had twelve children.

SQ p. 3627 reports the death of Janibelle (Sparks) Daugherty.

.
!NOTES:
SQ pg 4459: They had two children; however, we have learned th ename of only one of them.

See the SPARKS QUARTERLY, p. 886 for the following marriage informationfrom Lawrence County, Kentucky, Marriage Bonds (1822- 1865):
Gemima Sparks & John Green, March 2, 1865. (Book 3A, p. 30) His father,Thomas Green. Married by Enoch Green, Baptist minister.

*********************************

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, June 1995, Whole No. 170, p. 4481:

Jemima ("Mima"] Sparks, daughter of Daniel Sparks, was born about1845 in Johnson County, Kentucky. She was married to John Green on March2, 1865, in Lawrence County, Kentucky. He had been born on December 22,1836, in Lewis County, Virginia (now West Virginia) and was a son ofGiles and Catherine (Chandler) Green. (He may have been the John Greenwho served in Company 0, 14th Regiment Kentucky Infantry from 1861 to1865 during the Civil War.) John and Mima (Sparks) Green had six children.

Children of John and Mima (Sparks) Green:
a. William P. Green was born about 1866.
b. Mahala A. Green was born about 1868.
c. Cynthia S. Green was born about 1870.
d.. Eliza Ann Green was born about 1872.
e. Nancy E. Green was born in April 1875. She died on June 15, 1875
f. John M. Green was born in 1879.

SQ 795: "Jemima Summers Sparks, daughter of Jonas Sparks, Jr., and hiswife, Anna (Caton) Sparks, was born between 1797 and 18O5. On May 7,18O7 , her uncle David Sparks, was appointed her guardian. On February16, 1815, Samuel Jones was appointed guardian to take the place of DavidSparks, who was about to move to Tennessee. It was probably this JemimaSummers Sparks who married Daniel
Fults (or Felts) in 1816 (Rowan County marriage bond dated September 2,1816; James Orrell, bondsman; Thomas Hampton, witness."

.
!NOTES:
SQ pg 4472: They had three children: Forrest Paul, Arthur Charles ,and Alice Jene Cook.

SQ 5316:

Jennie Sparks was born on September 5, 1863, and died on November 7,1944. She was married to Albert Todd.

SQ 3798: Jeremiah Sparks, youngest child of William and Ann Sparks,was born ca.1772. By 1800, he had moved from Surry County to BurkeCounty, North Carolina. He was married ca.1801/1802 to ---- Bell. Theylived on Bear Creek,in that part of Burke County which became MitchellCounty in 1861. His name did not appear on the 1840 census; he hadprobably died by that time. He had the following children:
(1) Daughter, born ca. 1801/02.
(2) Thomas M. Sparks, born ca.1803. He was married ca.1835 to MaryA. Cook. He was called E. M. Sparks on the 1870 census.
(3) Nancy Sparks, born ca.1803. She was married ca.1826 to ArthurGreen.
(4) Son, born ca.1810.
(5) Jeremiah Sparks, Jr. born ca.1811. He was called Myra. Inca.1831 he was married to Rachael ----. They lived in Mitchell County,North Carolina.
(6) Matthew Sparks, born February 4, 1813; he died in 1892 inMitchel County, North Carolina. He was married ca.1835 to ElizabethBuchanan, born June 10, 1820.
(7) Jennie Sparks, born ca.1813. This may have been a nickname forVirginia. She became the wife of Joseph Pittman.
(8) Mary Sparks, born ca. 1818. She was married to ClementBuchanan.
(9) Samuel ("Sam") D. Sparks, born ca 1821. He was married to MaryStewart, who was born on August 22, 1838.

*************************************

(Here the lengthy article re William Sparks IV at SQ pp 3753-3798continues from notes for Ann Sparks, at bottom of p. 3768:)

The earliest settler in the area now constituting Davie County of whom wehave record had been Morgan Bryan, a Quaker, who had settled first inwhat is now Yadkin County in 1748. After a year or two, Bryan had movedwith his grown sons to what is now the northeast corner of Davie County.Morgan Bryan and his seven sons gradually acquired some 5,000 acres, andthe area in which they lived came to be called "the Bryan Settlement."Another early settler had been Squire Boone, originally from Pennsylvaniaand an old acquaintance of Morgan Bryan. He had arrived with his familyin either 1751 or 1752. His seventeen year-old son, Daniel, accompaniedhim, and in 1756 Daniel Boone, who was destined to become famous, wasmarried to Rebecca Bryan, daughter of Morgan Joseph.

[For correction see SQ p. 3885 Whole No. 156b: June 1991, Whole No.154, page 3770, top of page. "His [Squire Boone's] seventeen-year-oldson, Daniel, accompanied him, and in 1756, Daniel Boone, who was destinedto become famous, was married to Rebecca Bryan, daughter of Morgan." Thisshould be changed to read: "His seventeen-year-old son, Daniel,accompanied him, and in 1756, Daniel Boone, who was destined to becomefamous, was married to Rebecca Bryan, daughter of Joseph."

[Here appears a map, beneath which is the following caption:]

Based on research conducted by Andrew Lagle, this map of the lowersoutheast quarter of today's Davie County, North Carolina, identifies thelandowners there at the time William Sparks arrived in 1764. Much of the"vacant" land, however, was occupied by squatters. It was not possible topurchase vacant land between 1763 and 1778.

(View map in scrapbook for William IV, item 5)

Mention is made here of the Boone family because a description of SquireBoone's cabin has been preserved. It was probably not very different fromthe cabin in which William Sparks found his brother, Matthew, living whenhe arrived at the Forks of the Yadkin in 1764. This description of theBoone home was written by a man named H. H. Helper in 1883. Helper hadbeen born and reared near the Boone cabin and recalled its appearance forthe historian, Lyman C. Draper, whose papers are preserved by theWisconsin State Historical Society. Helper said that Boone's one-roomhouse was one story high; its length was 22 feet and its width was 18feet. Each of the faced logs with which it was built measured 12 by 18inches, and the roof had a 60 degree slope. There was but one door madeof heavy planks which hung on wooden hinges. The door had some nails init, but otherwise the structure was "pegged." The floor was made of oakboards, adzed smooth. The chimney was 7 feet wide in front and 6 feetwide behind, with a deep fireplace. It was built of soapstone rocks withmud for mortar.

During the ten years between the arrival of Williams's father, brothers,and cousins, the population of the Forks of the Yadkin had grown, but notdramatically, for this had been the period of the French and Indian War.While the war had caused hardships in western Maryland, as has been notedearlier, it had been even more devastating for the settlers along theYadkin River. The French had directed their allies, the Cherokee Indians,to conduct numerous raids against the settlers, although our records ofthese events are few. We know that Daniel Boone feared so for the safetyof his family that either in late 1759 or early 1760, he moved his wifeand children to Culpeper County, Virginia, while his parents returned toMaryland. During 1761 and 1762, however, the Cherokees were subdued, andDaniel Boone, who had figured prominently in this war against theCherokees, brought his family back to the Forks of the Yadkin that year.It will be recalled that it was also in 1762 that William Sample Sparksobtained his first license to keep an ordinary.

So it was that by 1764, when William Sparks arrived in North Carolina,peace had returned to the Forks of the Yadkin. How fascinating it wouldbe today if we could listen to the stories that William's father andbrothers had to tell him and Ann of their experiences during the previousten years. They would also have had many questions to ask William and Annregarding events during the past decade back home in Frederick County,Maryland.

In his Histories of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and NorthCarolina, William Byrd wrote in 1728 that "the Soil is exceedingly richon both sides of the Yadkin abounding in rank grass and prodigiouslylarge trees; and for plenty of Fish, Fowel and Venison is inferior to NoPart of the Nothern Continent." James W. Wall, in his History of DavieCounty in the Forks of the Yadkin (Spartanburg, SC, 1985), p. 7, hasnoted:

Davie County in the forks of the Yadkin and South Yadkin Rivers was anideal place for the pioneer to settle. Here he found gentle rollinghills, valleys and bottoms, fertile soil - both clay and loam - some landalready cleared for planting. The climate was mild without extremes, andthe area was not subject to severe or frequent storms, drought, orfloods. Forests of oak, poplar, and pine furnished aboundant timber andfuel. There were ample grass for grazing and hay, numerous springs andstreams for water, and fish and game for food.

The Rev. Jethro Rumple, writing in 1881, described the life of the earlysettler in his A History of Rowan County, North Carolina (pp. 170-71) asfollows:
With the exception of a few articles, such as Iron, salt, a little sugarand coffee or chocolate, pepper and spice, the farm, the flocks and herdsyielded all that was consumed at the homes of our people. The table wasloaded with home productions.

The operations of the farm were carried on with rude and simpleimplements and in a primitive way. The market for grain and flour wasseveral hundred miles distant, and the expense of transportation was toogreat to justify the raising of more than was needed on the farm. Therich new grounds and bottom lands with their virgin soil brought forth abountiful crop with little labor, and left a large margin of time forfishing and hunting. There was always a "slack season" between the"laying by" of crops and fodder-pulling time. That was the time to huntsquirrels, and the crack of the rifle might be heard around thecornfields on all sides. And then fishing expeditions, were organized tosome favorite pond or stretch of the river, where with long circlingseine the jumping trout and the blushing redhorse were captured. Thefarmers' boys knew where the sweetest wild grapes or the most temptingmuscadines grew, or where the thinnest-shelled black haws were to befound, and visited them accordingly. Those same farmers' boys also knewthe haw trees, persimmon trees, and grapevines in all the country aroundthat were likely to be frequented by the fat opossums in the later fall,and they had their 'possum dogs in good training by the time the firsthard frost ripened the persimmons and the opossum himself, and made hisflesh fit for eating.

Until the arrival of William Sparks in 1764, his father, William SampleSparks, had been identified in records kept by the Rowan County Courtsimply as "William Sparks" or "Will Sparks," although at any time heinitiated a record himself, such as when he requested a license to keephis ordinary, he used his middle as well as his first name. After thearrival of his son in 1764, we are quite certain that the clerk referredthereafter to the son when he wrote the name William or Will Sparks.

In North Carolina, from 1760 until after the Civil War, the county court,comprised of the justices of the peace within the county, and whosedecisions affected nearly every aspect of the lives of the people, wascalled An Inferior Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. In common usage,however, it was called simply the "County Court," and that is the name weshall use in this article.

On July 14, 1764, the Rowan County Court ordered that "a Road be Laid Outthe Neares[t] & Best Way from John Howard's Ferey to the Road fromBethabara to Salisbury Near Reedy Creek, runing up from sd Ferey to theFork to Boons Road." (Bethabara was the central village in the Moraviansettlement in what is now Forsyth County--the Moravians had obtained some100,000 acres of land from Lord Granville in 1752.) Twelve men from thearea where this road was to be laid out, including both Matthew Sparksand "Will" Sparks," were directed to perform this task. After this wasaccomplished, the court, on October 11, 1764, ordered that "WilliamSparks Bee & is hereby Apptd Overseer" to build this road, and that "allthe Inhabitants within that District Worke under him." [See Vol. I I ofAbstracts of the Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions,Rowan County, North Carolina, 1763-1774, by Jo White Linn, Salisbury, NC,1979, pp. 29 & 31.1 We are certain that this referred to William Sparks,not his father, William Sample Sparks - - this was a task for a man inhis forties rather than in his sixties. From this we know, also, thatWilliam had arrived and was settled in the Forks of the Yadkin by July1764. The ferry kept by John Howard was located on the South Yadkin abovethe northwestern corner of Matthew Sparks's land.

John Howard, who operated the ferry, like the Sparkses, was formerly ofFrederick County, Maryland; he was one of the ten landowners there whohad been identified on the quit-rent list of 1768/69 as living in"Carolina." He and William Sparks may well have known each other inFrederick County.

Perhaps a reason that William Sparks was chosen by the court as overseerof this road rather than his brother, Matthew, was because the officialswere aware that Matthew was about to sell to his brother a major portionof his 372-acre tract. Matthew may well have communicated this offer tohis brother while William was still in Maryland, and this could have beena factor in his decision to move to the Forks of the Yadkin. There isalso the possibility that William did not want to run the risk ofsquatting on land that might already be claimed by someone or might notlater be granted to him for some other reason. In any case, on April 10,1765, Matthew conveyed the lower 200 acres of his 372-acre tract to hisbrother. William paid Matthew fifty pounds in "proclamation money," aportion of the 400 pounds, no doubt, that he had received for his farm inFrederick County. [See Rowan Co. Deed Book 6, p. 139] The witnesses wereJohn Huston and Thomas and William Frohock. (It is interesting to notethat Matthew's wife, Sarah, signed this deed with her husband, both bymark. This was not required in North Carolina to assure a wife'srelinquishment of her dower right to land, but was often a precautioninsisted on by the buyer to preclude a cloud upon the title.

The Yadkin River provided an important source for food for the settlersliving near its banks, and to facilitate catching the fish therein,Matthew had built what became known as the "Sparks Fish Dam" located onthe North Yadkin. We can be fairly certain that his home was not fardistant from his fish dam. The description of the 200 acres which Matthewsold to William contained in the deed was as follows: "... that piece,parcel & Tract of Land lying & being in Rowan County and Butted & boundedas follows, to wit, Beginning at a Dogwood Sapling standing on the Bankof the south side of the Main River at the Fish Dam, Thence runing West20 chains to a red oak, thence South 20 degrees West 10 chains to a whiteOak sapling, Thence South 50 degrees West 30 chains to a pine, ThenceSouth 38 degrees West 21 chains to a red oak on the Bank of the southRiver, Thence Down the said River thro Various Courses to the Fork,thence up the Main River thro Various Courses to the Beginning..." [RowanCo. Deed Book 6, p. 139]. (The reference to the "Main River" was to theYadkin, or specifically to the North Yadkin, above the "Fork," while the"south River" was the South Yadkin.) A surveyor's chain measures 66 feet.

From this description of the 200-acre tract purchased by William Sparks,we know that his northeast corner was opposite his brother's fish dam.This was doubtless arranged in order that Matthew, who continued to liveon his remaining 172 acres, might also continue to benefit from thisfacility. Two years later, however, on September 17, 1767, Matthew soldthe remaining portion of his grant to William Haden (or Haiden) for 150pounds, three times the amount he had received from his brother for 200acres. Whether this difference was based on brotherly love or simply on adifference in the quality of the land and its improvements, we do notknow.

From surviving tax records and the testimony of two of Matthew's sonswhen they applied for pensions for their service in the AmericanRevolution, it appears that Matthew and his family continued to live inthe Forks of the Yadkin until 1773. Perhaps he and William Sparks formeda partnership in cultivating William's 200 acres, or Matthew may haverented the land he had sold to Haden for several years. In the words ofMatthew's son named William (born April 3, 1761), his father had movedfrom his home on the Yadkin "across the Blue Ridge to a place on NewRiver" in what was then Surry County. This area was cut off to formWilkes County in 1777 and then Ashe County in 1799. Matthew Sparks wastaxed there for the first time in 1775. (See the QUARTERLY of March andJune 1954 for a transcript of the pension application of William Sparks,son of Matthew.)

The earliest surviving tax list for Rowan County is dated 1759, and,although it is incomplete, it contains the names of Solomon and JonasSparks. That for 1768 survives and has been copied by Jo White Linn, theleading authority on Rowan County history. It appeared in the NorthCarolina Genealogical Society's Journal of November 1983 [Vol. IX, No. 4,pp. 194-216]. The tax in 1768 was simply a poll tax. Every white maleover 16 was considered to be a poll, although men beyond fifty, it isbelieved, were omitted. Slaves aged between 12 and 50 were also taxed aspolls.

To collect the 1768 poll tax, the Rowan County Court divided the countyinto districts with a justice for each, but the boundaries of thedistricts were not always clearly understood and, as Mrs. Linn has noted,"some justices included areas alotted to others." So it was that,although we know William and Matthew Sparks were living near one another,William was included on John Ford's list while Matthew, as well as hisyounger brother, James Sparks, were included in Morgan Bryan's district.Since Bryan's district comprised the "Lower end of the Forks," all threebrothers should have appeared on his list, but John Ford, whose districtcovered roughly what is today Davidson County, seems to have crossed theriver to pick up William Sparks as well as at least two of his neighbors,William Giles and James Williams. Solomon Sparks, cousin of Matthew,William, and James, whose land on the North Yadkin was some 12 milesfurther north (as the crow flies), was included on Jonathan Hunt's listfor what was called "the Yadkin River District. "

It is quite doubtful that William Sample Sparks was still living by 1768.Our last reference to him among Rowan County records is dated April 15,1764, when the Rowan County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions agreed tohis request that his license to operate his ordinary "at his own dwellinghouse" be renewed. [ See Vol. II of Mrs. Linn's abstracts of theserecords, p. 554.1 It seems probable that both he and his wife, whose namewe believe was Rachel, lived out their last years near their son,William, in the Forks of the Yadkin.

On May 11, 1769, William Sparks was reappointed overseer of the "roadleading to Boons ford" in the Forks of the Yadkin, an assignment that heseems to have had for the next several years. (This road is shown on themap on page 3769.) On November 1, 1774, however, the Rowan County Courtordered that William be replaced by William Haden. This was the sameWilliam Haden (or Haiden) who had purchased the 172 acres of land fromMatthew Sparks in 1767. [The records of these appointments are found inMrs. Linn's abstracts, noted earlier, Vol. 3, p. 104 and Vol. 4, p. 185.]

The reason for William Sparks's replacement as overseer of this road in1774 was that on January 27, 1773, he had sold to William Frohock the 200acres that he had bought from his brother eight years before. [See RowanCo. Deed Book 8, p. 104] Like his brother, William had decided to movehis family to Surry County. He received 150 pounds in proclamation money,three times the amount that he had paid Matthew Sparks in 1765. We canassume that he had made a good many improvements on the land during thoseeight years. In this deed, William was called "Planter of Rowan County,"a title more distinguished than "Farmer." Henry Zevely and James Carsonwitnessed William make his mark on this deed - - he drew a small circleas was his custom.

Because of the fluctuation in the value of currency through the years,one way to imagine the value of 150 pounds in proclamation money in 1773is note the costs of other things. During its August 1774 session, theRowan County Court set the amounts that John Howard could charge in theoperation of his ferry, located just above the land that had been ownedby Matthew and William Sparks. Because the South Yadkin (called the"South fork" on this occasion) was only about half as wide as the NorthYadkin, he could charge only half as much as Samuel Bryan was allowed tocharge for his ferry across the North Yadkin. This meant that Howardcould charge 2 shillings and 6 pence to transport a "Wagon & Team with4-6 horses," but he could charge only one shilling and 6 pence for a"cart with 3 or more horses." A single horse, cow, or steer could cost 2pence, while a "Footman" could be charged only 11 pence. A man riding ahorse "with saddle bags & travel furniture" would have to pay 3 pence; a"horse with load thereon led" would cost 3 pence, also. Howard couldcharge only one pence to transport a single sheep or hog across the SouthYadkin.

"Tavern Rates" were also set during the August 1774 meeting of the RowanCounty Court. A tavern (or ordinary) keeper could charge only 8 pence for"Horse stabling 24 hrs with plenty of hay or Fodder in Common woodshed,"but if the traveller wished his horse to have "English grass such asTimothy or Clover, and Corn or Oats" he would be charged 8 pence perquart for the latter. For the traveller, himself, lodging for a nightwith a "good bed & clean sheets," the charge was set at 4 pence; eitherhis breakfast or supper "with hott meat & small drink" would cost him 8pence. However, if he wanted coffee, he would have to pay an additional 4pence, making the entire meal cost a whole shilling. "Dinner with aSufficient Dish of Wholesome well dressed and well served up with meat"might be had for one shilling. For a quart of "Toddy made of West Indiarum with loaf sugar" the cost was set at one shilling and 4 pence. Thetavern keeper was permitted to sell either a "Gallon of West India Rum"or of "Madeira or Vidonia wine" for 16 shillings, but the same amount ofbrandy or whiskey was only 10 shillings. It may be assumed that tavernkeepers did not always have on hand all the items mentioned above.

There were, of course, twelve pence in a shilling and twenty shillings ina pound in those days.

William Frohock, who was a land speculator and politician, did not keepfor long the 200 acres which he bought from William Sparks in 1773. OnNovember 7, 1777, he sold it "to Joseph Haden, Gent[leman]" for 250pounds, thus making a substantial profit. Joseph Haden and William Hadenwere brothers, and together they then owned the entire tract that MatthewSparks had obtained from Lord Granville in 1761.

Whether the two Sparks brothers, William and Matthew, left the Forks ofthe Yadkin with their families at the same time to seek new homes inSurry County, we do not know. It is quite possible that they had goneearlier without their families to select land on which to settle (squat,actually), although they did not select locations near each other.Matthew chose land in what is now the northwest corner of North Carolina,bordering Virginia on the north, that is Ashe County, while William chosea spot on what is now the Yadkin County side of the line which dividesWilkes and Yadkin Counties. (At the time, this was all Surry County andonly recently cut off from Rowan.)

We can only speculate regarding the reason both William and MatthewSparks decided to move from the Forks of the Yadkin into an area that waslargely unsettled, but there can be little doubt that they wereinfluenced by their cousin, Solomon Sparks, who had gone there two yearsearlier.
Solomon Sparks had come to the Forks of the Yadkin with Matthew in 1754and had obtained a grant of 250 acres on the west side of the North (orMain) Yadkin.

(In some descriptions of land along the west side of the North Yadkin,the direction is given as "south side" because of the sharp bends in theriver.) Solomon's land was opposite the mouth of Muddy Creek, i.e.,across from what is now Davidson County. This was about nine miles (asthe crow flies) from Matthew Sparks's 372-acre grant. In 1762, Solomonhad obtained an additional grant of 290 acres adjoining his earliergrant, but in 1763 he had sold this second tract, part of it to hisbrother, Jonas Sparks, and the rest to Valentine Vanhauser. Solomoncontinued to live on his first grant until about 1770/71 when he moved tothat part of Rowan County which had just been cut off to form SurryCounty. He did not dispose of his first grant of 250 acres on the Yadkin,however, until many years later. (He sold 160 acres of this to ZepheniahHarris in 1787 and the remainder to his brother, Jonas Sparks, on May 8,1788. )

As we look at maps that have been drawn showing roads existing in Rowanand Surry Counties at the time William Sparks must have been ponderinghow best to transport his family and moveable possessions from his homeat the Fork to his destination (today's dividing line between Wilkes andYadkin Counties), we can speculate that he probably decided to follow theroad that he, himself, had helped to build, i.e. the half-mile distanceto the Boone Road. Boone Road, an improved Indian path, led northward toa site called Mock's Old Field, then west across Bear Creek where itintersected with a more travelled road called the Trading Road. Thiswould have taken William and his family to within a few miles of whereSolomon Sparks had already settled, on the North Branch of Hunting Creek,which was now William's destination as well.

In choosing land on which to settle, according to Jo White Linn, menusually preferred "an area where the terrain was similar to that whichthey were accustomed to farming. Men accustomed to farming hilly landmight pass right over good bottom land on their way to a hilly patch onwhich they felt more comfortable." [See Mrs. Linn's "Tips forGenealogists Working in North Carolina Records" in the Rowan CountyRegister, May 1986, Vol. I, No. 2, p.82] Did the area where WilliamSparks chose to settle in 1773 remind him of his farm back in Maryland?

James Sparks, younger brother of Matthew, apparently moved to SurryCounty (to what became Ashe County) with Matthew, while Solomon's youngerbrother, Jonathan Sparks, either accompanied Solomon or William when theymoved to Surry County. Of the Sparkses who had come from FrederickCounty, Maryland, to the Forks of the Yadkin, all had moved away by 1773except Jonas, brother of Solomon and Jonathan. In the QUARTERLY of March1964, Whole No. 45, pp. 790-807, we published an article devoted to Jonasand his family, although at that time we had not found the evidencediscovered later proving that he was a son of Joseph Sparks (died 1749).

Jonas Sparks was a young man, not yet of age, when he accompanied hisbrothers and cousins to the Forks of the Yadkin. His name appeared on aRowan County tax list in 1759 thus proving that he had reached agetwenty-one. The fragment of a tax list for 1761 shows that he was livingthen on the opposite side of the Yadkin River from his brother, Solomon.He had squatted on a tract near Muddy Creek on a small branch thereofwhich yet bears his name, "Sparks Creek." In a land claim made by oneEvan Davis in 1778, the description referred to "Jonas Sparks' Branch."Jonas made some improvements on his land, but he failed to purchase itfrom Lord Granville prior to January 1762 when one of the Moravian Germansettlers nearby named Jacob Lash (or Loesch) obtained from Granville'sland agent two different tracts totalling 1,384 acres which included theland on which Jonas had been living. [See Rowan Co. Deed Book 6,pp.108-09] It was after this misfortune that Jonas purchased from hisbrother for only five pounds slightly over 130 acres on the west (orsouth) side of the North Yadkin [Rowan Co. Deed Book 5, p. 2751.

Jonas Sparks and Daniel Boone were about the same age, and because asteenagers and young married men they lived near each other, they becamegood friends. In 1773, about two years after his brother, Solomon, hadleft for Surry County and his cousins, William and Matthew Sparks, hadfollowed him, Jonas and his young family set out on an even moreadventurous journey. Daniel Boone had returned from his exploration ofKentucky and invited others to join him and his family as settlers inthat new and wonderful land. Jonas was one of five young men tovolunteer, the others being Boone's brother, Squire Boone, Jr., and threesons of Morgan Bryan: James, Morgan, Jr., and William. These six familiesleft to follow the "Wilderness Trail" to Kentucky on September 25, 1773,according to Daniel Boone's autobiography. Along the way, they werejoined by several other families.

The tragedies and hardships faced by these emigrants on the trail toKentucky, and then in their settlement at Boonesborough, proved too muchfor Jonas Sparks and likewise for some members of the Bryan family. Theyreturned to their old homes in the Forks of the Yadkin, but in what yearwe do not know. We believe that Jonas Sparks's first wife died inKentucky; in 1805 he married a widow named Mary Eakle.

(This continuation of the article on William IV ends here on page 3776.The article is coninued under the notes for Jeremiah's eldest child - - -Sparks)

SQ pg 3798: He was called "Myra." In about 1831 he was married toRachel ---. They lived in Mitchell County, North Carolina.

SQ 608: They moved to Yancey County, North Carolina, by 1850 wherethey appear on the census living near Jeremiah's brother, Thomas M.Sparks. The census reveals the following:

(p. 426)
601-634
Sparks, Jeremiah 38 North Carolina Farmer $200
Samuel D. 18 " " Laborer
William 16 " " Laborer
Charles 14 " "
James 5 " "
Rachel 35 " "
Mary E. 10 " "
Jane E. 8 " "
Caroline 4 " "
Jemima J. 1 " "

SQ p. 3909: "Jeremiah ["Jerry"] Sparks, son of Daniel and Ellender
(Cordial) Sparks, was born about 1864. He is said to have been married,but
died shortly thereafter."

SQ pg 37:

"In the middle of the application for a pension in the RevolutionaryWar filed by his brother William (333), Jesse is mentioned near thebottom of the page as follows: "This applicant was born in Rowan Countynear Sallisbury in the State of North Carolina on the 3rd day of AprilA.D. 1761. He has no record of his age (birth?), but he believes hisbrother Jesse Sparks residing in Hickman County in the State of Tennesseehas a copy of the record of his age, the original has been lost."Application dated 14 Sept, 1846.

SQ pg. 177 mentioning Jesse and his siblings.

SQ pg. 562 claim for loss of and to father Matthew (256) in CreekIndian War.

************************************

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1990, Whole No. 149, pp. 3530-3553:

JESSE SPARKS 1773-1858 SON OF MATTHEW AND SARAH (THOMPSON)SPARKS AND HIS DESCENDANTS

"Jesse Sparks, son of Matthew and Sarah (Thompson) Sparks, was born onJuly 23, 1773, in Rowan County, North Carolina, and was about two yearsold when his parents moved to the newly-formed county of Surry, NorthCarolina, where they settled in that portion which would become WilkesCounty in 1777 and then Ashe County in 1799. They lived near thepresent-day community of Jefferson until about 1786 when they moved toGeorgia. It was there that Jesse's father, Matthew Sparks, was killed byhostile Indians in the fall of 1793.

"The first record we have found of Jesse Sparks appears in the minutesof the January 1797 term of the Jackson County [Georgia] Court where hewas listed as a member of the grand jury. Prior to this time, he hadbeen married to Elizabeth Jones, probably about 1795, and their firstchild, Sarah, was born at Christmas time in 1796.

"A portion of Jackson County was taken to form Clarke County, Georgia,in 1801, and Jesse Sparks went with the new county. In 1802, he waslisted as a member of the grand jury of Clarke County Court, and sometimeduring that year he filed a claim for the property he had lost in 1795from Indian raids. His brother, William Sparks, witnessed theapplication for the claim. At the same time, Jesse and William alsowitnessed a claim made by their brother, Absalom Sparks, for propertywhich he, too, had lost in 1793 during an Indian raid, the same attack asthat in which their father had been killed.

"When the first land lottery was held in Georgia under the Act of1803, Jesse Sparks was one of the citizens of Clarke County whoparticipated in it. As a married man, he was entitled to two draws, buthis name was not drawn. (Actually, the drawing did not take place until1805.) There was no record kept of all of those who participated in thesecond land lottery of Georgia in 1807, and only the winners are known.Jesse Sparks was not among the winners.

"About 1808, according to a History of Hickman County, Tennessee,published by Spence and Spence in 1900, Jesse Sparks moved his family tomiddle Tennessee where, on September 14, 1810, he was granted fifteenacres of land in Hickman County. The land was located on the Barren Forkof Sugar Creek, a tributary of Duck River, and was near the point wherepresent-day Hickman, Humphreys, and Perry Counties join. The tract wasadjacent to some land which Jesse had entered on March 31, 1809. Severalyears later, on May 18, 1824, he bought 70 acres which adjoined hisoriginal tract.

"Jesse Sparks may have been joined by some of his brothers in his moveto Tennessee. In the decade between 1800 and 1810, three of his brothersleft Georgia and moved to Tennessee. They settled in the general area ofthe counties of Carroll, Hickman, and Humphreys. They were BaileySparks, Hardy Sparks, and Isaac Sparks. Another brother, Nathan Sparks,settled in Wilson County, Tennessee.

"Jesse Sparks was listed as the head of his household on the 1820,1830, 1840, and 1850 censuses of Hickman County. He was appointed ajustice of the peace for the county on November 17, 1815, and was electedcounty coroner in 1826.

"The family of Jesse Sparks grew rapidly, and shortly after the birthof his tenth child, in 1817, his wife, Elizabeth (Jones) Sparks, died.She was probably buried in the Coleman Cemetery in Hickman County. Sheleft Jesse with a family of young children, and the following year hemarried Susan May. She had been born in 1795 and was a daughter ofWilliam and Hannah May. She took over the responsibilities of helping torear her step-children, and, in addition, she and Jesse had eightchildren of their own.

"Two interesting records have been preserved which give some insightinto the life of Jesse Sparks. The first involved his appointment as theadministrator of his father's estate. This appointment was made 35 yearsafter the death of Matthew Sparks and was given to Jesse on September 14,1829, by his mother and his four brothers who lived near him in middleTennessee. The appointment was an effort to persuade the government(either Federal or State) to reimburse the estate of Matthew Sparks forproperty lost during the Creek Indian War. These records appear on pages562-65 of the June 1961 issue of the QUARTERLY, Whole No. 34.

"The other record involved Jesse's daughter, Eady Sparks, who hadmarried John Hale and had six children. Hale apparently died about 1832,and his property was sold at a public auction in 1833, probably to settlehis estate. Jesse Sparks bought a substantial portion of the propertyand gave it to Eady and to her children.

"Susan (May) Sparks, second wife of Jesse Sparks, died sometimebetween 1840 and 1850, and when the 1850 census was taken of HickmanCounty, Jesse and his youngest child, Jonathan Sparks, were livingtogether. Sometime prior to 1858, however, Jesse apparently changed hisresidence to Perry County, Tennessee, perhaps to live with one of hischildren. It was there that he died on January 5, 1858. He was buriedin the Pace Cemetery, now Pineview Cemetery.

"There has been some confusion about the year of Jesse Sparks's death,probably caused by an erroneous date on his tombstone which gives theyear as 1859. The confusion has been compounded, however, by a Biblerecord which was published on page 1017 of the September 1966 issue ofthe QUARTERLY and which gave his year of death as 1848. We now know thatthis was a typing error, and the year should have been typed as 1858.Recently, a document has been sent to us that proves conclusively thatthe year of the death of Jesse Sparks was 1858. Here is the document asit was written:

"State of Tennessee By the Justices of the Co. Court Perry County ofPerry County, Feb. term 1858

"It being certified to us that Jesse Sparks, Sr. has died leaving anestate, that he made and published no last will and testament in writing,and the Court having apointed and qualified Jesse Sparks, Jr. ,administrator of said deceased. These are therefore to authorize andempower the said Jesse Sparks, Jr. to enter upon the administration ofsaid estate, and to do and perform all things which lawfully devolve uponhim as administrator. Witness Jesse Taylor, Clerk of said Court atoffice the first Monday in Feb. 1858.

[signed] Jesse Taylor, Clerk

"On the reverse side of this document was written the following:

"A list of charges of my children. This is my wish and desire foreach one to have a eaquil sheir.

Sally (or Sarah) Horner $17.00
Nancy Thomas 25.00
Eady Hales 25.00
Elizabeth Brown 25.00
Polly Colman 25.00
James J. Sparks 25.00
Jesse Sparks 25.00
Anny Sparks 35.00
Hanner Murphree 35.00
Nathan Sparks 35.00
Absolam Sparks 25.00
Susan Cottom 33.00
Catherine Reaves 35.00
Jonath Sparks 25.00

Jesse Sparks 390.00

"According to the family Bible (mentioned above), Jesse Sparks was thefather of eighteen children. Ten of these were by his first wife,Elizabeth (Jones) Sparks, and the other eight were by his second wife,Susan (May) Sparks. Here are their names in the order of their births.

By his first wife By his second wife

A. Sarah ["Sally"] Sparks K. Nathan Sparks
B. Nancy Sparks L. Phillip MatthewSparks
C. Eady Sparks M. Absalom Sparks
D. Elizabeth ["Betsy"] Sparks N. Hannah Sparks
E. Mary Jane ["Polly"] Sparks 0. Susan Sparks
F. James Jefferson Sparks P. David Sparks
G. Jesse Sparks, Jr. Q. Catherine["Katie"] Sparks
H. John Valentine Sparks R. Jonathan Sparks
I. Martha ["Patsey"] Sparks
J. Ann Sparks

**********

Paul Sparks has note re 1850 Carter Co. KY. Not clear but may referto death of his wife Nancy whom he married in 1817. SQ pg 3796 says heand Nancy left Lee County, Virginia soon after the 1820 census was takento settle in Lawrence County, KY, where he died about 1869.

SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1994, Whole No. 165, p. 4275 states:

"Jesse Sparks, son of James Sparks, was born about 1797, probably inNorth Carolina , although his birthplace was given as Virginia on the1860 census of Carter Cou nty, Kentucky. The earliest record we havefound of him is his entry on the 1820 census of Lee County, Virginia, onwhich he was listed as the head of his household. Also living in hishousehold was an elderly couple whom we believe to have been his parents.

"Jesse was apparently married about 1817, probably in Lee County . Hiswife's name was Nancy but we have not learned her maiden name. She wasborn about 18OO in North Carolina. Shortly after the 182O census wastaken, Jesse and Nancy moved to Lawrence County, Kentucky, where he wasone of the first taxpayers in the newly-formed county. (Other taxpayersnames SPARKS were: James, Thomas. Sr., Thomas Jr., Allen, Levi, George,Jonathan.)

"Jesse Sparks settled on Big Blaine Creek where he bought fifty acresof land in 1825. He bought fifty acres in 183O and another fifty acres in
1832, but in 1833 he sold all of his land and moved across the ridge ofhills which divided the watersheds of the Big Sandy River from the LittleSandy River. There, on May 21, 1834, he was issued a warrant for 3OOacres of land on the Powder Mill branch of Little Caney Creek. WhenCarter County was formed in 1838, that portion of Lawrence County inwhich he lived became a part of Carter County. He appeared on the 184O,185O and 186O censuses of Carter Co.

"On May 15, 184O, Jesse obtained an additional 1OO acres of land on thenorth fork of the Little Caney Creek. Five years later, he and Nancysold their 3OO acre tract to Richard Whitt. Then, in 1869, they disposedof the rest of their land. We have found no further records of thiscouple and they apparently died shortly after this last sale of theirland in 1869, for they did not appear in the 187O census.

"Neither Jesse nor Nancy left a will, nor have we found anyadministrative records of the settlement of their estates. From censusrecords and information furnished by their descendants, we have what webelieve to be a complete list of their children. There were thirteen ofthem." (Here is included list of children for details of which see notesunder name of child.)

SQ p 3900: "Jesse Sparks, son of Matthew and Alsey (Osburn) Sparks,
was born in May 1835. He was married to Catherine ["Kittie"] Kozee about
1859. She had been born in August 1842. Jesse and Kittie apparently had
no children of their own, but they reared a foster son, John Tollson .They
died some time after 1900, probably in Johnson County."

SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1994, Whole No. 165, p. 4276 states: Jesse
Sparks, Jr., son of Jesse and Nancy sparks, was born about 1835. He
apparently never married.

[JS Note:]
US Federal Census for 1870: Martinsburg (Now Sandy Hook), KY, Jun1870,
FHL 976.9255x28b:
123 Jesse Sparks 35 born KY
Living with John Birchfield family.
He is living a few houses away from his brother Alexander Sparks and hisfourth cousin once removed, Nelson Sparks.

See SPARKS QUARTERLY, June 1979, Whole No. 106, at page 2113 for theCivil War Pension Application of Jesse Sparks as follows:

"JESSE SPARKS, son of Isaiah Hale and Sarah (Clayborn) Sparks, wasborn on May 11, 1841, in Hickman County, Tennessee. He married (1st)Elizabeth Owen about 1866 and (2nd) Edie Millsaps on Oct. 7, 1909 . Heserved in Co. C, 1st Regiment Arkansas Infantry. File Designations: Inv.Cert. No. 506,330; Wid. Cert. No. 942,167.

"Jesse Sparks apparently made application for an invalid pension priorto July 1887 for on July 28, 1887, the War Department was asked to verifyhis military service and hospital record. Sparks cliamed that while amember of company C, 1st Regiment Arkansas Infantry he had intermittentfever at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, in December 1865 which endured for ninemonths. He said he was carried on a wagon to Newton County, Arkansas, inDecember 1865 and then to Taney County, Missouri, where he stayed untilMarch 1866. The illness left him with a chronic heart disease andrheumatism. The Regimental Surgeon was Dr. Waterman.

"The War Department responded on October 6, 1887. Sparks was enrolledon February 12, 1863, at Fayetteville, Arkansas, in Company C, 1stRegiment Arkansas Infantry for a period of three years. He was musteredout with his company at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, on August 10, 186 5.Hospital records showed a --- Sparks had been treated in October 1864, inDecember 1864, and in January 1865, but the nature of the illnesses wasnot stated. To further complicate matters, there were three other mennamed SPARKS on the rolls of the company, Thomas E . Sparks, George W.Sparks, and Balis E. Sparks.

"Jesse Sparks was issued a pension under Invalid Certificate No.506,330. On June 5, 1912, Jesse Sparks, age 71, a resident of Chancel ,Arkansas, made a request for increased pension benefits under the 1912Act of Congress. He stated that he had been born on May 11, 1841 , inHickman County, Tennessee. At the time of his enlistment, he was 5 feet,10 inches tall; he had a light complexion, blue eyes and dark hair; andhe was a farmer. Since he had left the service, he had lived in CookeCounty, Texas, and in Oklahoma, but most of the time he had lived inNewton County, Arkansas. H. R. Heydenreich and J . R. Heydenreichwitnessed his signature.

"On October 9, 1920, Sparks again applied for increased pensionbenefits under the 1920 Act of Congress. He gave his address asLimestone, Arkansas. He repeated much of the same information he hadgiven earlier, but said that he was still suffering from heart failureand rheumatism. S. M. Adams and Ira Milsaps witnessed his signature andthe application was sworn to before H. F. Heydenreich, a justice of thepeace.

"On May 4, 1921, Jesse Sparks replied to a questionnaire from theBureau of Pensions. He said he was married to Elizabeth Owens in 1866,but was divorced from her and the record of the divorce had been lost. Hehad thirteen children, but he had lost the record of their births. Hearranged the names of his children in the following order: 1. SarahSparks; 2. Arion sparks; 3. Isiah Sparks; 4. Becky Sparks; 5. BartleeSparks; 6. James Sparks; 7. Clearice Sparks; 8. Matthew Sparks; 9. NancySparks; 10. Bellzona Sparks; 11. William Sparks; 1 2. Harriet Sparks; 13.Rachel Sparks.

"After the divorce from his first wife, he had married Eadie(Millsaps) Casey on October 7, 1909, in Newton County, Arkansas. She wasdivorced from her former husband, Ambrose Casey.

"When Jesse Sparks died on March 28, 1922, he was receiving a pensionof $22.00 per month. According to the Certificate of Death, his fatherwas Isiah H. Sparks, born in Tennessee, and his mother's maiden name wasClayborn and she was born in South Carolina.

"The widow of Jesse Sparks filed an application for a widow's pensionon July 21, 1922. She said she was Edie Sparks, age 46, and was aresident of Chancel, Arkansas. She had been married to Jesse Sparks onOctober 7, 1909, at Deer, Arkansas, by H. F. Heydenreich. Her husbandhad left no children under sixteen years of age. She appointed WilliamFletcher & Co., Washington, D. C., as her attorneys. S . M. Adams andFines E. Boze witnessed her make her mark.

"On September 4, 1923, J. M. Millsaps and J. C. Millsaps swore thatthey were present when Jesse and Edie Sparks were married on October 7,1909. They said that Jesse Sparks was not married but one time prior tothe marriage and there was no legal reason why the couple could not getmarried.

"Edie Sparks was apparently issued a pension under Widow's CertificateNo. 942,167, but the pension was terminated on September 4, 1929 ,because of "forfeiture of title under the Act of August 1882." EdieSparks appealed the decision in 1934, but apparently was not successful."

SQ p. 3551:
"Jesse Sparks, son of James Jefferson and Rhoda (Murphree) Sparks, wasborn about 1842 and undoubtedly was named for his paternal grandfather.He served in Company F, 42nd Regiment Tennessee Infantry, ConfederateStates Army. He died while he was a prisoner of war at St. Louis,Misouri, on March 1, 1862."

.
!NOTES:
SQ pg 3940: They had at least five children: Tena, Eva Ethel, El va,Terry, and Ova Sparks.

SQ 3865: Jesse Allen Sparks was born on February 20, 1853. He wasmarried to Eliza Ann Roe in 1881 in Carter County. She had been bornabout 1855 and was a daughter of James C. and Margaret A. (Johnson) Roe.Jesse Allen died on or about June 19, 1937, and Eliza Ann died onDecember 30, 1938. They had eight children: George, Sarah Margaret,Thomas, Francis M., Lily Belle, Carrie May, Charles, and Fred.

SQ 3863:

"Jesse Allen "Bud" Sparks, son of Thomas and Dianna (Sparks) Sparks,was born on February 8, 1855, and was a twin to Sarah J. Sparks. He wasmarried to Anna Caroline Click on September 9, 1875, in Elliott County.She had been born in Carter County, Kentucky, in December 1856. Bud andAnna
lived near Gimlet, Kentucky, where they reared nine children: Martha,Elizabeth, Lucy, Julia, Charles, George, Anabea, Lottie and Phoebe.

SQ 3862: Jesse B. Sparks, probable son of Allen and Elizabeth (Kozee)Sparks, was born about 1825. We believe he was the Jesse Sparks who wasmarried to Sarah Faulkner on May 2, 1851, in Carter County, Kentucky .They had a child born there the following year, but by 1855 they wereliving on Caney Creek in Morgan County, Kentucky, where a second childwas born. We have found no further records of the family.
a. Mary Ann Sparks, daughter of Jesse and Sarah (Faulkner) Sparks ,was born on May 30, 1852, in Carter County, Kentucky.
b. John Milton Sparks, son of Jesse and Sarah (Faulkner) Sparks , wasborn on September 5, 1855, in Morgan County, Kentucky.

But see the SQ pg 289 listing the births in Kentucky 1852-1862. Therecords for Calloway County show a Mary Ann Sparks born to Jesse Sparksand Sarah Faulkner Sparks on 30 May 1852. They also show a John M.Sparks born to Isaac Sparks, Jr. and Sally Faulkner on 5 September,1855. If these are the same people the record err in Jesse's first name,in Sarah's first name, and in the place of birth of John M. Sparks. Isit possible that Jesse had a brother Isaac who married Sarah's sisterSally and that John M. Sparks was their child born in Carter County??

*************************************

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY September 2002, Whole No. 200, pp 5762-5765:

UNION SOLDIERS NAMED SPARKS WHO APPLIED OR WHOSE HEIRS APPLIEDFOR PENSIONS FOR SERVICE IN THE CIVIL WAR

JAMES W. SPARKS, son of Jesse B. and Sarah (Falkner) Sparks, was bornabout 1847 in Carter County, Kentucky. He died while in the militaryservice on October 23, 1863. He served in Company A, 45th RegimentKentucky Mounted Infantry. File Designation: Father’s Certificate No.230,841.

On March 12, 1880, Jesse B. Sparks, age 55, appeared before Thomas A.Mitchell, Clerk of the Lewis County, Kentucky Court, to apply for apension as a dependent father. He stated that his son, James W. Sparks,had enlisted in July 1863 at Clarksburg, Kentucky, in Company A, 45thRegiment Kentucky Infantry and had died while in the service on October23, 1863, at Ashland, Kentucky. Sparks stated that he had been married tohis son’s mother on May 2, 1851, in Carter County, Kentucky. She had diedin Greenup County, Kentucky, about May 1, 1871. His son had left no widownor any children, but he had left the following brothers and sisters whowere under the age of sixteen years when James W. Sparks had died:

Sarah Elizabeth Sparks, born April 20, 1849
Mary Ann Sparks, born May 29, 1851(continued)
John Mitten Sparks, born February 29, 1856
Jesse Albert Sparks, born May 20, 1858
Francis Marion Sparks, born March 27, 1860
Aiphius Devire Sparks, born February 10, 1863

Jesse Sparks stated that he had been greatly dependent upon his son,James W. Sparks, for support. He appointed N. W. Fitzgerald ofWashington, D.C., as his attorney to assist him in obtaining a pension.He gave his address as Vanceburg, Kentucky, in care of James Nalen of thesame place. William McGlothlin, Samuel A. Agnew, and Michael Moorewitnessed him make his mark on his application which was sworn to beforeThomas A. Mitchell, Clerk.

The War Department confirmed the military service of James W. Sparks tothe Bureau of Pensions on October 30, 1880. He had been enrolled on July6, 1863, at Clarksburg, Kentucky, in Company A, 45th Regiment KentuckyMounted Infantry on July 6, 1863, at Clarksburg, Kentucky, to serve forone year. He died in the General Hospital at Ashland, Kentucky, onOctober 23, 1863, of pneumonia.

Apparently the Bureau of Pensions required further proof of Jesse B.Sparks’s dependency upon his son for during the summer of 1883, three“Neighbor’s Affidavits” were filed. The first was a joint affidavit madeby George W. Sparks, Sr. and his son, George W., Jr., on July 16, 1883.They stated that James W. Sparks had never been married and that he had“done hired work” to help support his father; and that Jesse B. Sparksowned no property, nor could he support his family because of a crippledankle. This affidavit was sworn to before R. D. Wilson, Clerk of theLewis County, Kentucky, Court.

The second affidavit was made jointly by Lewis and Sarah Jane Landes ofGreenup County, Kentucky, on August 12, 1883. They stated that they werewell acquainted with Jesse B. Sparks and his wife, Sarah Sparks, who hadbeen the mother of James W. Sparks. They had been present on May 18,1871, when she had died. Henry McKee and Harriet Homer witnessed themmake their marks on this affidavit, that was then sworn to before W.McKee, a notary public.

The third affidavit was made by A. F. Moore of Quincey, Kentucky, onAugust 25, 1883. He testified that James W. Sparks had worked for him forfive years prior to entering the military service, and that Jesse B.Sparks, James’s father, had drawn nearly all of the wages in meat andmeal for his support. The affidavit was sworn to before R. D. Wilson,Clerk of the Lewis County Court.

On March 14, 1884, the War Department again responded to a request fromthe Bureau of Pensions for a military history of James W. Sparks. Theresponse was as follows: 'James -- Sparks was enrolled on July 6, 1861,at Clarksburg, Ky. in Co. A, 45 Regt. Ky. Inf. and reported on that date,18 years of age. No other description shown on rolls. Enlistment papernot on file. No Regt. Des. Book on file. Final Statement sigd. by Co.Comdr. shows him born in Carter Co., Ky.; age 18 years; 5 ft. 6 in. high.Dark complexion, Black hair, Black eyes. By occupation a farmer. Died inGenl. Hosp., Ashland, Ky. October 23, 1863 of Pneumonia."

On October 18, 1884, Dr. Charles F. Maddy made a supporting affidavit forthe claim of Jesse B. Sparks. He stated that he was practicing medicineIn the summer of 1863 and knew that Jesse B. Sparks was a farm laborerwho depended upon whatever daily work he could get to maintain hisfamily. Jesse had a son, James W. Sparks, who was a well developed, manlyboy about 16 years old who also worked with his father to help supportthe family. This son had enlisted in the U. S. Army and had died InOctober 1863, and his remains were brought home under a U. S. Governmentescort and buried.

Dr. Maddy stated that he had continued to be the family physician to thefamily of Jesse B. Sparks even though he knew that Sparks did not havethe means to pay for his services because of his destitute condition.Maddy added that after Sparks was deprived of the wages of his son, hedoubted that he, Jesse B. Sparks, had an income of over $12 .00 permonth. With this limited income, he had to support seven children youngerthan his son, James W. Sparks.

Apparently it was about this time that the Bureau of Pensions issuedFather's Certificate No. 230,841 to Jesse B. Sparks, and he was placed onthe pension rolls.

On November 15, 1886, Dr. Maddy made another affidavit in which he statedthat he had treated Sarah Sparks, mother of James W. Sparks, severalyears before her death, and she was under his care on May 18, 1871. Thisstatement was sworn to before Thomas A. Mitchell, Clerk of Lewis CountyCourt.

On November 13, 1890, Jesse B. Sparks made a request for Increasedpension benefits under an 1890 Act of Congress. He was now 65 years ofage and a resident of Clay City, Powell County, Kentucky. O. A. Lyle andJoe Johnson, both of Clay City, witnessed him make his mark; and theapplication was sworn to before Grant Green, Jr., a notary public ofPowell County.

The last document included (in chronological order) in the "SelectedPapers" from this pension file obtained from the National Archives, is ajoint affidavit made by P. E. Hale and Joe Johnson, both of Clay City,Kentucky, supporting the provision of an increase in the pension of JesseB. Sparks. They stated that Sparks was not able to work because of hisadvanced age and also because of a sore ankle. This affidavit was swornto before James W. Lilly, Judge of Clay City Court. Nothing was includedamong the "Selected Papers" from this file to indicate what action mayhave been taken by the Bureau of Pensions on this request.

Editor's Note: The late Paul E. Sparks prepared the above abstract beforehis death in 1999. He also prepared the following notes to accompany theabstract.

[I am not sure whether Jesse B. Sparks belongs to the Lewis County,Kentucky, branch of the Sparkses, or to the Carter County, Kentucky,branch. There is no doubt, however, that he is the Jesse B. Sparks whowas married to Sarah Falkner on May 2, 1851, in Carter County. (See page722 of the March 1960 issue of the SPARKS QUARTERLY, Whole No. 41, for alist of marriage bonds for persons named Sparks between 1843 and 1876.)There is also no doubt that he and his family were listed on the 1860census of Lewis County, Household No., 917, as follows:

Sparks Jesse B. 33 Farm Laborer Born Kentucky
" Sarah 33 "
" James W. 12 "
Sarah E. 10 "
Mary 8 "
John M. 5 "
Jesse 3 "
Francis M. 1/12 "

[Now look at the dates of birth of these children as given in the pensionapplication. Note that James W. and Sarah E. were born prior to Jesse'smarriage to Sarah Falkner, and that Mary A. was born just four weeksafter the marriage. This is surely a puzzle, and I can offer no plausibleexplanation. Throughout the "Selected Papers" from this pension file,affidavits contain the statement that Sarah Sparks was the mother ofJames W. Sparks.]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SQ pp. 4559-60:

"Jesse Hancock Sparks, son of Nathan and Nancy (Hancock) Sparks, wasborn on March 24, 1811, in Tennessee and was probably named for hisuncle, Jesse Sparks and for his mother's family. He was married threetimes. We have not learned the name of his first wife. Apparently theywere married about 1831. and their only child, Isabella Sparks, was bornon May 19, 1832. Jesse's first wife apparently died shortly thereafter.

"Jesse Sparks's second marriage was to Julia Marrs on October 28,1833, in Wilson County, Tennessee. They were married by John F. Doak, ajustice of the peace. Julia may have been related to (perhaps a sisterof) Rachel Marrs, wife of Jessels brother, Martin Sparks. (See Item D,above.) A daughter, Sophronia Sparks, was born to Jesse and Julia onJuly 30, 1834. Julia apparently died sometime between 1834 and 1839.

"The third marriage of Jesse Hancock Sparks was to Susan Cornell,probably in 1839. She had been born on January 27, 1812, in NorthCarolina. The first child of Jesse and Susan was a daughter and was bornon March 25, 1840, just in time to be enumerated on the 1840 census ofWilson County.

"Jesse Sparks followed his brother, Martin Sparks, to Arkansas,settling in Ouachita County about 1849. The family was enumerated thereon the 1850 census, but shortly thereafter they moved to Cooke County,Texas. Jesse was a member of a grand jury there in January 1858. He wasinstrumental in organizing a Cumberland Presbyterian Church there in1862. He continued to live in Cooke County until his death on March 10,1892. Susan (Cornell) Sparks had preceded him in death, dying onFebruary 27, 1884. She and Jesse had five children. With his threewives, Jesse was the father of seven children.

"A photograph of Jesse Hancock Sparks appears on the cover of thisissue of the QUARTERLY. The original was loaned to us by Angie MaySparks (Mrs. Thomas Charles) a number of years ago (see item E, 5, d),below. Angie Sparks died in 1975."

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1990, Whole No. 149, p. 3552:
"Jesse Sparks, III, son of Jesse, Jr. and Polly Malinda (Patterson)Sparks, was born on December 3, 1860, at Lick Creek in Perry County. Hebecame a most successful farmer. He represented Perry County in the 1909and 1910 sessions of the State Legislature and was a director of theFirst National Bank of LInden. In 1886, he was married to Minerva(Nerva) Ledbetter, daughter of H. M. Ledbetter, a well-known farmer ofPerry County. She had been born on March 24 1869, and died on July 19,1943. Jesse died on March 13, 1924. Jesse and Minerva had two children."

SQ 3552 for interesting notes on Jesse and his son Jesse III, a memberof the Tennessee state legislature in 1909. Jesse Kent (IV) was a memberof the Sparks Family Association prior to his death. See SQ 1017 renotice thereof.

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1990, Whole No. 149, p. 3859:

"Jesse Kent Sparks was born on July 17, 1888. He was married onDecember 18, 1913, to Bess E. Edwards who had been born on November 18,1893; she was still living in 1966. J. Kent Sparks, as he was known,studied law at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, and wasadmitted to the bar in 1909. He began a successful career as an attorneyin Linden the following year. He became postmaster of Linden and wasalso editor of the Perry County News. He was a member of the MethodistChurch and of the Masonic fraternity. According to A History ofTennessee and Tennesseans published in 1913, he was one of the mostforceful men in Perry County. He died on August 7, 1966. He and Besshad two children, Elizabeth and Jessie.

"[Editor's Note: J. Kent Sparks, as he always signed his name, was amember of the Sparks Family Association for a number of years prior tohis death. A notice of his death appeared in the QUARTERLY of September1966, Whole No. 55, p. 1017. He was the owner of the family Bible thathad belonged to his great-grandfather, Jesse Sparks (1773-1858),containing the record of the births of Jesse's children. J. Kent Sparkshad also preserved a number of documents pertainingto the settlement ofJesse's and Jesse's father's (Matthew Sparks's) claims for lossessuffered from Indian attacks in Georgia in the 1790s. Jesse Sparks(1773-1858) had placed these documents in "an old fashioned ballot box, 8inches by 10 inches" which had been passed down through the family, alongwith a number of artifacts. Of these, J. Kent Sparks wrote as follows toyour editor on January 6, 1957: "I have a horn cup (steer's horn withwooden bottom) with the word LIBERTY printed on it. The letters areclear or light, I do not know what was used to make them, but one canread the word LIBERTY by holding it up to the light. It must have comedown from the Revolutionary War days. I have a walking cane or stick,the hand piece of which was made from part of a deer's horn, which was mygreat-grandfather's."]

The above-referred to death notice states in part:

DEATH TAKES J. KENT SPARKS

"It is with deep regret that we report the passing of J. Kent Sparksof Linden, Perry County, Tennessee. A charter member of The SparksFamily Association, Mr. Sparks died in a Nashville hospital on August 7,1966, at the age of 78 years.

"J. Kent Sparks was born July 17, 1888, in Perry County, Tennessee,near where his great-grandfather had settled about 80 years earlier. Mr.Sparks was married to Miss Bess Edwards, who survives him, as do alsotheir two daughters, Elizabeth (Mrs. Willie Hudson) and Jessie (Mrs.David Walker). Elizabeth has one daughter named Ann Elizabeth, andJessie has two daughters, Elizabeth and Sara Kent Walker. (Here thearticle traces his ancestry which is covered above.)

SQ pg 3727: Jesse Lee Sparks was born on February 22, 1916. He wasmarried to Lena Hazel Canada on September 10, 1938, at Shawnee, Oklahoma.He ran a dairy farm near Earlsboro in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. Hedied on December 23, 1969. He and Lena had two children, James andLinda. [Linda Kay (Sparks) Starr has furnished most of the material forthis article.]

SQ pg 3689: When the 1880 census was taken of Newton County,(Arkansas) they had five children: Harrison, Arizona, Adona, Edgar L., and Colonel.

See the SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 2001, Whole No. 196, p.5627:

"Jesse P. Sparks, son of Isaac and Wilmoth (Noland) Sparks, was bornabout 1823. It appears from census records that he did not marry and thathe lived in his parents' household so long as his father was living. Likehis brother, Bailey, he doubtless assisted his father on the farm. Asnoted earlier, following his father's death, Jesse sold to a neighbor, J.L. Seawright, his one-eighth share of the 212 1/2 acres of land inCarroll County that his father had obtained as a grant from the state ofTennessee in 1849. In this deed that Jesse signed on July 31, 1867, as"J. P. Sparks," he also sold to Seawright his 8th share of the land thathis brother, Bailey N . Sparks, had owned prior to his death. We have norecord pertaining to Jesse P. Sparks after 1870 when he was shown on thecensus of that year as living with his mother. She was described as"Keeping House," he as a farmer. Jesse did not appear on the 1880 censusof Carroll County, nor do we have any further record of him."

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, June 1986, Whole No. 134, p2875:

"Jesse Wadlington Sparks, son of James and Massy (Wadlington) Sparks,was born on January 1, 1837, in Nacogdoches County, Texas. According toa History of Tennessee, written in 1886, he went to Rutherford County,Tennessee, about 1854 and entered Union University at Murfreesboro. Afterhis graduation, he enlisted in the Confederate States Army in 1861 andserved largely west of the Mississippi River until the end of the war,attaining the rank of Lt. Col. After the war, he returned to RutherfordCounty where he married Josephine Bivins on April 18, 1865. Born March 6,1837, she was a daughter of James and Theodocia (Brashear) Bivins.

"Jesse Sparks was an attorney. He was also a successful farmer andbreeder of livestock. He was quite active in civic affairs and servedtwelve years as the Clerk and Master of the Rutherford County ChanceryCourt. He became vice-president of the United American Veterans, anassociation of Confederate soldiers, and gained national prominence forhis interest in behalf of stranded Negro colonists from Mexico. He was aprominent candidate for governor of Tennessee. He was active in theMasonic fraternity.

"In 1893, Sparks was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as theUnited States consul stationed in the city of Porfiro Diaz in Mexico. Heand Josephine had six children. His picture appears on the cover of theJune 1986 issue of the SPARKS QUARTERLY."

SQ p 2876:

"Jesse Wadlington Sparks, Jr., son of Jesse W. and Josephine (Bivins)Sparks, was born on February 10, 1867. He was educated in the commonschools of Rutherford County (TN) and was graduated in law fromCumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1888. He returned toMurfreesboro where he became city attorney and also engaged in thegeneral practice of law. Like his father, he also was active in theMasonic fraternity. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church,South.

"Jesse Sparks was married twice. The first was to Octo Jarman Hale onJanuary 26, 1901. She had been born on September 3, 1880, in WilsonCounty, Tennessee, and was a daughter of John R. and Ada (Jarman) Hale.She died on September 27, 1905. Jesse married (2nd) Lucile CannadySatterwhite on June 16, 1909. She was a daughter of Solomon and Lucy(Butler) Satterwhite. Jesse had two children by each of his wives."

SQ 2783:

"Jesse Wilmer Sparks was born on June 18, 1884. He was married toElvira Payne on December 16, 1911, at Gholson. She had been born on May23, 1895, at Shaw, Arkansas, and was a daughter of Thomas J. and Luanda(Nations) Payne. They attended the Gholson Baptist Church. Elvira diedon
November 23, 1955, and Jesse died on September 14, 1957. She was buriedin the Rosemound Cemetary at Waco; Jesse was buried in the GholsonCemetary. They had five children: Dalton Mae, Carroll R., Mildred, JesseW. Jr., and Hollis."

SQ pg 3402: They had two children, Dorsey and Glendell Sparks

A picture of Jim Lester Sparks appears in the Sparks Quarterly on page4869.

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 1959, Whole No. 28, p. 435:

"Jimmie Roe Sparks is (in 1927) one of the oldest and best loved menin Franklin County, Alabama. He was born on Cedar Creek four miles fromFranklin in 1843. His father was Samuel Magnus Sparks, who was a son ofEnoch Sparks, a soldier of the War of 1812. His mother was Miss LucindaRamsey, related to the Ramsey family of Good Springs and Russellville.

"Mr. Sparks was reared on the farm and has spent the greater portionof his life in the country, although he now lives in Red Bay. He servedin the Confederate Army, first in Daily's company and later in Nelson'sor Newsom's company.

"Although Mr. Sparks has lived in Arkansas and Mississippi, thegreater portion of his life has been spent in Franklin County. For manyyears he lived on the Cotton Gin Road near where it crosses Little BearCreek, half way between Belgreen and Burlieson. He owned a large tractof land and a mill. (He still owns all or part of this land and was oneof the substantial farmers of Franklin County.) He has been marriedtwice. His first wife was a Miss Reid, a member of one of the oldestfamilies in the western section of the country. Several children wereborn to the first marriage. His second wife was Miss ---- ----. Onechild, a daughter, has been born to this marriage.

"Mr. Sparks is a great conversationalist. He knows a great deal offamily history and knows much about the history of the county, state andnation. He especially thrills when talking of deer hunting, for he wasone of the greatest deer hunters in the history of Franklin County. Heis a Democrat and a Baptist."

See also SQ p. 967 for the record of the entire family includingJimmie Roe Sparks.

SQ 1O1:

"Joel Sparks, son of John and Sarah (Shores) Sparks, was born about1784, Surry County, North Carolina; died about 1850 in Wilkes County ;married 27 July 1814 (date of Wilkes County marriage bond) to NancyBlackburn , born about 1791, North Carolina. She survived herhusband...."

*************************************

SQ p. 2272: 4. Joel Sparks, probably born about 1784; died December1849; married Nancy Blackburn on July 27, 1814; appeared on the 1820,1830, 1840, and 1850 censuses of Wilkes County, North Carolina.

**********************************

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, September 2002, Whole No. 200, pp. 5754-5758:

JOEL SPARKS (ca.1784-1849) OF WILKES COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA SON OFJOHN AND SARAH (SHORES) SPARKS

By Russell E. Bidlack

In the preceding article devoted to Robert Sparks (ca.1824-1864), wenoted that he was a son of Joel and Nancy (Blackburn) Sparks. Joel andNancy had been married in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in 1814, theirmarriage bond having been signed and license issued on July 17, 1814.Joel Sparks was a son of John and Sarah (Shores) Sparks. Joel must notbe confused, however, with another Joel Sparks, also at one time ofWilkes County, but who moved to Missouri before 1850. A son of Matthewand Eunice Sparks, this “other” Joel Sparks died in Bates County,Missouri, in about 1861.

These two men named Joel were actually third cousins, once removed, bothbeing descendants of William Sparks, immigrant from Hampshire County,England, to Maryland where he died in Queen Annes County in 1709. (Seethe QUARTERLY of March 1971, Whole No. 73 [pp.1371-89] and that ofDecember 1991, Whole No. 160 [pp.4025-34] for articles devoded to theimmigrant, William Sparks, died 1709.) Following is a chart showing therelationship between the two men named Joel Sparks. Both named sonsJoel, adding to possible confusion.

William Sparks, immigrant, died 1709

_________________________________________________|______________________________________
| |
William Sparks Jr. brothers JosephSparks
died ca.1734 died 1749
| |
William Sample Sparks first cousins SolomonSparks
died ca.1765 died abt 1790
| |
William Sparks 2nd cousins John Sparks
died 1800/01 died 1840/41
| |
Matthew Sparks 3rd cousins Joel Sparks
died 1819 died 1849
| |
Joel Sparks 3rd cousin once removed of |
died 1861--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Joel Sparks died 1849 -------------------------------------|

In the QUARTERLY of December 1955, Whole No. 12, beginning on page 95,appeared a transcription of the pension application of John Sparks(1753-1740/41). He made application for a pension based on his servicein the American Revoluon under the Congressional Act of 1832 authorizingsuch pensions. He appeared on October 31, 1832, before the Wilkes CountyCourt of Pleas & Quarter Sessions where the clerk of that court, R.Martin, wrote the application for John to sign. This document, withaffidavits signed by Reuben Sparks and Samuel Johnson supporting John’sclaim of service, was published in full in the issue of the QUARTERYcited above. It begins;
On this 30th day of October 1832 personally appeared in open Courtbefore
the Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions of the County of Wilkes &State of
North Carolina, now setting, John Sparks, Esquire, a resident of theCounty
of Wilkes & State of North Carolina. aged seventy-nine years, whobeing
first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath, make thefollowing
declaration, in order to obtain the benefit ofthe Act of Congresspassed June 7th 1832.

That he was born on the 25th dayof February 1753 in the County of
Rowan in the State of North Carolina, where he lived until heremoved with
his father to what is now Wilkes (then Surry) County, N.C. about theyear
1772. He resided in Wilkes until the commencement of theRevolution, and
about the year 1775 or 1776 he volunteered himself and entered theservice
of the United States in Captain Jesse Walton’s company of minute menwho
had volunteered for two years....

In his application, John Sparks described in considerable detail thenature of his service that involved primarily fighting the Indians andthe Loyalists, in N.C. He closed his application as follows:

The capture of Lord Cornwallis being considered the closing scene ofthe
war, this deponent was not again called upon to perform any otherservice.
He has no documentary evidence to prove his service, nor neverreceived a
written discharge that he has any recolletion of. He refers to aCaptain
Samuel Johnson as a witness who can testify to part of hisservices. And he
also refers to Captain Samuel Johnson and Reuben Sparks as persons to
whom he is will acquainted in his neighborhood, and who can testifyas to his
character for veracity , and their belief of his services. ThisDeponent has
no record of his age, but the information herein given on thatsubject was
derived from his mother many years ago, and he believes it to becorrect.

The Reuben Sparks who, with Samuel Johnson, signed affidavits supportingJohn Sparks's application, was actually John's son, born in 1799.Following is a list of the 11 children of John and Sarah (Shores) Sparksreprinted from page 2272 of the March 1981 Issue of the QUARTERLY, WholeNo. 113.:

1. Levi Sparks, born October 2, 1778, died October 12, 1851; married(1st) ----- Walsh; married (2nd) Sarah Lyon; appeared on the followingcensuses:. 1810 and 1820 of Wilkes County, North Carolina; 1830, 1840,and 1850 census of Lawrence County, Kentucky.

2. Robert Sparks, probably born about 1782, died probably about 1815;married Margaret Pigg about 1804.

3. Mary Sparks, probably born about 1782, probably died about 1855;married Robert Bauguess, probably about 1801.

4. Joel Sparks, probably born about 1784; died in December 1849 inWilkes County, North Carolina; married Nancy Blackburn in 1814; appearedon the 1820, 1830, and 1840 censuses of Wilkes County, and on the 1850Mortality Schedule of deaths In Wilkes County between June 1, 1849, andMay 31,1850.

5. John Sparks, Jr., probably born about 1785, probably died about1865; married Mary Fields, probably about 1815; appeared on the 1820,1830, 1840, and 1860 censuses of Wilkes County, North Carolina.

6. An unidentified daughter of John and Sarah (Shores) Sparks was bornabout 1887.

7. Solomon Sparks, born about 1790; probably died about 1860; married(1st) ----- ----- probably about 1811; married (2nd) Judah or Julia A.-----, probaby about 1824. Appeared on the 1820 census of Wilkes County,North Carolina, and the 1850 census of Cherokee County, North Carolina.

8. Sarah Sparks, born about 1792; died after 1860; married WilliamAlexander on March 18, 1820; appeared on the 1850 and 1860 censuses ofWilkes County, North Carolina.

9. George Sparks, born November 9, 1796, died May 11, 1879; married(1st) a Miss Mainer or Maynard, probably about 1815; married (2nd) NancyShort on August 6, 1822; appeared on the 1830 and 1850 censuses ofLawrence County, Kentucky, and on the 1860 census of Carter County,Kentucky.

10. Reuben Sparks, born September 26, 1799, died March 9, 1878;married Phoebe Blackburn on October 10, 1828; appeared on the 1830, 1840,1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses of Wilkes County, North Carolina.

11. Colby Sparks, born about 1801, died 1869; married Sarah Pruitt onDecember 28, 1822; appeared on the 1830, 1840, 1850, and 1860 censuses ofWilkes County, North Carolina.

A confusing factor in our early research on John Sparks was that hisservice in the Revolutionary War, supported by his pension application,had been used by a descendant of an entirely different John Sparks inSouth Carolina and Georgia to gain membership in the Daughters of theAmerican Revolution. This was eventually corrected by the D. A. R. Forinformation regarding the John Sparks of South Carolina, later Georgia,and his family, see the QUARTERLY of March 1989, (Whole No. 145,beginning on page 3380). This John Sparks had been born on February 27,1755, according to his family Bible now in the hands of a descendant. Asa young man, he lived in Newberry County, South Carolina. He was relatedto (probably a son of) Zachariah Sparks. Zachariah Sparks died during theRevolutionary War in Laurens County, South Carolina (see the QUARTERLY ofSeptember 1961,Whole No. 35, pp.569-575). John Sparks was married toMargaret Hampton on January 13, 1779. In 1795, John and Margaret Sparksmoved to Washington County, Georgia, where he died in 1820. They were theparents of 11 children.

John Sparks of Wilkes County, North Carolina, and his wife, Sarah(Shores) Sparks, were the parents of 11 children, as were the John andMargaret (Hampton) Sparks of South Carolina and Georgia. As shown in thelist of children for John and Sarah given above, their fifth child wasJoel Sparks, born about 1784, and died in 1849, in Wilkes County, NorthCarolina. Joel was married in Wilkes County to Nancy Blackburn in 1814.(Their marriage bond was dated July 27, 1814, as we noted at thebeginning of this article, page 5754.) Both Joel and Nancy spent the restof their lives in the Traphill community of Wilkes County where theyreared their eight children, including their son, Robert Sparks, subjectof the preceding article. It was on September 25, 1849, that Joel madehis will. The original, bearing his signature, has been preserved amongthe court records of Wilkes County now at the North Carolina StateArchives in Raleigh. The original spelling in this document has beenretained in this transcription.

[Will of Joel Sparks, September 25, 1849]
I Joel Sparks of the County of Wilkes and State of North Carolina. Beingof
sound mind and memory, but considering the uncertainty of my earthly
existance do make and declare this my last Will and testement in mannerand
form following that is to say:

First that Executors hearin after named, Shall provide for my body adecent
burial suitable to the wishes of my relatives and friendsand pay allfunderal
expenses, together with my just debts howsomeever and
to whomsoever owing, out of the money that may first come into his handsas
a part or parsel of my estate. Item--I give and Devise to my Beloved wife
Nancy Sparks all my land whare on I now live Containing one hundred andten
acres during her natural life or widowhood. and at the death of my wife or
marage I give and Devise said land to my youngest son Hugh Sparks who is a
miner seventeen years old the said one hundred and ten acres of Land to
have and to hold to him and his heirs in fee simple for evir. Item I giveand
Devise to my wife Nancy Spark all my stock of every kind to be hers during
her natural life or widowhood also all my house hold and kitchen furniture
and at her decease or marage I give and Devis the said Stock household and
ketchin furniture to my youngest son Hugh Sparks for ever: Now tharefor
my will and desire is that my Brother Ruben Sparks is hereby constituted
and appointed guardin of my son to have and hold the custody and
guardinship of his respective person and estate untill he the said Hugh
Sparks arrive at full age of twenty one years.

I do hereby constitute and appoint my trusty friend Ruben Sparks my lawful
executor to all intents and purposes to excute this my last Will and
testament according to the true intent and meaning of the same and every
part and every caues thereof--hereby revoking and declaring utterly voidall
other Wills and testaments by me made heretofore. In witness whareof I
the said Joel Sparks do hereunto set my hand and seale September this 25
day of A.D. 1849

[signed]Joel Sparks (Seal)

signed sealed published and declared by the Joel Sparks to be his lastWill
and Testament in presents of us, who do at his request in his presentsand In
the presents of eachother, do subscribe our names as Witnesses thereto.

[signed]George W. Sparks Jr.

Lewis W. Sparks

Below is a Photocopy of the Final Sentence of Joel Sparks's Will, WithHis Signature

(View photocopy in Joel's scrapbook)

Reuben (or Ruben) Sparks, brother of Joel whom he named as executor ofhis estate, had been born on September 26, 1799; he died on March 9,1878. He was thus some 15 years younger than Joel; he was married inWilkes County in 1828 to Phoebe Blackburn, and they were the parents offive children: (1) George Washington Sparks, born 1829; (2) LewisWilliams Sparks, born 1831; (3) Sarah Sparks, born 1837; (4) John Sparks,born 1841; and (5) William C. Sparks, born 1843.

The two oldest sons of Reuben Sparks served as witnesses for their uncle,Joel Sparks, when he signed his will in 1849. George W. Sparks and hisyounger brother, John, joined the Confederate Army and both were killedduring the Civil War. The son of Reuben and Phoebe named William C.Sparks joined the Union Army. For more information on the family ofReuben and Phoebe, see the QUARTERLY of December 1955 (Whole No. 12,pp.103-04). Photographs of this couple appeared on the cover of thisDecember 1955 QUARTERLY.

When the 1850 census was taken, for which census takers were instructedto list all free persons living on June 1, 1850, a “Mortality Schedule”was also compiled of residents of each county who had died during theprevious year, i.e., between June 2, 1849, and May 31, 1850. The“Mortality Schedule” for Wilkes County, North Carolina, in 1850 includedJoel Sparks. He had died during the month of "December 1849 from Dropsy,age 64."

On the 1850 census of Wilkes County, Nancy Sparks, widow of Joel, wasshown as 59 years old; Joel's farm, now owned by Nancy, was valued on thecensus at $600. Living with her was her son, Hugh Sparks, age 17,"Farmer." Nancy's brother-in-law, Reuben Sparks, age 50, and his wife and5 children, were enumerated on the 1850 census just above Nancy,suggesting that their farms probably adjoined. Reuben's land was valuedat $800.

Joel and Nancy (Blackburn) Sparks were the parents of nine children.

SPARKS QUARTERLY, September 1961; Whole Number 35 at page 579:

SPARKSES IN THE WAR OF 1812 - BOUNTY LAND AND PENSIONAPPLICATIONS.

"Joel Sparks, born prior to 1793, died about 1861, of Surry County,North Carolina, and Bates County, Missouri. Bounty Land File BL Reg. 207286-1855.

"On August 13, 1855, Joel Sparks of Bates County, Missouri, appliedfor bounty land under the Congressional Act of March 3, 1855. He statedthat he was 62 years of age (although from records it would appear thathe must have been several years older than this) and that he had servedas a private in Capt. Witcher's Company in a regiment of North CarolinaMilitia commanded by a Co. Adkinson in the War of 1812; that he wasdrafted at Surry County, N.C., in the fall of 1814 for the term of 6months, but tha the served only 14 days; that he was honorably dischargedat Hillsborough, N.C., on or about Dec. 1, 1814. He signed theapplication a s "Joel Sparks"; the witnesses were Mrs. M. Briseve andGeo. C. Pulliam. Squire G. Allen signed as a justice of the peace. TheTreasury Department reported that no record could be found of JoelSparks' s service.

"In 1857 Joel Sparks asked that his application be re-examined and hesubmitted as proof of his service a statement made on March 27, 1857 , byhis brother William Sparks of Cooper County, Missouri. This documentreads as follows:

"State of Missouri, County of Cooper: On this 27th day of March AD1857, personally appeared before me the Clerk of the County Court withinand for the County of Cooper aforesaid, William Sparks who having been byme first duly sworn on his oath states that ---(a fold in the paper hasmade this line illegible) sixty seven years--who was a private in theCompany commanded by Captain Witcher, in the 13th Regiment of the NorthCarolina Militia, Commanded by Col. Atkinson in the war with GreatBritain, declared by the United States on the 18th day of June, 1812;that he was drafted on or about the month of July AD 181 (sic) for thetime of six months and continued in actual service in said War for theterm of more than fourteen days.

"This affiant further states that at the time he was drafted asaforesaid and in the County of Surry and State of North Carolina, hisbrother Joel Sparks--whose claim No. 207 286 for bounty land is said tobe suspended - was drafted and to the Certain Knowledge of this affiantserved as a private in the same Company same Regiment and same war for aperiod of more than fourteen days. And that whilst said service wasbeing performed by said Joel Sparks as aforesaid, he said Joel, became sodisabled on account of a rising in left leg near ancle as to be unable tocontinue in said service. And that on account of said disability saidJoel Sparks was honorable discharged by said Commander of said Regiment.This affiant was present and saw said Joel Sparks honorably dischargedfor the reason aforesaid, in the town of Hillsboro in Orange County andState of North Carolina, and that he saw the said discharge afterwards inthe possession of said Joel Sparks, and that he has no interest in theclaim of said Joel Sparks for bounty land. And further this affiantsaith not. (signed) William Sparks." This statement was sworn to beforeHenry C. Levens, Clerk of the County Clerk, who certified that "I havelong known the said William Sparks personally and that he is a credibleperson."

"Another document that Joel Sparks submitted with his request that hisapplication be reconsidered, was a sworn statement by his daughter, NancyAshcraft, who appeared before A. S. Pulliam, a justice of the peace ofCass County, Missouri, on April 11, 1857. The document read as follows:

"On this 11th day of April AD 1857, personally appeared before me A.S. Pulliam a Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Cass, andState of Missouri, Nancy Ashcraft who having been by me first duly swornon her oath Stats, that she is the oldest child of Joel Sparks and thatShe is forty Eight or nine years of age, that she was Knowing to herFather Joel Sparks Enlisting in the war with Great Britton declared bythe United States, 18th of June 1812 for the term of six months, she doesnot no how long he Continued in the servis. This Affeant further Statesat the time her Farther Joel Sparks Enlisted that he lived in the Countyof Surry in State of North Carolina and that she has frequently saw herfather's Discharge and that she has no Interest in the Claim of said JoelSparks for Bounty Land." Nancy Ashcraft signed this statement by mark.

"On May 16, 1857, the Treasury Department re-examined the bounty claimof Joel Sparks but reported that, whereas the name of William Sparks wason the Roll of Capt. John Witcher's Company of North Carolina Militia ashaving served from November 28, 1814 until Feb. 22, 1815, the name ofJoel Sparks did not appear, and he did not receive bounty land.

"(Editor's Note: Joel Sparks was a son of Matthew and Eunice Sparksof Surry County, North Carolina, and a (great) grandson of William SampleSparks who came from Frederick County, Maryland, to North Carolina about1760. Matthew Sparks, father of Joel, made his will in Surry County onMarch 26, 1819; he named his children as: (1) Joel Sparks; (2) GeorgeSparks; (3) Matthew Sparks, Jr.; (4) William Sparks; (5) John Sparks; (6)Nancy Smith; (7) Sally Bray; (8) Peggy West. Joel Sparks, who appears tohave been Matthew's oldest son, was married twice. By his first wife,whose name we have not found, Joel Sparks is said to have had ninechildren; the following are known to have been among these nine: Nancy,who married ---Ashcraft; John C. Sparks, born 1815; William W. Sparks,born about 1817; and Joel Sparks, Jr., born 1824.

"Prior to 1850, Joel Sparks moved to Lafayette County, Missouri; by1855 he was living in Bates County, Missouri. His first wife died inSurry County, N.C., prior to 1846, and as his second wife, he married inWilkes County, N.C., Mary Shatley. The marriage bond for this secondmarriage is dated Nov. 23, 1846. By his second wife, Joel Sparks hadthree sons : Andrew J. Sparks, born about 1848, David Francis Sparks,born about 1849 and Solomon Sparks, born about 1851.)

SPARKS QUARTERLY, Whole Number 148. On the cover at page 3483 is aphotograph of Richard M. Sparks, born May 4, 1829 in Surry County, NorthCarolina, died April 17, 1893, at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. He was a sonof William D. Sparks (who was Joel's brother) and a grandson of MatthewSparks. Thus he was a nephew of Joel.

On pgs. 3794-5 Matthew is mentioned in a lengthly article about hisfather William (199): "Matthew Sparks, born in Frederick County,Maryland, ca.1752. His name first appeared in a Surry County, NorthCarolina, tax list dated 1774 as a poll in his father's household. Hewas married about 1775 to Eunice ---(345), whose nickname was " Nicy"also "Unicy." They remained in that part of Surry County that was cutoff to form Yadkin County in 1850. Matthew made his will on March 26,1819, and died before May 1820. His wife lived until about 1837/1838.Their children were ...(4) Joel Sparks, born ca. 1784. He was marriedtwice; we have not learned the name of his first wife; he was married toMary Shatley in 1846. He died in Missouri (probably in Bates Co.)ca.1861.

(On page 50, Whole Number 8, December 1954, is an article by Oral A.Sparks, father of Melva Sparks who is the wife of Russell Bidlack, Editorof the SPARKS QUARTERLY. He traces her lineage back thusly: Melva,Oral, John Garland Sparks, Joel Sparks, Jr., Joel Sparks (346). ThusMelva Sparks is a 5th cousin of James J. Sparks. Our common ancestor isWilliam Sparks (IV) 199, our 4G Grandfather.)

****************************

See theSparks Quarterly, June, 2000, pp 5363-65:

Joel Sparks, Matthew and Eunice Sparks's first son, was born in SurryCounty, North Carolina (in the part that would become Yadkin County in1850), about 1784. His age appears at different times on several extantdocuments, but it seems to have been recorded incorrectly on mostoccasions. When all the possible years of his birth are considered, it isthe belief of this writer that he was born about 1784. On the 1850census, his age was given by the census taker as 62, which would placehis birth in or about 1788. On August 13, 1855, however, when Joelapplied for bounty land based on his service in the War of 1812, hestated then, also, that he was 62 years of age, which would place hisbirth in or about 1793. (See the QUARTERLY of September 1961, Whole No.35, pp.579-SO, for an abstract of his bounty land application; see alsopage 5383 of the present issue for the affidavit of Joel's brother,William D. Sparks, in an attempt to help Joel obtain land.) On the 1860census, his age was recorded as only 65, which would mean that he hadbeen born in or about 1795. A son of Joel by his second wife, AndrewJackson Sparks, who was borri in 1848, was quoted in The History ofJohnson County, Missouri published in 1881, p.733, as having stated thatJoel had been 87 years old when he died In 1861. If true, this would havemeant he was born in 1774. The fact that Joel had been married in 1846 tohis second wife, who was much younger than himself. may help to accountfor his age discrepan cies in these sources.

Joel Sparks, son of Matthew and Eunice Sparks, has been confused bysome of his descendants with his third cousin, once removed, who was alsonamed Joel Sparks and lived, also, In the Surry/Wilkes Counties area.

This other Sparks named Joel, who was born about 1784, was a son ofJohn and Sarah (Shores) Sparks, and a grandson of Solomon and SarahSparks. He was married in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in 1814(marriage bond and license dated July 27, 1814) to Nancy Blackburn. Hedied in December 1850 in Wilkes County, and in his will he named hischildren as Richmond, Malinda, Nancy, Robert, Joel, Mittie, and Hugh.(See the QUARTERLY of December 1955, pp.97-104 for further information onthis branch of the Sparks family.)

The following diagram shows the relationship of these two JoelSparkses in their descent from the immigrant from England named WilliamSparks who died in Queen Annes County, Maryland, in 1709:

William Sparks, died 1709

______________________I_________________________
|| ||
William Sparks, Jr. Brothers Joseph Sparks
died ca. 1734 died 1749
|| ||
William Sample Sparks 1st Cousins Solomon Sparks
died ca.1765 died ca 1790
|| ||
William Sparks 2nd Cousins John Sparks
died 1800/01 died 1840
|| ||
Matthew Sparks 3rd Cousins Joel Sparks
died 1819 died 1850
||
Joel Sparks 3rd cousin, onceremoved
died 1861 from Joel Sparks whodied
in 1850

We give here only a brief sketch of the life of Joel Sparks, son ofMatthew and Eunice Sparks; a more extended account will appear in a laterissue of the QUARTERLY.

Joel Sparks, son of Matthew and Eunice Sparks, was married twice. We havenot succeeded in positively
identifying his flrst wife's name and parentage, but we have asignificant clue that will be discussed in an article about him plannedfor the future. His first wife died prior to 1846. In 1846 he wasmarried, second, to Mary Shatley in Wilkes County, North Carolina. (Themarriage bond and license were dated November 23, 1846; the bondsman wasJohn Shatley.)

Joel and Mary (Shatley) Sparks moved to Missouri shortly after they weremarried and were living in Lafayette County, Missouri, when the 1850census was taken. They were living in Cass County, Missouri, however,when he applied for bounty land based on his service in the War of 1812.(His application was not successful, however, because he had beendischarged resulting from a "sore leg" and his name did not appear on theroster of his company at the time of its discharge on February 22, 1815.Furthermore, his written discharge had been lost, so he had no proof ofhis service.)

When the 1860 census was taken, Joel and his second family were living inMingo Township in Bates County, Missouri. According to a publishedbiographical sketch of a son by his second wife, Andrew Jackson Sparks,Joel Sparks died in 1861. Because of the complete destruction of propertyand records in Bates County in 1863, following the issuance of UnionGeneral Ewing's famous "Order #11," we cannot verify Joel's date of deathin any Bates County record. Following is a brief identification of someof the ten children of Joel Sparks and his first wife: (For thisinformation see each child's sheet.]

SQ 101: "Joel Sparks, born about 1825; married 1846, Charlotte Durham."

SQ 606: See the census of Wilkes County, North Carolina -- 1850 Census,P. 276, 368-368 for Joel Sparks, 28; Charlotte, 24; Caroline, 4; George,2; and Nancy, 1. They are living near their uncle, Reubin Sparks.

**********

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 1971, Whole No. 76, p.1453 where thefollowing was taken from an article relating to a pension applicationfiled by his son, Andrew J. Sparks:

(Andrew J. Sparks was a son of Joel and Charlotte (Durham) Sparks and agrandson of Joel Sparks, Jr., and his wife, Nancy (Blackburn) Sparks.His great-grandfather was John Sparks (born February 25, 1753) who servedin the American Revolution. For a record of this family, see theQUARTERLY of December 1955, Vol. III, No. 14, Whole No. 12, pp. 97-104.Andrew J. Sparks’s father, Joel Sparks, was born about
1826 - - he was a brother of the Robert Sparks who was the subject of asketch in the QUARTERLY of September 1970, Vol. XVIII, No, 3, Whole No,71, pp. 1346-1490 Joel Sparks married Charlotte Durham in Wilkes County,N.C., the marriage bond being dated June 21, 1846. From census records,it appears that Joel and Charlotte (Durham) Sparks were the parents ofthe following children:
(1) Caroline Sparks, born about 18)46
(2) George W. Sparks, born about 18148
(3) Nancy Sparks, born about 1850
(4) Andrew J. Sparks, born about 1852 (the applicant f or a pension)
(5) Julia Sparks, born about 1853
(6) Martha Sparks, born about 185)4
(7) Dovia (or Dovey) Sparks, born about 1855
(8) Joel Sparks, born about 1857
(9) Mary J. Sparks, born about 1859
(10) William Sparks, born about 1862

(Charlotte, wife of Joel Sparks and mother of the applicant for apension, died prior to 1870, at least she was not listed with the familywhen the 1870 census was taken. We have no record of Andrew J. Sparkshaving married.)

*********************************************

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, September 2002, Whole No. 200, p. 5760-61:

Joel Sparks, Jr. was born about 1826. He was married in 1846 to CharlotteDurham (marriage bond dated June 21, 1846, with James Durham
as Joel’s bondsman). Charlotte, whose name was spelled "Charloty" on themarriage bond, was a daughter of John Durham. In the latter’s
will probated in Wilkes County in July 1863, she was identified as one ofhis four daughters. . . Charlette wife of Joel Sparks.” This Joel Sparks,Jr.
should not be confused with the Joel Sparks, Jr., born in May 1824, sonofJoel Sparks, Sr. and a grandson of Matthew and Eunice Sparks. (See the
QUARTERLY of June 2000, Whole No. 190, pp.5363-67, for information on theJoel Sparks, Sr., son of Matthew and Eunice, including page 5366 for
this Joel’s son, Joel Sparks, Jr. 1824-1862. This Joel, Jr. was marriedin Wilkes County to Almyra Lane in 1844 and thereafter moved toMissouri.) He volunteered to serve in the Missouri Mifitia at thebeginning of the Civil War and was mortally wounded as a Union soldierduring the Battle of Lone Jack in Jackson County, Missouri, on August 16,1862.

When the 1860 census of Wilkes County, North Carolina, was taken, JoelSparks, Jr., son of Joel and Nancy (Blackburn) Sparks, and his family were
enumerated in Traphill Township. His age was given as 36 and Charlotte’sas 34. Their nine children shown on that census were: (1) CarolineSparks, 14; (2) George W. Sparks, 12; (3) Nancy Sparks, 10; (4) Andrew J.Sparks, 9; (5) Julia Sparks, 7; (6) Martha Sparks, 5; (7) Livia Sparks,3; (8) Joel Sparks, 2; and (9) Mary J. Sparks, 11 months. The householdof Richmond Sparks, Joel, Jr.'s uncle, was enumerated immediatelyfollowing that of Joel, Jr.

"Sometime between 1850 and 1860, Solomon Sparks moved to Carter County,,Kentucky, probably to be near his numerous relatives in that area,including his brothers, George and Levi. He stayed there about threeyears, but returned to his former home near Warne, North Carolina. Heapparently died sometime near 1860, and his widow, Judah, went to livewith her son, Joel Sparks, who had married about 1853. Joel moved toOhio about 1865 and when the 1870 census was taken., he and his familywere living near Goshen in Clermont County. With him was his mother,Juda A. Sparks, now aged 66. By 1880, Joel was in Elliott County,Kentucky, and with him was his mother, now aged 76.

"Joel and Mary Jane (Grow) Sparks did not remain long in ElliottCounty, and shortly after the 1880 census was taken they returned toCherokee County, North Carolina. Perhaps the strongest reason for theirleaving Elliott County was the murder of their son, Solomon Sparks, in1879. Solomon was a young man about 24 years old at the time. Asdescribed by a member of the Sparks Family Association, here is how thetragic incident occurred:

"The killing of Solomon Sparks took place about 1879. JoelSparks., who married Mary Jane Grow, had a son, Solomon, born about1855. He was stabbed and killed at a dance on the Little Fork of theLittle Sandy River by one of the Porter boys. The two Porters had chosentheir man to kill. One was to kill Sol Sparks; the other was to killElliott Sparks, son of William Sparks. All lights were suddenlyextinguished; Sol Sparks was killed instantly, and Elliott Sparks wasinjured so badly that he lived only a short time afterwards. After themurder, Joel Sparks moved his family back to Cherokee County, NorthCarolina. "

"The 1850 census of Cherokee County, North Carolina, lists SolomonSparks, aged 60, a farmer, born in North Carolina, with a wife, JuliaSparks, aged 44, also born in North Carolina. Living with Solomon washis son Joel Sparks, aged 22, also a farmer, born in Kentucky. There wasone other Sparks family living in Cherokee County in 185C, Samuel P.Sparks, aged 29, a farmer, born in North Carolina; living with him wasMary Sparks, doubtless his wife, aged 22, also born in North Carolina;also Jeremiah Sparks, aged 5, and Jackson Sparks, aged 1 year, both bornin North Carolina.

"By 1880, Joel Sparks, son of Solomon, was living in Elliott County,Kentucky. He was listed on the census of that year as Joel Sparks, Sr.,aged 55, a farmer, born in North Carolina. Living with him was his wife,Mary Sparks, aged 44, born in North Carolina,, and the following children:
(1) George W. Sparks, aged 23, born in Ohio;
(2) John W. Sparks, aged 14, born in Ohio;
(3) Irena Sparks, aged 20, born in Ohio;and
(4) Julia E. Sparks, aged 1-2, born in Kentucky. Also living withJoel Sparks was his mother, Juda A. Sparks, aged 76, born in NorthCarolina. Note that her name was given as Julia on the 1850 census ofCherokee County, North Carolina.

"Since Joel Sparks was closely related to the Lawrence and ElliottCounties, Kentucky, set of Sparkses--and since this set of Sparksesdescended from John Sparks, the Wilkes County, North Carolina,Revolutionary soldier, it is quite natural to assume that his (Joel's)father, Solomon Sparks, was a brother or closely related to George andLevi Sparks, sons of John, who settled in that section of Kentucky about1820. However, more definite proof will need to be established.)

See the SPARKS QUARTERLY, p. 886 for the following marriage informationfrom Lawrence County, Kentucky, Marriage Bonds (1822- 1865):
Joel Sparks & Eliza J. Adkins, 1863. (Book 5, p. 71)

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, September 1997, Whole No. 179, p 4868:
"Joel Denver Sparks, son of Bill and Polly (Lyon) Sparks, was born onAugust 6, 1842 in Carter County. He served in Company A, 5th RegimentKentucky Infantry, Confederate States Army, for nearly a year beforebeing mustered out. (His widow received a Kentucky Confederate Armypension in 1912.) He then served for a short time in Company A, 68thRegiment Kentucky Militia of the Union Army. (See an abstract of hispension below (and on SQ p 4882).
"On July 16, 1863, Joel Sparks was married to Eliza Jane Adkins inLawrence County. She had been born on February 29, 1845, in CarterCounty and was a daughter of Charity Robinson. According to descendants,her mother was married to a man named Adkins, and Jane (as she wascalled) took her stepfather's name. Joel Sparks was quite active in thegovernment of Elliott County and was elected sheriff in 1878 and countyjudge in 1882. He died near Fielden on March 12, 1936, at Ashland,Kentucky. They were buried in the Johnson Cemetery on Little Fork. Theyhad eleven children."

Here follows and abstract of the pension file of Joel Sparks:

"JOEL DENVER SPARKS, son of William and Mary (Lyon) Sparks, was bornon August 6, 1842, in Carter County, Kentucky. He was married to ElizaJane Adkins on July 16, 1863, in Lawrence County, Kentucky. He served inCompany A, 68th Regiment Kentucky Enrolled Militia. File Designation:Inv. Appl. No. 1,163,084.

"Joel D. Sparks applied for an invalid pension on December 17, 1894,stating that he had served as a sergeant in Company A, 68th RegimentKentucky Enrolled Militia from May 21, 1864, until June 22, 1864. Hismilitary service was confirmed by the War Department on February 12,1895, just as Sparks had stated. Probably it was because of the shorttime of his service that his case appears not to have been consideredfurther. He had enlisted at the age of 31 years.

"Sparks's case was apparently reopened in the fall of 1899, when, onOctober 13th, the War Department again sent a record of his militaryservice to the Bureau of Pensions. In addition to his Federal Armyservice, Sparks had enlisted in Company A, 5th Regiment KentuckyInfantry, Confederate States Army, on December 29, 1861, at Camp Huger,Kentucky. He was reported as the 3rd Sergeant in Ratliff's Company andhad been present for duty until the company had been mustered out atHazel Green, Kentucky, on October 20, 1862.

"On November 14, 1899, Sparks answered a questionnaire from the Bureauof Pensions. He stated that he had been married to Eliza J. Adkins onJuly 16, 1863, at Blaine, Kentucky, by Walter Osburn. Their childrenwere:

William Wallace Sparks, born April 24, 1864
James Washington Sparks, born January 2, 1866
America Virginia Sparks, born March 26, 1867
Milton Elliott Sparks, born May 5, 1868
Ellen Sparks, born January 29, 1871
Verlina Sparks, born November 25, 1873
Robert Nelson Sparks, born January 1, 1876
Nancy V. Sparks, born May 13, 1877
Emma Lee Sparks, born November 5, 1878
Minnie E. Sparks, born June 17, 1880
Bertha May Sparks, born October 29, 1885

"On the same day, Joel Sparks made an affidavit to support his case.He stated that he was 58 years of age and his post office was Stephens,Kentucky. He indicated that he had lived in this community ever sincehis return from the service. He said that in June 1864, as a sergeant inCompany A, 68th Regiment Kentucky Militia, at Louisa, Kentucky, he hadbeen exposed to hot and sultry days and damp and cool nights and had hadan attack of chronic pneumonia. He had been treated by three physicians:Dr. White, Louisa, Kentucky, now dead; Dr. Levi J. Sparks, Blaine,Kentucky, now dead; and Dr. T. W. Hudgeon, Bruin, Kentucky, now dead. Asa result of the pneumonia attacks, he could not perform one half of hisusual manual labor from 1864 until 1882, and since 1882 to the present,he had been unable to perform any manual labor. The affidavit was swornto before John M. Johnson, a notary public.

"Sparks was supported in his claim of illness while in service by hiswife, Eliza J. Sparks, who, on February 8, 1900, made an affidavit thatshe had sent a horse on which to bring her husband home from the service,and that after he arrived at home, he continued to be attacked bypneumonia, with severe and painful coughs which brought on hemorrhagingof the lungs. He had not responded to any treatment by the physicians inattendance.

"Joel Sparks's final request for an invalid pension was made on July12, 1901. He was now 59 years of age and a resident of Elliott County,Kentucky. He appointed
J. B. Cralle & Co. of Washington, D.C., as his attorneys. A. T. Johnsonand
J. I. Waddell witnessed his signature, and the declaration was sworn tobefore John
M. Johnson, a notary public.

"Joel Sparks died on March 26, 1906, and was buried in the JohnsonCemetery on the Little Fork of the Little Sandy River in Elliott County,Kentucky. He never received the pension that he sought."

Apparently Joel lived on the Little Fork for many years as he is foundin the 1870 US Census there as follows:
Joel sparks 28 KY
Eliza 25 KY
Jamima 4 KY
America 3 KY
Milton 2 KY
They are found close by Joels brother Reuben and family and also closeto his brother Isaac and family in North Fork.

SQ pg 3413: They had four children: Linda, Sharon, Steve, and BillySparks. Elwood (as he is called) lives in Florida.

Following is an obituary which was originally printed in the April 17,1924 issue of the "Girard Free Press", Girard, Kansas, and provided by agreatgrandson, Robert W. Sparks of Edmond, Oklahoma:

Death of Joel Franklin Sparks

Joel Franklin Sparks was born in Webb City, Missouri, January 13,1880. He entered the Great Beyond at his home near Radley, Kansas,Monday afternoon, April 14, 1924. He came with his parents to Kansaswhen two years of age, and resided here ever since.
He was united in marriage to Miss Edith Reed and to this union wasborn one son, Wayne.
When 18 years of age he confessed his faith in the Christ and unitedwith the Christian Church at Cherokee. He was a member of the PittsburgU.B.of C. & J. No. 561.
He leaves his companion, son, and mother, Mrs. Antha Mary Sparks,two sisters, Mrs. Martha Kuhn, and Miss Mary Sparks, of Girard, onebrother, William Sparks, of Pittsburg and a number of other relatives andfriends who mourn his departure.
Funeral services were held from the Christian Church in Girard,Wednesday afternoon and interment made in Gerard Cemetery.

SQ p. 2090 (and notes for his brother John C. Sparks: "...the brother ofJohn C. Sparks, Joel Sparks, Jr. who was mortally wounded at the Battleof Lone Jack during the civil war..."

SQ p. 5366:

"Joel Sparks, Jr., son of Joel Sparks and his first wife, was born in May1824. He was married to Almyra Lane in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in1844 (marriage bond dated September 5, 1844). His marriage bond to wedMira (as she was called) must not be confused with that of the JoelSparks, Jr., who was a son of Joel and Nancy (Blackburn) Sparks datedJune 21, 1846, to marry Charlotte Durham, also in Wilkes County.

When the 1850 census was taken, Joel Sparks, Jr., son of Joel Sparks andhis first wife, was living in Wilkes County with his wife and first threechildren, but by 1856 he had moved his family to Johnson County,Missouri, and they were shown there on the 1860 census. Early in August1862, Joel, Jr. volunteered to serve in the Missouri State Militia on theUnion side in the Civil War. Very shortly after his enrollment, withvirtually no military training, he participated in the Battle of LoneJack on August 16, 1862. During the battle, he was mortaily wounded anddied after a few days. When his widow later applied for a pension, sheenclosed pages removed from a small book, perhaps a Testament, on whichJoel, Jr. had recorded the births of their children."

SQ pps 3411-12: They had one child: Paul David Sparks.

SQ p. 3411:

Joel Washington Sparks, son of Fred and Catherine (Kegley) Sparks,was born on November 29, 1875, in Carter County. He was probably namedfor his maternal grandfather, Joel Kegley. He was a grown man when hehelped his parents move to Greenup County. It was probably there that hemet and courted Viola ["Dolly"] Morris, and they were married on April19, 1899, in Ironton, Ohio, just across the Ohio River.
Dolly was born on August 17, 1879, at Kitts Hill, Ohio, and was adaughter of James M. and Mary A. (Murphy) Morris. Joel Sparks died on May17, 1943. Dolly died on December 16, 1982, at the advanced age of 103!They had nine children.

SQ p. 1552: CARTER COUNTY, KENTUCKY, MARRIAGE BONDS (1838-1910)

Copied by Paul E. Sparks

(Note: these are in addition to those recorded on pages 721-722 of theQUARTERLY for March 1963, Whole. No. 141.)

Joel W. Sparks and Dora Bear, February 9, 1903. (Book 10, page 191) Hisage 20; father, J. E. Sparks; mother, Elizabeth Boggs. Her age 18;mother, Rebecca Bear. Witness: Millard Sparks.

*********************

SQ p. 3402:

"Joel Winfield Sparks, son of John Elliott and Lizzie (Boggs) Sparks,was born on August 6, 1882, in Elliott County. He married Dora Bear inCarter County on February 9, 1903. According to the marriage record, hewas 20 years old, and his father was J. E. Sparks and his mother wasElizabeth Boggs. Dora was 18 years old and her mother was Rebecca Bear.The witness was Millard Sparks. Winfield (as he was called) died onAugust 15, 1928. He and Dora had seven children."

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, Mar, 1971, Whole No. 73, pp. 1372-1381:

"JOHN SPARKS (died 1700) as person included in article entitled SPARKSFAMILIES IN KENT, TALBOT AND QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTIES, MARYLAND

"Our earliest record of John Sparks is a deed in Talbot County,Maryland (Book 7, p. 100) dated May 11, 1695, by which he acquired atract of land located on the north side of Chester River in what is nowKent County, although either because of confusion or subsequent changesin boundary lines, it was thought in 1695 to be in Talbot County (nowQueen Anne's County). This tract, consisting of 100 acres, was called"Buck Hill" (sometimes written "Buckshill") and John Sparks acquired itin 1695 from John Salter in exchange for "all those Lotts of land and allthe houses upon the Same whereon the said John Sparks now DwellethScituate, lyeing in West Chester Towne in Chester river in Talbott Co."John sparks signed this deed by mark as "S£" (obviously intended as "SJ",the reverse of his initials, "JS". His wife, Elinore Sparks, also signedthis deed by mark as "X". Elias Robinson and James Nicholson signed aswitnesses.

"It is interesting to note that William Sparks, who died in 1709, alsosold to John Salter a lot which he owned in West Chester in 1691 (TalbotDeed Book 7, p. 53). According to other records, there seems to belittle doubt that John Sparks and William Sparks were brothers. Onewonders whether they may have inherited the lots in West Chester.

"We have found no other reference to "West Chester Town", although itseems probable that it was the western portion of the present Chestertownon the west side of the Chester River in what is now Kent County.Chestertown was created officially in 1706 "in Chester River on aplantation of Mr. Joce's, between Mr. Wilmore's and Edward Walvin'splantation," but it is probable that it existed unoffi- cially a fewyears earlier. (See Frederick Emory's Queen Anne's County, Maryland,Baltimore, 1950, pp. 319-320.) John Salter was a leading citizen of thearea. In 1707, he was appointed a vestryman of St. Paul's Parish, whichincluded all of Queen Anne's County and a portion of Talbot. He was oneof Queen Anne's County's first representatives to the Assembly and in1715, with John Hawkins, recommended that a fine of 12 pounds be imposedupon anyone who should liberate a slave because such action caused otherslaves to become dissatisfied. He was a justice of the court in 1707 andwas a commissioner from Queen Anne's County to purchase and lay out townsin 1706.

"Our next record of John Sparks is his will dated September 2, 1699:(NOTE: This will also appears in the June, 1960, issue of the Quarterly,Whole No. 30, at page 490.)

WILL OF JOHN SPARKS OF QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY,MARYLAND:

In the name of God amen I John Sparks being Sick and Weak in Body butof perfect Sence of mind and memory for the avoinding suits at Law orcontroversies that may happen after my Death do make and ordain anddeclare this to be my Last will and Testament herby Revoaking all willsformerly made as Vizt
1st - I bequeath my Soul into the hands of Almighty God my Saviourhopeing by his precious Blood to obtain Remission and forgiveness of allmy Sins - and my body to be Desently Buried at the Discretion of myExecutrix hereafter named.
2ndly - I give to my Beloved wife Ellinor Sparks after my Just Debtspaid my whole & small (?) estate to her heirs or assignes.
3rdly - I give to my Sons John and George Sparks one hundred acres ofLand Called Bucks hill provided Either of them Comes to Enjoy it.
4thly - I do Constitute and appoint my wife Ellinor Sparks my wholeSole Executrix of this my Last will & Testmt
In wittness hereunto I have Sett my hand and affixed my Sealethe 3 day of September, 1699.

his

Jno SJ Sparks
Signd Seald and Delivrd & Declared mark
to be my Last Will & Testament in the presence of us
Jno. Salter
Thos T. Prestige
Elizab Robinson

"The will of John Sparks was copied for us by William Perry Johnson anumber of years ago from the recorded copy among the Queen Anne's Countyrecords. It is apparent that this was recorded some years after thedeath of John Sparks, because the following statement follows the willitself: On the back of the aforegoing Will was thus Written as follows:

Vizt Janry the 3d 1701 Couty Kent

"Then Came the within named John Salter, Thomas Prestidge, & ElizaRobinson Wittnesses to the Wthin Will and made oath upon the holyEvangelist that they Did See the within John Sparks Signe & Seale theWithin Will and Declare the Same to be his Last Will & Testamt.

"There also appears the statement that John Salter and James Smithwere appointed to make an inventory of the estate of John Sparks. It isinteresting to note that John Salter, with whom John Sparks had tradedproperty in 1695, signed as a witness to his will and was also one ofthose appointed to take the inventory. Perhaps the "Eliza Robinson" whosigned as witness was the wife of Elias Robinson who had witnessed the1695 deed. Since the witnesses appeared in court to testify in theprobate of the will on January 3, 1701, we may assume that John Sparksdied late in the year 1700. Several days or even weeks usually passedbetween a person's death and the probating of his will.

"It should be noted that John Sparks named only two children in hiswill, sons named John and George, neither of whom was living inMaryland. To these sons he left his farm called "Buck Hill" provided"Either of them Comes to Enjoy it." A subsequent document reveals thatboth of those sons were in England.

"Following the death of John Sparks, his farm called "Buck Hill" or"Buckshill" passed into the possession of a nephew of John Sparks namedWilliam Sparks, Jr. There can be little doubt that this William Sparkswas actually the eldest son of William Sparks, Sr., who died in 1709.William Sparks, Jr., was born about 1674 and was living in Queen Anne'sCounty as late as 1730. On March 6, 1710, William Sparks, Jr., and hiswife Margaret sold "Buck Hill" to William Comegys of Kent County (SeeKent County Land Records JS #N, pp. 248-49). That this tract was indeedthe same land mentioned by John Sparks in his will is proved by thestatement in this deed of 1710 that he, William Sparks, Jr., promisedthat he would "for Ever defend the before granted premises to the saidWilliam Comegys his heirs & assigns for Ever against the heirs &successors of John Sparks Deceased, Onckle (i.e. uncle) to the aforenamed William Sparks as alsoe any other person or persons Claiming Rightby heire Ship from the Said John Sparks Deceased..."

"William Comegys, whose father Cornelius Comegys had brought hisfamily to Kent County from the Swedish colony on the Deleware in 1670,had good reason to require William Sparks, Jr. to agree to defend histitle to "Buck Hill," for he surely knew the provisions which John Sparkshad made in his will by which his sons could inherit the property. Thesesons, John and George Sparks back in England, did indeed still claimtheir right to their father's land, as is proved by a document datedOctober 23, 1716, written in England and recorded in Kent County. (SeeKent Co. Land Records BC #1, pp. 181-83.) It reads as follows:

John and George Sparks, 1717
TO ALL XPIAN PEOPLE to whom these presents shall come. John Sparks ofthe Burrough of Christchurch Twyneham in the County of Southson in theKingdom of England Butcher Eldest Son and heire and devisee of JohnSparks late of Chester River in Kent County in Maryland in Virginiadecs'd and George Sparks of the Burrough of Christchurch Twynehamaforesaid Glover one other of the Sons and devisees of the said JohnSparks deceased Send Greeting whereas the said John Sparks ...and GeorgeSparks are ... lawfully constituted to one hundred acres of Land calledBuckhill Lying in Chester River in Kent County ... and whereas by reasonof the remoteness of Said Land they ... are minded are minded andintended to dispose of the Same Now know that (they have)... madeconstituted and appointed and in their (stead) ...their true and trustyfriend Hugh Arbuthnot of Weymouth in the County of Dorst in ye Kingdom ofEngland Mariner their and either of their true and lawful attorney ...and in their .. names act for them... to sell and Dispose of to anyperson and persons whatsoever and for Such consideration andconsiderations as to him Shall Seem meet all and every the Said Landscalled Buckhill...and upon Such Sale.. to Sign Seale and deed to deliverand also for them... to appear in ... every proper court in Virginia afdand also to do all ... Lawfull Act ...for the Strengtheningcorroborateing and confirming as well ...the Title of the Said Land toSuch Purchasors.... Signed John Sparks; George Sparks.
Sealed and delivered in presence of John Lester, Esq Mayor of the Townand County of Pool in the Kingdom of England who in testimony of hath inthe margin of these presence affixed the common Seale of the Said Townand County. Signed John Lestor, Mayor

"Thus it was that John and George Sparks, residents of what is nowcalled the County of Hampshire, England, the sons of John Sparks who diedin 1700, attempted in 1716 to gain ownership of their father's estatecalled "Buck Hill." They authorized their "true and trusty friend, HughArbuthnot", a sailor, to attempt to sell the land for them. It is alsointeresting to note that one of the witnesses to their drawing up thispower of attorney in England was a man named Robert Robertson, who fivemonths later appeared before the court in Kent County, Maryland, to swearthat "he did See John Sparks and George Sparks Signe and Seal" thedocument. (It should be kept in mind that under the Julian Calendar,used in England and Colonial America until 1752, the new year began onMarch 25; thus when Robert Robertson appeared before the Hent CountyCourt on March 19, it was still 1716 according to the Julian Calendar.However, other European countries had long before adopted the GregorianCalendar, with the new year falling on January 1, and many Englishmen andAmericans considered January 1 as New Year's Day long before 1752. Notethat the clerk who recorded the above document on March 21, gave the yearas 1717 while two days before when Robertson appeared in cour hisstatement was dated March 19, 1716.)

"It is interesting to speculate regarding the connection of RobertRobertson with the Sparks family. He was in England when John and GeorgeSparks signed their power of attorney and he obviously carried thedocument from England to Maryland. It is known that a Robert Robertsonwas a warden of St. Paul's Parish, Kent County, in 1704.

"Although we have no further record of the attempt of John and GeorgeSparks to gain possession of and sell their father's farm, it can beassumed that their "lawful attorney", Hugh Arbuthnot, failed in hismission because their father, John Sparks, had made it a condition in hiswill that one of his sons would actually have to come to Maryland inorder to inherit "Buck Hill."

"The above document should prove an important link between this branchof the Sparks family of Maryland and their origin in England. Aprofessional genealogist, Mr. C. R. Humphrey-Smith, has done somepreliminary research for us. He reports that the Burrough ofChristchurch Twyneham, which John and George Sparks gave as theirresidence in 1716, is in fact Christchurch near Bournemouth in Hampshire.

("Southson" is an abbreviation of Southamptonshire, now known asHampshire.) The mariner Hugn Arbuthnott, whose residence was given as"Weymouth in the County of Dorst," was a resident of the county ofDorset, where indeed the port of Weymouth is located. One wonders howArbuthnott became a "trusty friend" of John and George Sparks and one istempted to speculate that members of the Sparks family may have beensailors, although in 1716 John was a butcher and George was a glovemaker.

"Mr. Humphrey-Smith reports that there exist four volumes of parishregisters for Christchurch in Hampshire, but the volume covering theyears 1643 to 1681 is no longer extant. This is most unfortunate becausethis was the period during which William Sparks (who died in 1709) andJohn Sparks (who died in 1700) were probably born. Mr. Humphrey-Smithhas noted an entry in the register dated March 16, 1686/87 records thedeath of William Sparkes, son of John Sparkes, by drowning.

"Further research among the records of the county of Hampshire maywell reveal the origins of this branch of the Sparks family." END OFARTICLE.

See The SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1971, Whole No. 73, pg. 1389:

"Children of William and Mary Sparks:
...John Sparks, born about 1680. Prior to 1704 he married Cornelia---. He died April 19, 1737, and Cornelia died December 22, 1737 . Theywere the parents of ten children: William; George; John Jr. ;Millington; Absalom; Caleb; Sarah; Mary; Rachel; and Cornelia."

See The SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 1974, Whole No. 88, page 1699:

HAVE WE FOUND THE PARENTS OF ELIJAH SPARKS OF EARLYINDIANA?

"The June 1973 issue of THE SPARKS QUARTERLY (Vol. XXI, No. 2, Who leNo. 82), pg 1556 was devoted to an article about Elijah Sparks of earlyIndiana. Part of the article was concerned with the lack of knowledge asto the place of his birth and as to his parentage. Contemporaries hadgiven conflicting testimony as to his place of birth , some saying thathe was born in Queen Anne's County, Virginia (there was no such county inVirginia) while others stated that he had been born in Frederick County,Virginia. None could tell who his parents were. It now appears fromdata recently uncovered that Elijah Sparks was born in Queen Anne'sCounty, Maryland and that his parents were Absolom and Elizabeth (Brown)Sparks.

"Absalom Sparks was born in the early part of the 1700's, probablyabout 1720, and was a son of John and Cornelia (---) Sparks of QueenAnne's County, Maryland, and a grandson of William and Mary Sparks whocame to Maryland about 1670, probably from County Hampshire, England.William Sparks died in 1709 in Queen Anne's County and left a will inwhich he named his children, including his son, John Sparks. (See theMarch 1971 issue of the SPARKS QUARTERLY, Vol. XIX, No . 1, Whole No. 73,for a fuller account of William and Mary Sparks.]

"John Sparks, father of Absalom, was born about 1680, probably inTalbot County, Maryland. Prior to 1704, he married Cornelia ---. Hermaiden name was very probably Curtis for in 1704 she and her husband,John Sparks, acted as adminis- trators of the estate of Caleb Curtis inneighboring Kent County, Deleware. Caleb Curtis was very likely herfather or brother.

"Like his father, John Sparks was a parishoner of St. Luke's Churchlocated at Church Hill in Queen Anne's County, and it was there that manyof the births and marriages of his family were recorded. "By hisfather's will, John Sparks inherited a tract of land which his father hadpurchased from John Hamer. John (Sparks's) father realized that thetitle to the land might prove to be faulty, so he provided for analternate inheritance if that proved to be the case. Undoubtedly, thetitle was not valid, for in March 1716, John Sparks and his brother,William Sparks, returned the land to Hamer. William Sparks rebought theland from Hamer at a later date.

"John Sparks was involved in three more land transactions prior to hisdeath. In 1715, he and his wife, Cornelia, were granted a tract of 100acres from Charles Carroll, agent for Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore,Proprietor of the Province of Maryland. The land was on he south sideof Southeast Branch of the Chester River about one-half mi le aboveSyberry's Branch. (JS: See note under William, his brother) It wasgranted to John Sparks for his natural lifetime, or for the naturallifetime of his wife, Cornelia, or for the natural lifetime of his son,John Sparks, Jr.

"The second transaction came in 1722 when John Sparks bought back 200acres of land which his brothers, George Sparks and Joseph Sparks, hadinherited from their father, but which they sold to Augustine Thompson in1719. The tracts were called "Sparks Choice" and "Sparks Enclosure."

"The final land transaction was made in 1733 when John and CorneliaSparks sold a lot in Ogles Town for 565 pounds of tobacco. Ogles Townwas authorized by the Maryland Assembly in 1732 and was to be erected onthe south side of the Southeast Branch at its mouth. There is no traceof the village today. We have not learned how the lot became theproperty of John and Cornelia Sparks.

"John Sparks made his will in 1731 and after his death on April 19,1737, the will was entered into court for probate on May 24, 1737. Hereis the full text:

THE LAST WILL OF JOHN SPARKS OF QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY,MARYLAND

"In the name of God Amen. I, John Sparkes, of Queen Anne's County andProvince of Maryland, Planter, being sick and weak but of sound mind andperfect memory and not knowing how long it may please God to call me Doemake ordain & publish this to be my last Will & Testament.

"First and Principally I Bequeath my Soul to Almighty God my Creat or& merciful Redeemer and my Body to the Earth to be buried in a Christianlike manner by my executors hereafter named and as for the Worldly Goodsit had pleased God to bless me with I Devise Bequeath and Dispose of inmanner & form following after my just debts are duly paid.

"Item. I give and bequeath unto my five sons George, John,Millington, Absalom and Caleb my three tracts of land viz: one called"Sparkes Inclosure" containing 195 acres, "Sparkes Choice" containing 100acres & 100 acres lying in his Lordships Mannor in Queen Anne's County onthe southeast branch of Chester River the whole containing 395 acres tobe equally divided between them & their heirs and assigns forever.

"My will is that my loving wife Cornelia Sparkes have the use of mydwelling Plantation and Appurtenances thereto belonging to her Widowhood& no longer, as also the use of my Negro man Will during her life andafter her decease then my Will is that my said Negro Man be & remain tomy son Caleb to him and his heirs and assigns forever.

"As for the remainder of my Personal estate I leave to be equallydivided one third to my loving wife Cornelia Sparkes and the other twothirds among my nine children viz: George, John, Millington, Absalom,Caleb, Sarah, Mary, Rachell & Cornelia to them their heirs & assignsforever.

"Item. I give and bequeath to my Granddaughter, Sarah Sparkes,daughter of my son William, deceased one featherbed two blankets & a Rugto her her heirs & assigns forever.

"And Lastly I Doe consitutute Authorize and Appoint my loving wifeCornelia Sparkes my whole & sole executor of this my last Will & Testmentto see this my Will performed and Doe hereby revoke annul and make voidall other Wills by me heretofor made & this only to be deemed and takenfor my last Will & Testament for witness whereof I have hereunto sett myseal this 28th day of Janry 1731. his
Signed Sealed Pronounced & Declared [signed] John J SSparkes
to be the last Will & Testament of mark
the said John Sparkes.
Jacob Kelley, Margt Kelley, Eliza Sparkes
(here follows deputy commissioners verification)

"Cornelia Sparks, widow of John, qualified as his executrix on May 28,1737, with George Elliott and John Merrideth as her bondsmen and her bondwas fixed at 200 pounds. On June 3, 1737, she returned an inventory ofthe personal property of her deceased husband amounting to 158 pounds.The property had been appraised by John Earl and Edward Brown. Two ofJohn Sparks's sons, John, Jr., and Millington, were witnesses to theinventory.

"Cornelia Sparks did not live long enough to complete the settlementof her husband's estate; she died on December 22, 1737. After her death(both her date of death and that of her husband were recorded in theRegister of St. Luke's Parish) her son, George Sparks, was appointedAdministrator de Bonis non to finish the settlement of the estates ofboth of his parents. He made a final accounting of the estate of hismother on December 14, 1739. After all debts were satisfied, the estateof Cornelia Sparks amounted to 108 pounds. Representatives of Corneliaincluded eight of her children: George Sparks, John Sparks, MillingtonSparks, Absal om Sparks, Caleb Sparks, Sarah Herbert, Mary Ruth andCornelia Alley."
END OF ARTICLE p. 1701.

**********

In SQ 3835-3847 is a feature article named "Millington Sparks (408)(ca1715-ca.1780) Son of John and Cornelia (Curtis) Sparks of Queen AnnesCounty, Maryland". Commencing on page 3835: "By the terms of his will,John Sparks's wife, Cornelia Sparks, was to become the executrix of hisestate, and, following his death on April 9, 1737, she was deemedqualified for that task by the Queen Annes County Court, on May 28 ,1737. A few days later, she presented to the Court an inventory of herlate husband's personal property. As recorded in Inventory Boo k 22,pages 353-355, here is the inventory as presented by Cornelia S parks. Webelieve that it provides an interesting insight into the w ay of life atthis time. (The three columns on the right reflect the value of eachitem in "Pounds", "Shillings", and "Pence.")
Queene Annes County. A Just True & perfect inventory of al l &singular the goods & Chattles Rights Debts & Credits of John Spar ks ofsd Co decd appraised in Curnt [current] money by us whose hand s & sealsare hereunto annexed the 3rd Day of June Anno Domi 1737.
£ S d
To his wearing apparel 2 10 0
To cash 4 8 6
To 1 Negro Man 30 0 0
To 1 best bed & bedstead & 1 Rugg 2 blankets 1 sheet 2 pillows 5 0 0
To 1 bed & bedstead & two blanketts & 1 rugg 4 0 0
To 1 bed & bolster & Trunnel bedstead 2 blankets & a rugg 3 15 0
To 1 old bed & old bed stead 2 0 0
To 1 bed & bedstead & two old blankts & 1 rugg 3 15 0
To 1 pair of andiron Doggs 0 12 0
To 1 fire shovel & one pair of tongs 0 5 0
To 1 oval Table & To 3 old chairs 0 17 0
To 1 pair of small stillards 6s and 1 small case with 10 bottles 0 16 0
To 1 old chest with lock & key 6s & 1 old chest 3 s 0 9 0
To 1 pewter Tankard 2s6 To 1 smaller Do (ditto) 1 s 0 4 0
To 1 small Trunk 2s6 To 1 smaller Do 1 s 0 3 6
To 44 1/2 lbs of Pewter at s 8 1 9 8
To 1 small looking glass 2s6 To 4 Doz of Candles at s 6 0 4 6
To 1 per Tinn candle Box s6 & 1 old brass mortar & pestle 2 s 02 6
To 2 Earthen Muggs & 3 Earthen dishes & 1 place 0 3 9
To 2 Earthen Dishes & 1 Barbers basan & 1 small earthen cup 0 3 2
To 1 small stone pott & 1 stone jugg 0 1 3
To 9 earthen milk pans s6 to 1 drinking glass s 3 0 0 9
To 1 pepper box to 9 wooden trenchers 0 2 9
To 1 brass skimmer s6 to 1 old pair sheep shears s 6 0 1 0
To 1 small Cow bell 1s To 7 bush of whest at 4 s 1 9 0
To 2 meal sifters 3 To 8 books at 10 0 13 0
To 1 stone jugg 2s6 To 2 small water jugs 1 s 0 3 6
To 1 old box iron & 2 heaters & 3 small earthen potts 1 3 6
To 1 old gun @@ 10 To 1 cut saw @@ 12 s 1 2 0
To a new falling ax and 3 old Do 0 12 0
To a parcel of Carpenters tools 0 6 0
To 1 pair of scissors @@ 3 To 7 yards of Country flannel at 1s6 0 10 9
To 1 old razor @@ 6 To 1 pair tow cards @@ s 4 0 0 10
To 3 pecks of Salt 1s6 To 1 old curry comb @@ 4 s 0 110
To 1 old Woolen Wheel 6s To 1 Linnen Wheel 10s 0 16 0
To 1 old linnen wheel 5s to pair wool cards @@s 9 0 5 9
To 2 iron wedges 2s To 2 bridles 4s to 3 old bridles @@ s 9 0 6 9
To 117 lb of pott iron @@ 2 1/ 2 1 4 4 1/2
To 3 pair of pot hooks @@ 1s per 0 3 0
To 1 flesh fork 6 To 1 iron pot rack 0 5 6
To 1 old Frying Pan @@ 1s To 1 old mill stone @@ 5s, To one
grindstone 0 9 0
To 1 mans saddle old 10s to 7 old dry tubs 7s 0 17 0
To 5 old Cyder Casks @@ 12s To 1 old cutting knife s9 0 12 9
To 900 10 py nails @@ 5s To 1 iron candlestick s 6 0 6 6
To 307 lbs of Bacon @@ 4s l b 5 2 4
To 10 lbs of Beef @@ 2s To 3 old weeding hoes @@ s 1 0 4 8
To 2 old hilling hoes & 1 grubbing hoe 0 2 0
To 2 mares of seven years old 9 0 0
To 3 breeding sows @@ 6 To 12 hoggs of 1 1/2 yr old @@ 5s per 318 0
To 11 shoats @@ 2s per 1 2 0
To 4 cows & 4 yearlings @@ L2/5 per 9 0 0
To 1 old cow & 1 calf 1 15 0
To 3 steers of 2 years old @@ 15s per 2 5 0
To 1 heifer of 2 years old @@ 18s To 1 large Bull L 1.1 0 2 8 0
To 19 sheep @@ 6 per To 8 lambs at 3 per 6 18 0
To 17 Barrels of Indian Corn @@ 8s1 1 7 1 8
To 21 Geese @@ 1s per To 63 lbs of Wool unwashed 3 8 3
To 1 plow & plow tackling 16s to 9 lbs Flax 1 s 1 5 0
To 4 1/2 Raw hides 0 18 0
To 1 Silver Cup 0 3 8 1/2
To a small parcel of unbroke Flax 0 2 0
To 2869 lbs of Tobacco @@ s2 23 18 2
To a parcel of old lumber 0 6 0
his ) Total 158 19 8
John I Sparks ) nearest
mark ) of John Earl
his ) kin Edward Brown
Millington X Sparks)
mark
Augst Thompson )
& ) Creditors
Solomon Clayton )

"August 24, 1737. Then came Cornelia Sparks Exr of the withinmentioned John Sparks, deceased and made oath on the Holy Evangeliststhat the within Inventory is a just & perfect one of all & singular theGoods and Chattles which were of said decd that came to her hands at thetime of making thereof that what hath since or shall hereafter come toher hands or possession she will return an additional inventory. Thatshe knows of no concealment of any part or parcel of said decd personalEstate by any person whatever and yt (that) if she shall discover anyconcealment or suspect any to be she will aqqaint the Commy General forthe time being or his Deputy with such discovery or Cause of suspicionthat it may be enquired into and that she will well & truly give an acctof all & every part of sd deceaseds personal estate that shall hereaftercome to her hands possession or knowledge.

Sworn to before me James Earle Dty Commery, Queen Anns County.
[Editor's note: Under the law in Colonial Maryland, an inventory of thepersonal property of a deceased person had be be signed not onl y by themen (usually two) who conducted the inventory (in this insta nce JohnEarl and Edward Brown), but by two individuals who could be described as"kin" (the spelling was usually "kinn') seems to have varied from placeto place and time to time. Relatives who were not, themselves, heirs ofthe deceased were sometimes preferred, whereas on other occasions, adultchildren who had actualy been willed property signed the inventory as"nearest of kin." In this instance, it will be noted, two sons of JohnSparks signed the inventory, John [ Jr.] and Millington. Both signed bymark, and the Deputy Commissary , James Earle, who was doubtless the onewho wrote their names, spelled Millington as "Millenton."

"Readers are reminded that, until quite recently when Great Britainintroduced the metric system into its currency, a pound consisted oftwenty shillings and a shilling comprised 12 pence. Where separateamounts were designated for multiple items in a single entry in theinventory of John Sparks, the word shilling was appreviated to s; wherethe value of the "small looking glass," for example, appears a s "2s6,"this meant two shillings and six pence.

For reasons of space limitation, the notes of John Sparks are continuedunder his wife's name.

SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 1962, Whole No. 40, p. 682:

JOHN SPARKS

Another probable son of James Sparks, who died in 1736, was John Sparkswho appeared in the Spotsylvania County Court records for the first timeon October 7, 1731. On this date, the Court recorded that John Tennanthad brought suit against John Sparks far one pound, ten shillings currentmoney. The Court, "after hearing all witnesses and arguments are of theopinion that nothing is due." The suit was dismissed and Tennant wasordered to pay all costs. It was on this same day that John Tennant suedThomas Sparks, clearly suggesting, as was noted above, that they wereclosely related, probably brothers.

On November 8, 1749, John Sparks was paid 25 pounds of tobacco “forguarding the prison” in Fredericksburg. On this same day, James Sparks,Jr., who had been appointed constable of the town of Fredericksburg in1744, was paid 167 pounds of tobacco "for summoning three juries ofenquest." (See Order Book 1749-1755, page 13.) It would certainly appearthat as constable, James Sparks, Jr., had appointed his brother John toguard the prison on this occasion.

No record pertaining to John Sparks has been found in Spotsylvania Countyafter 1749. He probably moved out of the county, as Henry and ThomasSparks appear to have done.

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 1974, Whole No. 84, p. 1702:

"John Sparks, Jr., was probably born between 1705 and 1710. Hemarried Sarah Tippins (?) about 1730 and they had about ten children.

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, June 1988, No. 142, p. 3230:

"John Sparks. Son of John Sparks. Born ca. 1705. Married SarahTippins probably ca. 1730. Names of children: Joseph, Levi, John, Mary,Sarah, Absalom, Ann, Mordecai."

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, Dec. 1990, No. 152, p. 3686:

"...(referring to the article on p. 3230 [above cited]...unfortunatelythe name of one of their children was omitted. He was Abner Sparks ,born ca. 1739... According to MARYLAND MARRIAGES 1634-1777, Compiled byRobert Barnes, Baltimore, 1987, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. p. 168,an Abner Sparks was married as follows:

"Sparks, Abner, 24 Aug. 1758, Mary Ann Bolton" cited at 1 QA-64 . Thecite refers to the Records of St. Luke's Church, p. 64, Queene AnnesCounty, MD copied in 1904/5 at the Maryland Historical Society. Abner,son of John Sparks Jr. and Sara Tippins would have been about 19 years ofage in 1758. In that same book we find the following marriages which mayhave involved the above-named children:
Reed, David, 20 Feb. 1750, Ann Sparks 1QA-57
Sparks, John, Jr., 1 Jan. 1756, Catherine Hayse 1QA-60
Wilkinson, William, 6 April 1758, Mary Sparks 1QA-63
Thompson, Thomas, 9 Aug. 1759, Sarah Sparks 1QA-65

SQ pg 3847:
"John Sparks, son of Millington and Mabel (Ruth) Sparks, was bor nabout 1750. The only record we have found of him is the tax assessmentlist for 1783 for Queen Annes County on which he was identified as "ofMillington."

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 1956, Whole No. 12, p. 94:

SPARKSES IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
by William Perry Johnson

(Editors note: In the following documents, capitalization and punctuationhave been modernized for the sake of clarity, but no changes have beenmade in spelling or content. The file number given to the applicationpapers of John Sparks in The National Archives is S-7580.)

REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION APPLICATION OFJOHN SPARKS

"State of North Carolina) SS.
County of Wilkes )

"On this 30th day of October 1832 personally appeared in open Courtbefore the Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions of the County of Wilkes &State of North Carolina, now setting, John Sparkes Esquire, a resident ofthe County of Wilkes & State of North Carolina., aged seventy-nine years,who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath, make thefollowing declaration, in order to obtain the benefit of the Act ofCongress passed June 7th 1832.

"That he was born on the 25th day of February 1753 in the County ofRowan in the State of North Carolina, where he lived until he removedwith his father to what is now Wilkes (then Surry) County, N.C., aboutthe year 1772. He resided in Wilkes until the commencement of theRevolution, and about the year 1775 or 1776 he volunteered himself andentered the service of the United States in Captain Jesse Walton'scompany of minute men who had volunteered for two years.

"Soon after the company was organized, they were called upon to goagainst the Scotch & Tories who were said to be committing greatdepredations in the country around Cros's Creek or Fayetteville. At thetime the company marched, this Deponent happened to be from home, but assoon as he returned, and being informed that they had gone, he took hishorse & pursued with all speed, but did not overtake them; having heardthat the Tories were suppressed and the troops on their return, heimmediately turned about & returned home. Soon after this he was orderedout by Captain Walton., to take command of a scouting party & scour thecountry around through Surry & Wilkes & to suppress the Tories or tobring in such as was supposed to be disaffected. In these littleexpeditions, he supposes he was in service two or three weeks.

"After remaining at home some months, orders were received from Col.Martin Armstrong to repair and rendezvous at the head of the Yadkin,preparatory to marching against the Cherokee Indians. They didrendezvous at or near the head of Yadkin, and there remained until theybuilt Fort Defiance where Genl. Wm. Lenoir now lives, during which timethis Deponent had the command of the company, Capt. Walton having beenappointed a Major.

"About the time the Fort was completed, orders were received fromMajor Walton for the company to return home and prepare for an expeditionagainst the Cherokee Indians. This Deponent and the company under hiscommand did return home having been gone about a month, and prepared withall possible dispatch to go against the Indians, and in a few daysmarched to headquarters at the Pleasant Gardens where they joinedGenl.Rutherford, at which time the company, under the command of thisDeponent, was attached to the company under the command of Capt. Benj.Cleveland, and the entire command transferred to Capt. Cleveland.

"After organizing at headquarters, they marched immediately to theCherokee Towns of Watauga, Cowee, Oconoluftee, Hiwassee Tuckaseegie & BigChota, with some others not recollected. This deponent was detailedwhile in the Nation, with others, to act as a spy, and on one occasiontheir party fell in with a small body of Indians on the Hiwassee, withwhom they had an engagement in which they killed ten & took threeprisoners, without losing any men on their side.

"After this little skirmish they returned to the main army with theirprisoners and delivered them up to Genl. Rutherford. The main body ofIndians having fled and abandoned the country, it was thought unnecessaryto pursue them, and after burning their houses, destroying their corn,and committing such other depredation upon them as they could, theyreturned to North Carolina, where they were discharged and returned home,having been gone about three months.

"Soon after the return of this Deponent, he was again called out andserved in various short expeditions against the Tories, but theparticular periods of each cannot now be recollected. About the timeLord Cornwallis was approaching North Carolina from the South, thisDeponent was again called upon and marched, under the command of Colo.Benjamin Herndon, in pursuit of Lord Cornwallis as he was on his marchfrom Cowans Ford on the Catawba to Guilford, and occasionally annoyed andkept in check his out-posts and foraging parties, one of whom theycaptured amounting to twenty or thirty men and detailed them prisonersuntil they were sent off to Virginia.

"This deponent and the troops with whom he was associated, pursuedtheir march until they reached Genl. Green's army at the high rock onHaw River, where they remained several days after which Genl. Greendischarged them, and they returned home, having been gone in thisexpedition at least one month. In a few days after their return home,this Deponent was again called out with others to march in pursuit ofLord Cornwallis who had retreated to Wilmington. They marchedimmediately and rendezvoused under Genl. Rutherford some distance onthis side of Fayetteville.

"After organizing, Genl. Rutherford detached near four hundredmounted men, of whom this Deponent was one, and placed them under thecommand of Colo. Smith & Major Graham, and ordered them to proceed downon the south side of Deep & Cape Fear Rivers until they reachedWilmington while he (Genl. Rutherford), with the balance of the troops,crossed the river and proceeded down on the north side. Previous totheir arrival at Wilmington, they heard that Cornwallis had left theplace, but that he had left a portion of the British troops to keeppossession of the town. Before, however, they reached the town, a smalldetachment was sent ahead to reconnoitre and ascertain the situation ofthe place. When they returned, it was ascertained that most of thetroops were on the northern side of the river but that a small body hadbeen left on the south to act as a piquet guard, upon whom Col. Smithmarched and surprised and succeeded in killing and taking every manwithout surprizing the camp.

"In a day or two, Genl. Rutherford arrived on the north side of theriver, about which time the news of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis wasreceived, upon which the British troops immediately evacuated the townand made their escape down the river in the night. The small pox havingbeen left in Wilmington by the British, it was deemed unsafe for thetroops to enter the place, and a discretion was given to the troops toreturn home or remain with Genl. Rutherford.

"Many did return home, of whom this Deponent was one, having been gonein this expedition nearly three months, (& having volunteered for threemonths would have remained that length of time, but for the smallpoxbreaking out as before Mentioned.) The capture of Lord Cornwallis beingconsidered the closing scene of the war, this Deponent was not againcalled upon to perform any other service. He has no documentary evidenceto prove his services, nor never received a written discharge that he hasany recollection of. He refers to Captain Samuel Johnson as a witnesswho can testify to part of his services. And he also refersto CaptainSamuel Johnson & Reuben Sparkes as persons to whom he is well acquaintedin his neighborhood, and who.can testify as to his character forveracity, and their belief of his services. This Deponent has no recordof his age, but the information herein given on that subject was derivedfrom his mother many years ago, and he believes it to be correct. Hehereby relinquishes every claim whatsoever to a pension or annuity exceptthe present, and declares that his name is not on the pension roll of theagency of any state.

Sworn to & subscribed the day & yearaforesaid.

signed: JohnSparks
signed R. Martin, Clk.

On the day and year aforesaid., personally appeared in open Courtbefore the Court aforesaid. Capt. Saml. Johnson, who being first dulysworn according to law, deposeth & saith that he served with JohnSparkes, Esqr., the above Applicant, during the three months tourperformed under Genl. Rutherford to the Cherokee Nation, and furtherthat the said three months tour as set forth & specified in the foregoingdeclaration as having been performed by the said John Sparks, Esqr., wasperformed by him.
Sworn to & subscribed the day & year aforesaid.

signed: R. Martin Clk. signed: Saml Johnson

We, Saml. Johnson & Reuben Sparkes., residents of the County of Wilkes &State of North Carolina, do hereby certify that we are well acquaintedwith John Sparkes, Esqr., who has subscribed & sworn to the abovedeclaration--that we believe him to be seventy-nine years of age--that heis reputed and believed in the neighborhood where he resides to have beena soldier of the Revolution, and that we concur in that opinion.
signed: Saml Johnson signed: Reuben Sparks

And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion after theinvestigation of the matter, and after putting the interrogatoriesprescribed by the War Department that the above applicant was aRevolutionary soldier and served as he states. And the Court furthercertifies that it appears to them, that Capt. Saml. Johnson and ReubenSparkes who have signed the preceding certificate are residents of theCounty of Wilkes and are credible persons, and that their statement isentitled to credit.

signed: Jno Walsh Ck Ct

Amended Declaration
State of North Carolina)
Wilkes County ) Personally appeared before me, theundersigned., a Justice of the Peace in and for the County aforesaid,John Sparkes, Esqr., who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that byreason of old age, and the consequent loss of memory, he cannot swearpositively as to the precise length of his service, but according to thebest of his recollection he served not less than the periods mentionedbelow, and in the following grades: For 'Eight Months and twenty-onedays" I served as a Private, and for such service I claim a pension. Thisdeponent further saith by way of amendment to the foregoing declaration,that there is no clergyman residing in his neighborhood nor any within areasonable distance whose testimony he could procure in favour of hisveracity and their belief of his services as a soldier of the Revolution.

Sworn to & subscribed this 23d day of May 1833 before me, M. H. Wheatley,J.P.

signed: John Sparks

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See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 1956, Whole No. 12, pp 97-104:

THE GENEALOGY OF JOHN SPARKS,REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSIONER OF WILKESCOUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
By William Perry Johnson:

"As John Sparks stated in his pension application, he was born on the25th of February 1753, near Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, andremoved with his father to what is now Wilkes (then Burry) County, NorthCarolina, about the year 1772. John Sparks did not identify his fatherin his application, but other records prove that his name was SolomonSparks. Surry County was formed from Rowan County in 1770, and the Surrytax lists for 1771 and 1772 have been preserved. On the 1771 tax list,Solomon Sparks is listed, with 3 polls, and William Sparks, with 1 poll.In 1772 only Solomon Sparks is listed., with 3 polls. The 1774 Surry taxlist enumerated four Sparks families; William Sparks, with 1 poll; WillSparks and son Matthew., 2 polls; James Sparks, 1 poll; and SolomonSparks, with sons Joseph and John, 3 polls. These four families wereundoubtedly closely related, but this account will be limited to thefamily of John Sparks, son of Solomon. (The Matthew Sparks who is listedin the 1774 tax list with his father, Will Sparks, was thegreat-great-grandfather of our Vice-President., Oral A. Sparks.)

"Solomon Sparks lived in Maryland before settling in North Carolinaand was very probably the son of Joseph Sparks who died intestate inFrederick County, Maryland, in 1749. (Note that Solomon named his eldestson Joseph, probably for his father. Note also that the Solomon Sparkswhose pension application was reproduced in the March, 1955, issue of theQULRTERLY was born in Frederick County, Maryland., in 1758.)

"On the 20th of March 1750, Solomon Sparks patented 93 acres inFrederick County, Maryland,, and gave his land the descriptive name ofCold Friday. This land was located on Beaver Dam Branch., a tributary ofLinganore Creek. On the 20th of June 1753, Solomon Sparks and wife "Sarah, sold these 93 acres for 34 Pounds, to Mathew Howard. Solomon isdesignated in this deed as a "farmer". If Solomon Sparks and wife Sarahwere living in Frederick County, Maryland., as late as June 20, 1753, asthis deed would indicate, then their son John, born Feb. 25, 1753, wasborn in Frederick County, Maryland, rather than in Rowan County, NorthCarolina, and was carried to North Carolina as a babe in arms. Althoughwe cannot be sure of the exact date, it is reasonably certain thatSolomon Sparks removed with his family sometime in 1753 to nearSalisbury, Rowan Co., N.C. (Rowan County was formed April 12., 1753, fromAnson County.)

"The following description of Salisbury is found in a letter writtenon November 24, 1755,, by Governor Arthur Dobbs: "The Yadkin here(Trading Ford) is a large beautiful river where is a ferry. It is near300 yards over, it was at this time fordable scarce coming to the horsesbellies. At 6 miles distance I arrived at Salisbury the County town ofRowan., the town is but just laid out., the Court House built and 7 or 8log Houses erected." (The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 5,page 355.) The 1950 population of Salisbury was 20.,102.

"The Sparkses settled in the Forks of the Yadkin, less than ten milesnorth of Salisbury, in what is now Davie Co, N.C. Solomon Sparks obtaineda land grant in 1761, for 250 acres in Rowan County, on the west side ofthe Yadkin River, opposite the mouth of Muddy Creek. In 1762 he obtaineda grant for 290 acres on the south side of the Yadkin River, whichadjoined his other land. In 1763 Solomon sold 130 and 3/4 acres to JonasSparks, and 159 and 1/4 acres to Valentine Vanhouser. According to thestatement -.made by John Sparks in his pension application, SolomonSparks and his family removed from Rowan County to "what is now Wilkes(then Surry), N.C. about the year 1772.11 In 1787, as residents of SurryCo., N.C., Solomon and SarahSparks sold 160 acres in Rowan County toZephemiah Harris, and in 1.788 they sold 170 (?) acres in Rowan County toJonas Sparks. Solomon and Sarah Sparks disappear from North Carolinarecords after 1788. Solomon does not appear on the 1790 census, andthere is no will, no intestate record, and no record of Solomon and SarahSparks buying or selling land in Surry or Wilkes Counties, although whenthe Surry--Wilkes County Line was surveyed in 1778 it mentioned theplantation of Solomon Sparks. A full copy of this interesting documentis given below:

"Wilkes Co., N.C., Court Minutes, 1778 - "A Return of the Proceedingsof the Commissioners who were appointed to Run the Deviding line betweenthe County of Surry and Wilkes - (To Wit) Beginning on Rowan County 'Lineabout half a mile below Daniel Rashes at a White Oak Standing in the headof a Branch of Hunting Creek thence North Crossing the mulberry FieldRoad about half a Mile below Ha.mlin's Old Store House thence throughSolomon Sparke's Plantation leaving the said Sparks House in Surry Countythence Crossing the Brushey mountains at the head of the north fork ofSwan Creek thence Crossing the Yadkin River a little below Capt Parkesand through the Lower end of Carrols Plantation on the north side of sdRiver, then crossing the Big Elkin at the long sholes thence Crossing thesouth fork of Mitchels River about half a mile above Riggs's Road, thenceCrossing Mitchels River a little bellow John Scott's Crossing the Top ofthe Piney Knob to the main Ridge of the Mountains about Two miles west ofFisher Peak thence to the Virginia line. The above line being Runexactly Twenty Six miles west of Surry Courthouse agreeable to Act ofAssembly.'

"Thus, Solomon Sparks lived just south of the village of Swan Creek inthe western part of Surry (now Yadkin) County., North Carolina., withland in Wilkes as well as in Surry. Around 1800 the Sparkses and theirconnections awned land for several miles along the Surry (nowYadkin)-Wilkes County line, and there are still many descendants in thatarea today.

"It is believed that Solomon and Sarah Sparks were both deceased by1800, or possibly by 1790. Since neither of them left a will, and nofamily Bible or other record has been located, it has been difficult toascertain the names of the children of this couple. However, a power ofattorney recorded in Wilkes County, N.C., Court Minutes, on Tuesday,August 4, 1801, gives what we feel certain is a listing of at least eightof the children of Solomon and Sarah Sparks. This instrument reads asfollows.- "A Letter of Attorney from John Sparks, Reuben Sparks, SolomonSparks, Mary Jacks, Hannah Denny, Susannah Johnson, and Joseph Sparks toAbel Sparks, dated 31st July 1801, was proven by Thomas Benge." (Susannah(Sparks) Johnson and her husband, Charles Johnson., are thegreat-great-great-great-grand- parents of William Perry Johnson " authorof this sketch. We know that John Sparks was born in 1753 and that AbelSparks was born in 1767, so assuming that the eight persons named in theabove power of attorney were listed in their order of birth, which isquite possible, we would have: (1) John., born 1753; (2) Reuben, bornabout 1755; (3) Solomon., Jr., born about 1757; (4) Mary, born about1759; (5) Harmah., born about 1761; (6) Susannah, born about 1763,married Charles Johnson in Wilkes Co., N.C., in 1784; (7) Joseph, bornabout 1764; and (8) Abel.19 born 1767. There may have been otherchildren of Solomon and Sarah Sparks who were living far removed fromthis area in 1801, or others may have been deceased. It is known thatthe eight named in the power of attorney were all living in Surry (nowYadkin) and Wilkes Counties, N.C., at that time. Of course, since then,branches of the family have scattered from coast to coast.

"John Sparks, son of Solomon and Sarah, lived in Surry County, NorthCarolina,, from the time he removed there with his father about 1771,until 1786. By 1782 John Sparks had purchased 200 acres of land inSurry, on Brushy Mountain, and was taxed with 200 acres and 1 poll, 2horses (or mules) and 6 cattle. In 1784 he was taxed with 200 acres and1 poll; same for 1785 and 1786. He does not appear on the Surry Countytax lists for 1787, 1788 or 1789, and he is given on the 1790 census ofWilkes County, rather than Surry. There is no record in Surry of JohnSparks purchasing or selling his 200 acres. (In those unsettled times,many, many deeds failed to get taken to the county seat for recording.)On 17 May 1780, John Sparks entered 200 acres of land in Wilkes County,which was issued to him 22 Sept. 1785. (Land Grant Office, Raleigh,N.C.., Book 59, page 253.) The 1790 census of Wilkes Co. lists JohnSparks with a total of eight persons in his family, apparently himself.his wife, four sons aged under 16, and 2 daughters. (The other JohnSparks on the 1790 census of Wilkes Co. is thought to be the John Sparkswho married in Wilkes in 1781 Mary Parmely; however, it,is possible thatJohn, son of Solomon, was listed twice, which happened occasionally.There was no John Sparks given on the 1790 census of Surry County.)

"John Sparks had married in Surry County about 1777 Sarah Shores adaughter of Reuben and Susannah Shores of Surry (now Yadkin) County.Reuben Shores owned large tracts of land where Jonesville, N.C., nowstands. Sarah is named as Sarah Sparks in the will of her mother,Susannah Shores, probated in 1806 in Surry County, N.C. (Susannah Shoreswilled her "household and kitchen furniture" to her youngest daughter,"Nancy Rousau". The other children listed in her will., to whom she left"one shilling Sterling each," were named as follows: "William Shores JohnShores, Elizabeth Westmoreland, Sarah Sparks, Reuben Shores, SimeonShores, Rebecca Mosley, David Shores, Rhoda Philips, Abiram Shores andLevi Shores.")

"Soon after removing to Wilkes County, John Sparks became active inthe civil affairs of Trap Hill, the community where he had settled, abouttwenty miles north-east of Wilkesboro. He became a justice of the peaceand performed marriages, listed taxes, and so on. On the 1800 tax listof Wilkes County, he is listed as John Sparks, Esquire, with 260 acresand 1 poll. (The title of Esquire was bestowed only on those of somestanding in the community.) John Sparks was an active member of the OldRoaring River Baptist Church in Wilkes County, having joined on January12,, 1789 "by experience and baptism." According to the Church records,on April 10, 1790, "the church set apart Brother John Sparks to walkbefore the church until next meeting as deacon," and on August 12., 1790,he "set forward to do work of deacon." In 1790 and 1791, he was "delegateto association," and on June 11., 1791, his wife, "Sister Sarah Sparks,was baptised. Like most other church members of the time, John Sparkswas occasionally called to account for failing to live up to the strictBaptist rules. For instance, in August,, 1791, he was found guilty ofgameing" but was pardoned. In 1794 he was accused of drunkenness, acharge which John Sparks denied and later "gave church satisfaction."

"John Sparks was listed on the 1840 census of Wilkes County as aRevolutionary War pensioner,and at that time he was living in the home ofhis son, Reuben Sparks. According to census records, John's wife, Sarah(Shores) Sparks, died sometime between 1830 and 1840. The date of deathfor John Sparks is not given on the Agency Books in Washington, D.C., butthe last payment of his pension was made 3rd Quarter (Sept.) 1840, so itis apparent that he died sometime between then and March 1841, when thenext payment fell due. His age at the time of his death was either 87 or88. After his death, his heirs did not claim his pension, which amountedto $29 per year. His pension application in the National Archives is theone and only application from a John Sparks who served in the Revolutionfrom North Carolina.

"John Sparks, son of Solomon, is sometimes confused with another JohnSparks who served in the Revolutionary War from South Carolina. Thissecond John was born in 1755 (supposedly in North Carolina), and iied in1834 in Washington County,, Georgia. There is no record in the NationalArchives of his ever having applied for a pension, yet a number of hisdescendants have joined the D.A.R. through the pension application ofJohn Sparks of Wilkes County, N.C. (An article on the genealogy of thisJohn Sparks of South Carolina and Georgia is planned for a future issueof the QUARTERLY. (Note: see the issue for September 1964., Vol. XII,No. 3, Whole No . 47, pp. 835-39. )

"Like his father, John Sparks of Wilkes County left no will, and hisfamily Bible cannot be located. All of his children and grandchildrenare gone, and there are but two or three of his great-grandchildrenliving. His grave, near Trap Hill, North Carolina, is marked with aRevolutionary Soldier marker, but it does not give his date of death norany other data that we do not already have. We have endeavored tocompile a list of the children of John and Sarah (Shores) Sparks, fromliving descendants, census, court, church, and other extant records. Weare fairly certain of eight children, but there may have been a total often or twelve.

"The following record has been worked out by our President, Paul E.Sparks:
John Sparks, son of Solomon and Sarah Sparks born 25 Feb. 1753, in RowanCounty, North Carolina died 1840-41, in Wilkes County, North Carolina,married about 1777, in Surry County, North Carolina, toSarah Shores,daughter of Reuben and Susannah Shores born about 1757 (?) place notknown, died between 1830 and 1840 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.(Here, commencing on p. 100 are the descendants of John and Sarah(Shores) Sparks.)

See more at SQ p 2269 and, concerning his status as a revolutionarysoldier, p. 4965.

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See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1981, Whole No. 113, pp 2269-2272: (Thisarticle augments earlier information published about John Sparks and hischildren William, Jonathan, Solomon and their remaining eight children.See the notes for these children for the information contained in thisarticle.)

FURTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FAMILY OF JOHN AND SARAH (SHORES)SPARKS

By Paul E. Sparks

(Editor's Note: This article deals with one of the most common anddifficult genealogical problems, namely, that of making the correctidentification of persons who have the same name and who were born atabout the same time and near the same place. Our readers should refer tothe following issues of THE SPARKS QUARTERLY regarding this family:December 1955, Whole No. 12; June 1959, Whole No. 26; December 1963,Whole No. 44 and December 1970, Whole No. 72.)

For several years, the author of this article has struggled with theproblem of determining the number and names of the children of his3rd-great-grandparents, John and Sarah (Shores) Sparks, of Wilkes County,North Carolina. At the time the first article about this family waspublished in the QUARTERLY, it was believed that John and Sarah hadtwelve children, ten sons and two daughters.(See page 100 of the December1955 issue.) Since that time, however, census data have shown that theyhad only eleven children, eight sons and three daughters. (It should beremembered that the census records prior to 1880 did not showrelationships among members of households, and prior to the census of1850 only the head of each household was actually named, the othermembers being simply enumerated by age categories. It is assumed,however, in the following references to John Sparks appearance on censusrecords that the children enumerated in his household were, indeed, hisown children.)

John Sparks appeared on the North Carolina state census which was takenof Wilkes County, 1784 -1787, with his wife and their three sons and onedaughter. On the federal census of 1790 of Wilkes County, another son andanother daughter had been added, making a total of four sons and twodaughters, all born between 1774 and 1790. When the 1800 census wastaken, three additional sons and one additional daughter were enumerated,all born between 1790 and 1800. Another son
was born between 1800 and 1810 and was listed on the 1810 census. Fromthese data, it seems quite apparent that John and Sarah had elevenchildren.

The twelve children of John and Sarah (Shores) Sparks, as listed on page100 of the December 1955 issue of the QUARTERLY, were: Levi, Mary,William, Joel, Robert, Jonathan, Solomon, Sarah, John Jr., George,Reuben, and Colby. Four of these were questionable: William, Robert,Jonathan, and Solomon. Since that time, however, it has been determinedthat there was no son named William Sparks; that Jonathan Sparks was anephew, not a son; that Solomon Sparks was a son, but was incorrectlyidentified; and that there was one unidentified daughter. Theidentification of the rest as shown on page 100 appears to be correct.

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1966, No. 53, pp 960-68::

"JOHN SPARKS (SON OF MATTHEW & SARAH[THOMPSON] SPARKS) BORN 1755, DIED 1831"

"John Sparks, son of Matthew and Sarah Sparks, was born in 1755 anddied in February 1831. (These dates are found on his tombstone in theSparks Family Cemetary several miles west of Russellville, FranklinCounty , Alabama]. He was a child of about four or five years when hisparents moved from Maryland to Rowan County, North Carolina.

"The earliest official document which we have found containing JohnSparks's name is the 1775 tax list of Surry County, North Carolina . Hisfather had moved from Rowan County to an area called New River in SurryCounty, North Carolina, shortly before the tax list for 1775 was drawnup. This area was included in Benjamin Cleveland's District for taxpurposes, and opposite the name of "Matthew Sparks, Sr. " on this 1775list are given three "taxable polls": the father himself, and his twoeldest sons, "John Sparks" and "Matthew Sparks, Jr."

"In 1777, a new county called Wilkes was created from a portion ofSurry County and the District of Washington. The area in which MatthewSparks's family had settled, called New River, was now included in thenew Wilkes County. (In 1799, Wilkes County was divided and this sectionwas included in the new Ashe County. It is still a part of Ashe Countytoday and is near the present site of the town of Jefferson.)

"John Sparks had just come of age when the American Revolution began.Thus far, we have found no official document to prove that he served[JS:see below] , but in the application for a pension made by hisbrother, William Sparks , there is a reference to such service. WilliamSparks, who was six years younger than John, swore on September 14, 1846,that about 1778 he, William Sparks,"was organized into a company ofmounted minute men under Andrew Baker, as Captain, and my Brother JohnSparks as Lieutenant." (See the March and June1954, issues of theQUARTERLY for a transcription of William Sparks' s pension application.

"Our next record of John Sparks is his marriage bond recorded inWilkes County, North Carolina, and dated August 14, 1781. His bondsmanwas James Bunyard and the girl whom his bond authorized him to marry wasMary Parmely. They were probably married a day or two after the bond wasissue. Mary Parmely, who was often called by her nickname, "Mollie", wasa daughter of Giles Parmely. According to the inscription on hertombstone, she was born in 1763. Her father, Giles Parmely, was bornJuly 1, 1731, in Killingsworth, Middlesex County, Connecticut, but he wasliving in Essex County, New Jersey, when Mary was born. He was in WilkesCounty, North Carolina, as early as 1777.

"The 1782 tax list of Wilkes County survives and, while John Sparksowned no land in 1782 according to this record, he was taxed on twohorses and five cattle. He was probably working for his father at thistime. Matthew Sparks, Sr., was taxed in the same district that year on650 acres.

"In 1786 the state of North Carolina ordered that a census be taken ofall inhabitants. Fortunately, Wilkes County was one of the eighteencounties which complied (in 1787) and the family of John Sparks waslisted near that of his father-in-law Giles Parmely. Living with JohnSparks were " 3 males aged under 21 and over 60, and 2 females of everyage." In all probability, these three males were his children--thereason for the census taker giving them in this age category was thatmales between 21 and 60 were required to pay the poll tax. One of thefemales would have been Mollie, John' s wife, while the other wasprobably a daughter. Living in the same district was John's brother,William Sparks, who had married by 1787. There was also another JohnSparks, who was a son of Solomon Sparks. It is believed that these twoJohn Sparkses were first cousins. [Note by James Sparks: If this otherJohn (359) was the son of Solomon Sparks (356) who lived in the Forks ofthe Yadkin, the two Johns were actually 2nd cousins, once removed.)

"Matthew Sparks, Sr., and most of his family moved from Wilkes County,North Carolina, to what is now Clarke County, Georgia, in the early1780's. Only John and William were still in North Carolina in 1786, andby 1790, William also had left to join his father. John Sparks waslisted on the 1790 census of Wilkes County; besides himself hishousehould in 1790 consisted of 4 males under 16 years and a total of 3females (one of whom was his wife). His [second] cousin [once removed],the other John Sparks, had exactly the same size family. (For a recordof this other John Sparks, who was born in 1753, see the QUARTERLY forDecember, 1955, Whole No. 4, pp 94-106 .)

"By the fall of 1791, John Sparks and his family had followed hisfather and brothers to Georgia. It was in Georgia that John's son, EnochSparks, was born in September, 1791. By 1794, however, John had moved tothe Greenville District, South Carolina (later called Greenville County),where on February 17, 1794, he purchased from John Stiles of OglethorpeCounty , Georgia, two tracts of land, one of 380 acres and the other of240 acres, on "Beaverdam Creek, a branch of Tygar River." (Deed Book C ,pp. 432-33.) He paid a total of 210 pounds for this land.

"John Sparks probably moved to South Carolina with his brother,Matthew Sparks, Jr., (Matthew and his wife, Margaret, witnessed the deedsby which John purchased his land in Greenville District.) In his pensionapplication, Matthew Sparks, Jr., stated that after his father was killedin Georgia in1793 [by Indians], he "removed to Greenville District in theState of South Carolina, where he resided seven or eight years..." (Seethe QUARTERLY of December, 1956, Whole No. 4, p. 179.) About the year1800, Matthew Sparks,Jr., moved from South Carolina to Jackson County,Georgia, but John Sparks remained in South Carolina.

"A number of deeds for land purchased and sold by John Sparks are onrecord in Greenville District (now County), South Carolina, the lastbeing dated 1828. He was listed on the census records of the county from1800 through 1830; in 1830 he was listed as "John Sparks, Esqr." agedbetween 70 and 80.

"Shortly after the 1830 census was taken, John Sparks and his wife ,Mary (or Mollie), moved from South Carolina to Franklin County, Alabama,to live with their son, William Sparks, who had gone to Franklin Countyin 1820. Shortly after moving to Alabama, John Sparks died, in February,1831 . His wife lived until September, 1853. Both are buried in theSparks Family Cemetary, located several miles west of Russellville. Onetombstone marks their graves; on one side the inscription reads "JohnSparks, Sr. Born A.D. 1755, Died Feb. 1831;" on the other side theinscription reads "Mollie, wife of John Sparks, Sr. Born A.D. 1763, DiedSep. 1853." (See p. 962 for photos of this tombstone.)

"According to a record of the family of John and Mary (or Mollie )Sparks, prepared by their great-grandson, Christopher C. Sparks(1846-1923) , they were the parents of the following children: (1)William, (2) Robert , (3) Samuel, (4) Enoch, (5) Rebecca, and (6)Elizabeth. The fact that John was called Sr. on his tombstone mayindicate he had a son named John, but this may have been to distinguishhim from his grandson, John Sparks, who was born in 1811 and died in1847."

************

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY of December 1997, Whole No. 180, p 4965 forthat part of an article entitled SPARKSES WHO SERVED IN THE AMERICANREVOLUTION which states:

John Sparks (ca. 1755-1831) [spouse] Mary Parmely [service] Pvt.Capt. Andrew Baker's Co of Minute Men Surry County, NC. Source: Sons ofthe Amer. Rev. Dau. of the Amer. Rev. SQ p 537 and 960.

************

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 2001, Whole No. 196, pp 5605-5630, atp. 5607:

"John Sparks, eldest child of Matthew and Sarah Sparks, was born in 1755and died in February 1831, according to the dates on his gravestone stillstanding in the Sparks Cemetery a few miles west of Russellville,Franklin County, Alabama. The Wilkes County, North Carolina, marriagebond for him to be wed to Mary Parmely (1763-1853) was dated August 14,1781. Often callled "Mollie," Mary Parmely was a daughter of GilesParmely . A record of the lives of John and Mary (Parmely) Sparks, withthe identification of their six children, appeared in the QUARTERLY ofMarch 1966, Whole No. 53, pp.960-968. In that article of 1966, wespeculated that John had been born in Maryland before his parents movedto North Carolina. Based on later research, we now believe that hisfather, Matthew Sparks , had moved to North Carolina in 1754. While wecannot be certain whether Matthew and Sarah were married in Maryland orNorth Carolina, there can be little doubt that John was born in what wasthen Rowan County, North Carolina. John Sparks, son of Matthew and SarahSparks, should not be confused with the John Sparks (1753-1840), son ofSolomon and Sarah, about whom we published an article in the QUARTERLY ofDecember 1955, Whole No. 12."

SQ p 721, marriage records of Bourbon County, KY, see book I, page 23 forJohn Sparks and Caty Waddel (sic).

SQ p. 5128:

"John Sparks, born ca. 1770, died 1814. He was married to CatherineWaddel in 1792. Information regarding him and his family can be found inthe QUARTERLY of September 1972, Whole No. 79, p. 1498; and December1980, Whole No. 112, p. 2262." (A list of the children follows on page5129.)

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY of September 1972, Whole No. 79, p. 1498:

NOTES ON DESCENDANTS OF JOHN AND KATHARINE(WADDELL) SPARKS

OF BOURBON AND NICHOLAS COUNTIES,KENTUCKY

By Russell E.Bidlack

A former member of the Association whom we believe is now deceased, Mrs.Edna Briggs, once reported that about 1943 she visited a Mrs. ClaraSparks, widow of John J. Sparks. Mrs. Sparks had been born on October 7,1855; she was 88 years old at the time Mrs. Briggs interviewed her. Hermaiden name had been Clara Bramlett. She stated that her husband’s fatherhad been John Franklin Sparks (sometimes called Franklin), The father ofJohn Franklin Sparks was Jonas Sparks, who had a brother named WilliamSparks.

According to Clara Sparks, the brothers Jonas and William Sparks hadsettled in Nicholas County, Kentucky, having come there from Virginia,but originally they were from North Carolina. The two brothers owned landtogether, and she remembered that the families had had trouble dividingthe land in Bourbon and Nicholas Counties.

There can be no doubt that these two brothers about whom Clara Sparksspoke were the WILLIAM SPARKS, born July 30, 1793, who married CatherineKnox, and JONAS SPARKS, born about 1799, who married Elizabeth Knox, bothof Nicholas County, Kentucky.

Actually, Jonas and William Sparks were born in Kentucky, not Virginia asClara Sparks believed. Their father, JOHN SPARKS, who was probably bornabout 1770 was married in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1792 (marriagebond dated August 22, 1792). He married Katherine Waddell, who, accordingto Dr. J. S. Gallaway's Memories of Old Times in Paris, Kentucky,published in 1939, was a daughter of James Waddell. Her nickname was Katy(sometimes spelled Caty). John Sparks died in Bourbon County, Kentucky,in 1814 or 1815. His wife, Katharine (or Katy), died in 1843 in NicholasCounty. (The Margaret Waddell, aged 83, born in Maryland, who was livingwith William Sparks (son of John) when the 1850 census was taken may havebeen the mother of Katharine and thus the grandmother of William Sparks.)John Sparks's will, dated August 13, 1814, in Bourbon County, left hisproperty to his wife "Caty." Because he owned land in adjoining NicholasCounty as well as Bourbon County, there are deeds pertaining to hisestate in Nicholas County in which his children are named. There are alsodeeds that indicate he owned land in Fleming County, Kentucky. On August16, 1808, for example, he purchased for 180 pounds a tract of 104 acreson Fleming Creek in Fleming County (Book B, p. 376) from James Hendersonof Clermont County, Ohio; John Sparks was described in this deed as "ofBourbon County." He sold this tract to William Wishard on July 22, 1811(Book D, p. 411) for $800.

John Sparks was probably closely related to other Sparkses who settled inBourbon County, Kentucky, in the late 1780's. These were:

William Sparks, Sr., paid taxes in Bourbon County as early as 1787.William Sparks, Jr., paid taxes in Bourbon County as early as 1787.
George Sparks, paid taxes in Bourbon County as early as 1787.
Joseph Sparks, paid taxes in Bourbon County as early as 1795.
Michael Sparks, paid taxes in Bourbon County as early as 1795.

John Sparks's will was dated August 13, 1814, and was probated inFebruary 1815, thus proving that he died sometime between those two dates.

On August 8, 1825, William Sparks of Nicholas County (Book G, p. 90) "didswear out a writ of tiere facie against the estate of John Sparks, decd."This was apparently a legal step by which the land belonging to JohnSparks in Nicholas County could be advertised and sold, which was done,and William Sparks purchased said land. In this document of August 8,1825, the heirs of John Sparks were identified as follows:

Katharine Sparks, widow; Michael Stokes, late Michael Sparks; widow andrelict of Benjamin Stokes, deceased; Mary Ann Stokes, Catharine Stokes,and Harriet Stokes, heirs of the said Benjamin Stokes, deceased; IsaacBaker and Martha his wife, late Martha Sparks; Jonas Sparks; SusanSparks; and Katharine Sparks, Jr. (The name Katharine was sometimesspelled Catherine in these records.)

Katharine Sparks, widow of John Sparks, lived in Nicholas Countyfollowing her husband's death. On January 6, 1843, she made her willwhich was probated in the August 1843 court, proving that she diedbetween January and August, 1843. She described herself in the will as"aged and infirm". She divided her 36-acre farm between her daughterElizabeth and a granddaughter, Honor Sparks. She left her "bed andbedding" to a grandson named Thomas Baker.

From probate records, deeds, census records, and other documents inBourbon and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky, we know that John and Katharine(Waddell) Sparks had the following children: (See their sheets.]

******************************

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, December 1980, Whole No. 112, p. 2262:

ADDITIONAL DESCENDANTS OF JOHN AND KATHERINE (WADDELL) SPARKS

OF BOURBON AND NICHOLAS COUNTIES, KENTUCKY

(Editor’s Note: In the September 1972 issue of the QUARTERLY, Vol. XX,No.3, Whole No. 79, pages 1498-1502, an account was published of thedescendants of John and Katherine (Waddell) Sparks of Bourbon andNicholas Counties, Kentucky. For some reason, we failed to includematerial on three of the seven children, Martha, Susan, and Katherine.The four children whom we did include were William, Micha, Jonas, andElizabeth. We now present the information we have about each of thethree that we omitted earlier and ask our readers to make the appropriatenotes on their copy of the earlier article.)

[Scanner's note: Reference to this page has been made in the originalarticle.]

5. Martha "Patsey" Sparks, daughter of John and Katherine (Waddell)Sparks, was
born on March 30, 1802. She was married to Isaac Baker in 1823 inNicholas County, Kentucky, by Peter Horn. (Nicholas County bond datedAugust 28, 1823.) Isaac Baker was born on February 5, 1801. He wasprobably the Isaac Baker who had married Artrisma Sparks a year earlierin Nicholas County (Nicholas County bond dated May 16, 1822). Sheprobably had died. Isaac and Patsey (Sparks) Baker moved to MontgomeryCounty, Indiana, in 1830, probably to join Patsey’s sister, Susan(Sparks) Inlow, who had moved to that county with her husband, AbrahamInlow, in 1828. Isaac and Patsey had at least three children:

(1) Thomas Baker was mentioned in the will of his maternalgrandmother,Katherine (Waddell) Sparks, in 1843. She left him her "bedand Bedding."
(2) John S. Baker was born on December 8, 1827. He died on June 12, 1897.He married Lucinda Clark on June 12, 1851, and they had eight childrenaccording to a History of Montgomery County, Indiana, written in 1913,which gives the following: "Winifred, deceased; Harriet E., living athome with her mother; Emma, Martha H., George, all are deceased; Mary A.,wife of Walter Canine; William is deceased; the youngest died at infancy,unnamed."

(3) Jonas Baker apparently died when quite young.

6. Susan Sparks, daughter of John and Katherine (Waddell) Sparks, wasmarried to
Abraham Inlow in 1828 by John Rogers in Nicholas County, Kentucky.(Nicholas County bond dated July 17, 1828.) They moved to MontgomeryCounty, Indiana, that same year. Abraham Inlow died in 1860. They had atleast two children,there may have been others:
(1) William J. Inlow was born on December 6, 1833, in Montgomery County.OnMarch 15, 1866, he married Emmarine Sparks. She was born on November2,1833, and was a daughter of William and Catherine (Knox) Sparks ofNicholas County, Kentucky.
(In the article of THE SPARKS QUARTERLY referred to above, EmmarineSparks’s name is given as Harriet Sparks. Emmarine Sparks had a sister,Harriet Sparks, who was omitted from the article. She was born on June17,1831, and was married to William Firman Gillespie in 1863. He was bornon November 2, 1833, and was a son of Calvin and Cythia (Hedges)Gillespie. Harriet (Sparks) Gillespie died in 1888 and was buried in theCarlisle (Ky.) Cemetery. Our readers are asked to make the appropriateaddition on page 1500 of the QUARTERLY referred to above.)

(2) Susan Inlow was born on February 20, 1838. She was married to JamesH. Kelly in 1866. She died on February 25, 1879.

7. Katherine Sparks, Jr., daughter of John and Katherine (Waddell)Sparks, was probably born about 1811. She was identified as an heir ofJohn and Katherine Sparks in 1825. We have no further record of her.

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, March, 1996, Whole No. 173, pp. 4603-4610:

JOHN SPARKS (Born ca. 1775 - Died prior to1810)
OF SURRY AND BURKE COUNTIES, NORTH CAROLINA

The initial portion of the article pertains to the parents of JohnSparks, William Sparks, (son of William Sample Sparks) and Ann Sparks andis set forth in the notes for William (521). We pick up the article onpage 4604:

"John Sparks, whom we believe was the was the oldest son of WilliamSparks, Jr., was probably married to Elizabeth ??? shortly before hisfather moved to Burke County. Although he would later follow his fatherthere, he was still in Surry County when the census of 1800 was taken.John's household was enumerated in 1800 as consisting of one male(himself) aged between 26 and 45; one female (doubtless his wifeElizabeth, whose maiden surname we have not discovered) aged between 16and 26; and two boys under ten years of age.

"(A United States Census has been taken every ten years since 1790,each one providing for a more detailed enumeration of each householduntil 1850. In 1850 and thereafter, each member of each household hasbeen named, along with his/her age and place of birth.)

"We believe that John Sparks followed his father to Burke County,North Carolina, soon after 1800. Two Sparks households were shown on the1800 census of Burke County. One was headed by William Sparks, Jr. andthe other by his brother, Jeremiah Sparks.

"Before many years passed following John Sparks's move to BurkeCounty, he died as a relatively young man, leaving Elizabeth a widow withfour young sons. She was listed as head of her household in Burke countywhen the 1810 census was taken. Her name appeared as "Eliza Sparks,"Eliza probably being intended by the census taker as an abbreviation forElizabeth. She was enumerated as aged between 16 and 26, and her fourboys were all shown as under ten. From other records that will be notedfurther in this sketch, it would appear that she had been born between1775 and 1785 -- she could neither read nor write, and she likely becameuncertain of her exact age in later years. The only record indicatingher place of birth was the 1850 census, which gave the state as Virginia.

"Genealogical research in Burke County, North Carolina, is extermelydifficult because in 1865 most of the county's records were burned. Theexact cause of this distruction is unclear -- it happened after the UnionArmy forces had left Morganton, the county's seat of justice. (BurkeCounty had been created in 1774 from a portion of Rowan County; SurryCounty had been created out of Rowan County in 1770.)

" While Burke County's land and probate records prior to 1865 havebeen lost, (although some residents arranged to have their deedsre-recorded), some of the county's court records did survive. Fromthese, we learn that when the county court met in April 1812, it wasordered that 14-year-old William Sparks, who was described as an "orphanof John Sparks," be bound (i.e. apprenticed) to a man named Jesse Hall.(This was a common practice by which orphans could learn a trade.) At anearlier sitting of the court, in January, 1812, it had been ordered thatAbsalom Sparks, who was identified as an orphan aged 12 years, be boundto Crispin D. Gibbs. Absolom's father was not identified in this January1812 court entry, but there can be little doubt that he was a brother ofWilliam Sparks, and like William, also an orphan son of John Sparks.Malone Sparks, born about 1802, another of the children of John andElizabeth Sparks, appears, because of his youth when his father died, tohave remained with his mother. We have found no clue regarding the nameof the apparent fourth son of John and Elizabeth Sparks.

"According to her own sworn statement made in 1853, which will benoted in more detail later, we know that Elizabeth Sparks, widow of JohnSparks, was married in Burke County, North Carolina, on October 17, 1814,to George Hodge, a widower who had been born in 1761.....The name ofGeorge Hodge's first wife has not been discovered, but from the 1790census record it would appear probable that there had been daughters byGeorge Hodge's first wife, as well as [a] son. It seems quite certainthat two of these daughters latter were married to two of the sons ofJohn and Elizabeth Sparks. Among the early marriage records preservedfor Burke county are the following:
May 2, 1819. William Sparks and Rachel Hodge. Witness: B. S. Gaither.
July 19, 1823. Absalem Sparks and Esther Hodge. Witness: Wm.Stallcups."

(The article continues with a discussion of the death of Mr. Hodge andpension applications.)

"When the 1850 census was taken, Elizabeth Hodge was shown as head ofher household in Burke County (Vol. 2, p. 730). Her age was given as 73,which would place her birth in or about 1777; she was shown as havingbeen born in Virginia.....

"Living very near Elizabeth, listed just one farm above her householdon the 1840 census, was that of her son William Sparks, age 57. It willbe recalled that he had been apprenticed at age 14 in1812 to Jesse Hall,and that he had been married to Rachel Hodge in 1819. On this 1850census, Rachel was shown as 56 years old. Living with William and RachelSparks in 1850 were John Sparks (aged 19) and Margaret Sparks (aged 16)who were doubtless their son and daughter. It is quite possible that theJesse Sparks (age 23) living in the household of George Hodge, Jr. as hasbeen noted, was another son of William and Rachel. There is also thepossibility that he was a son of Absolom Sparks, brother of William.

"The household shown on this 1850 census immediately before that ofWilliam Sparks (also on page 730) was that of George Sparks, age 31, withhis wife, nancy, age 32. Living with them were children named SusannahSparks (10), Joseph Sparks (5), and Emily Sparks (3). James Sparks, age24, and Erwin Sparks, age 20, both shown as miners, were also living inthe household of George and Nancy Sparks. We believe that James andErwin were brothers of George, and that all three were sons of Williamand Rachel....

"William Sparks was still living in Burke County when the 1860 censuswas taken, where his age was shown as 63... His wife, Rachel (Hodge)Sparks, was shown on the mortality schedule that year -- she had diedbetween June 1, 1859, and June 1, 1860, at the age of 68. This wouldplace her year of birth at about 1792."

See SQ 2567.

John Sparks, probable son of Nathan Sparks, Jr., was probably born about1780. Nathan Sparks, Sr. (father of Nathan Sparks, Jr.) mentioned "mygrandson, John Sparks" in his will dated September 15, 1787.

SPARKS QUARTERLY, Whole Number 35, pg. 582:

SPARKSES IN THE WAR OF 1812 , BOUNTY LAND AND PENSIONAPPLICATIONS,

"JOHN SPARKS, born June 26, 1784, probably in North Carolina; he grewup and married in Georgia; died Oct. 18, 1836, at Tallassee, Alabama.Widow SARAH (BROOKS) SPARKS, born Oct. 16, 1788, died in the 1860's inTexas. Bounty Land Warrant File 44 943-80-55.

"On March 15, 1854, Sarah Sparks of Titus County, Texas, madeapplication for bounty land. She stated that she was 65 years of age andthat she was the widow of John Sparks who had been a volunteer in theGeorgia Militia in a company commanded by a Capt. Varner; that hevolunteered at Fort Hawkins, was mustered into service in 1813 for 6months and was honorably discharged on or about March 1, 1814, "whichdischarge has been lost from her said Sarah's possession." She furtherstated that her husband, John Sparks, was also a volunteer in the AlabamaMilitia in the Creek and Seminole Indian War of 1836 in a companycommanded by John H. Broadnax for 3 months. "Said Sarah further statesthat she was married to said John Sparks in Jackson County, Georgia, onthe 29 th day of March A.D. 1806 by one William Spencer, Justice of thePeace, and that her said husband, John Sparks, died at Tallassee Alabamaon the 18th day of October AD 1836, and that she is still a widow." Shesigned her name as "Sarah Sparks" and J. A. McLauren signed as justice ofthe peace.

"Attached to the application of Sarah Sparks is the followingstatement by her son, Nathan F. Sparks: "Personally appeared before me F. N. Sparks & after being Sworn according to law declares that his fatherJohn Sparks was mustered into Service at Tallassee in 1836 for threemonths & twenty-six days under Capt. John Broadnax & continued in actualservice for near that time & and was honorably discharged at the saidTallassee. (signed) N. F. Sparks. Sworn to & Subscribed before me March15th 1854 (signed) J. A. McLauren, J.P."

"In order to prove that she was the widow of John Sparks, Sarah Sparkssubmitted an affidavit signed before a justice of the peace by JamesBrooks and Paschal Brooks of Chambers County, Alabama, who swore, "thatthey were acquainted with John Sparks and Sarah Sparks and that they werepresent when the said John Sparks and Sarah Sparks were married and thatsaid marriage took place in Jackson County and State of Georgia." Bothparties signed their names to this document on Nov. 8, 1854, beforeNathan Y. Hunter, and acting justice of the peace.

"On Jan. 3, 1855, William Sparks and Francis M. Sparks, sons of Johnand Sarah (Brooks) Sparks, of Titus County, Texas, deposed that JohnSparks had volunteered for service against the Creek Indians on or aboutMay 1, 1836, and was mustered into service at Tallassee in Talapoosy(i.e. Tallapoosa) County, Ala., in the company of Capt. John H. Broadnaxand that he was honorably discharged at Tallassee after 3 months and 26days; and "that they were eye witnesses to that they have above stated"and that each of them had already received 40 acres of bounty land forhis service. They signed this document as "Wm Sparks" and "Francis M.Sparks"; James Cowna was the justice of the peace before whom they swore.

"Sarah Sparks was granted 80 acres of bounty land under the act ofSeptember 28, 1850. On Feb. 19, 1856, Sarah Sparks applied foradditional bounty land under the Act of 1855. She made her applicationbefore R. J. Holbrook, a notary public of Titus Co., Texas, but in herapplication she stated that she was a resident of Stephens County.hestated that she was 67 years old and that before her marriage to JohnSparks her name had been Sarah Brooks. She gave essentially the sameinformation as she had in her earlier application. She signed her nameas "Sarah Sparks"; the witnesses were William Sparks and Campbell English.

"The Pension Office asked for proof of her marriage to John Sparks andon Dec. 9, 1856, Sarah Sparks wrote from Lone Star, Titus County, Texas,that she had submitted proof of her marriage with her first application.Francis M. Sparks and James B. Sparks of Titus County, Texas, added astatement to her letter, stating that Sarah Sparks was the widow of JohnSparks and that "she lived with John Sparks as his wife and raised alarge family of children." They signed their names as "F. M. Sparks" and"James B. Sparks"; although they did not state their relationship toSarah Sparks, they were actually her sons. R. J. Holbrook signed asnotary public. Sarah Sparks was issued a warrant for 80 additional acresof bounty land under the Act of 1855."

****************************************

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, September 1984, Whole No. 127, p. 2646 for anarticle about Matthew and Sarah's grandson, John, son of Matthew andMargaret (-----) Sparks:

"MATTHEW J. SPARKS, SON OF MATTHEW AND SARAH (THOMPSON) SPARKSAND HIS DESCENDANTS"

"John Sparks, son of Matthew and Margaret (---) Sparks, was born onJune 26, 1784, according to a Bible record kept by a descendant. He wasonly 52 years of age when he died on October 18, 1836, but during hisshort life span, he had served as a soldier in two wars; he had lived inat least five states or territories; and he and his wife, Sarah, hadreared eleven children.

"John Sparks was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in thatportion which became Ashe County in 1799; he was a small child when hisfather moved his family to Georgia. He was about ten years old when hisparents moved to nearby South Carolina to escape the dread of Indiandepredations, and he was a grown man when they returned to Georgia in1802. There , in Jackson County, John married Sarah Brooks on March 20,1806, and it was there that their first child was born the following year.

"Sarah Brooks (sometimes called "Sally"), wife of John Sparks, wasborn in 1788, either on October 16th or November 16th. Her parentswereJames and Elizabeth (Traylor) Brooks who had been married in 1782 inCaswell County, North Carolina. Shortly after their marriage, James andElizabeth Brooks had moved to Georgia where Sarah was born. James Brooksis believed to have served in the Georgia Militia during theRevolutionary War.

"Shortly after the birth of their first child, John and Sarah joinedhis father in the Illinois Territory where their second child (also ason) was born in 1809. By 1811, however, John and his family were ontheir way back to Georgia and a third child (another son) was born tothem in the spring in 1811 in Tennessee. In 1813, John was listed besidehis father-in-law on the Putnam County, Georgia, tax roll.

"When John Sparks left the Illinois Territory about 1810, it may havebeen the last time that he ever saw his father. Years later, MatthewSparks stated in his Revolutionary War pension application that his son(presumedly John) had taken the family Bible with him back to Georgia,and it could very well have been a gift made in the full expectation ofnever seeing each other again. Their separate travels (fairly wellrecorded) never indicate another meeting.

"After John and Sarah returned to Georgia, John volunteered hisservices during the War of 1812. According to the bounty land claimfiled in the 1850's by his widow, he had enlisted in 1813 at Fort Hawkinsin the Georgia Militia in a company commanded by Capt. Varner for a termof six months; he was discharged on or about March 1, 1814. (See pages581-82 for an abstract of his bounty claim which is copied below.)

"Following his discharge from the Georgia Militia in the spring of1814, John Sparks bought a tract of land from William Hunnicut inNovember of that year. The land, consisting of 101 1/4 acres, waslocated in the 4th District of Jasper County, Georgia. The deed waswitnessed by Thomas Honeycut and Benjamin King. Apparently John andSarah moved to the newly-acquired land shortly thereafter, for when the1820 census was taken, he was the head of a household in Jasper County.

"John Sparks was listed on the 1820 census as "Senior" which is a bitmystifying since he had no son designated as "Junior." In allprobability, however, this designation was used to distinguish him fromanother John Sparks, also listed on the 1820 census, who was indeed"junior" in age to the above John Sparks. The second John Sparks wasundoubtedly a son of John Sparks (1755 -1831), brother of Matthew Sparksand thus an uncle of John Sparks, our subject. (See the March 1966 issueof the QUARTERLY, Whole No. 53, for further details of the family of JohnSparks (1755 -1831). At the time that article was written, we were notsure that John Sparks (1755 -1831) had a son named John, but we now haveample evidence that this was the case.

"John Sparks (1784-1836) was the head of a household in Monroe County,Georgia, when the 1830 census was taken; he had probably moved across theOcmulgee River after Monroe County was formed in 1821 from Indian lands.By 1836, however, he had moved to Tallapoosa County, Alabama. That yearhe and his son, Francis Marion Sparks, were listed on the TallapoosaCounty Tax roll, and the same year he (and each of is four sons) enlistedin the Tallasee Guards of the Alabama Militia for military service in theCreek and Seminole Indian War. He served almost four months under Capt.John H. Broadnax, but, shortly after his discharge, he died on October18, 1836. Neither the cause of his death nor his burial place are known.

"Sarah Sparks continued to live in the area after her husband's death.She was listed near her younger brother, James Brooks, Jr., when the 1840census was taken of Chambers County, Alabama. With her were three of herdaughters. By 1850, she had moved, along with her son William, to Texaswhere they were both listed on the 1850 census of Titus County. She waslisted as 61 years of age and the head of Household No. 445. With herwere her youngest daughters, Martha, aged 20, and Sarah, aged 17. Livingin the next household (No. 446) was her son, William Sparks, and hisfamily.

"As indicated above, Sarah Sparks applied for bounty land in 1854based on her husband's military service and was awarded 80 acres. Sheapplied for additional land in 1856 and received another 40 acres. Whenthe 1860 census was taken of Titus County, she was living in thehousehold of her son-in-law, James Denny, husband of her daughter, Sarah(Sparks) Denny. She died in 1865, but the exact date is not known. On afamily record, the date is written as ---1st, 1865. Descendants believeshe was buried in a "lost" cemetary about one mile north of present dayCypress Cemetary in Franklin County, Texas.

"The family record referred to in the preceding paragraph belonged toa granddaughter of John and Sarah (Brooks) Sparks, Mrs. Tinsy Paralee(Sparks) McClain. It was copied by a lead pencil and is now in thepossession of a granddaughter of Mrs. McClain, Mrs. Eva NelsonHalberstadt of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here is the family record inits entirety:

BIRTHS
John Sparks, My Grand Father, was born June 26th, 1784.
Sarah Brooks, my Grand Mother, was born November 16, 1788.
Mathew Sparks, My Great Grand Father, was born Jan. 20, 1759.
John Sparks and Sarah Brooks were Married March 27, 1806.
William Sparks was Born Jan. 24th 1807.
James Brooks Sparks was Born January 31, 1809.
Nathan Fowler Sparks was Born May 16th 1811.
Elizabeth Traylor Sparks was Born March 5th 1813.
Idris Sparks was Born Decmeber 7th 1815.
Francis Marion Sparks was Born February 4th 1818.
Alfred Sparks was Born October 23rd 1819. Died August 6th 1820
Milly B. Sparks was born June 18th 1821.
Miriam Beale Sparks was born February 10th 1824.
Martha Naomi Sparks was born June 11th 1826.
Sarah Jane Sparks was born January 4th 1830.

DEATHS
John Sparks, My Grand Father, died October 18th 1836.
Sally Sparks, My Grand Mother, died ---1st 1865.

"As shown above, John and Sarah (Brooks) Sparks had eleven children,five sons and six daughters. (There follows commencing on pg. 2648 arecord of these children).

END OF ARTICLE.

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1988, Whole No. 141, pp. 3177-3206:

DESCENDANTS OF REUBEN AND CASSIE (BUTTERY) SPARKS:

"John Sparks, son of Reuben and Cassie (Buttery) Sparks, was bornabout 1784, probably in Wilkes County, North Carolina. He marriedElizabeth Rose, probably about 1806 in Wilkes County. She was born about1788 in North Carolina and was probably a daughter of Emanuel and MaryRose. John and Elizabeth were listed on the 1810 and 1820 censuses ofWilkes County , but by 1820 they had moved to that part of Ashe County,North Carolina, which was cut off to form Alleghany County in 1859. Theywere listed on the 1830 and 1850 censuses of Ashe County and the 1860census of Alleghaney County . On the latter census, John's age was givenas 77 and Elizabeth's as 74.

"Elizabeth (Rose) Smith joined the old Roaring River Baptist Church onthe second Saturday of January, 1829, and she was dismissed on the forthSaturday of November 1849 to help form a new church at Woodruff, NorthCarolina. She died about 1865; John died sometime between the spring andfall of 1868. His health was failing and he made his will on May 13,1868 . It was probated at the fall term of the Alleghany County Court.All of his children were named in the will. Here is the full text of thewill:

"May the 13th, Eighteen Hundred Sixty Eight. This day in bad health
but sound reason, calling to mind the mortality of my body and the
short time of life, I do make this my last will and testament a sfollows,
that is to say:
First of all, I give to my son, Emanuel Sparkes, my bed and bedclothing
clothing for his part of my estate.
Next, to my daughter, Nancy Bogues, fifteen dollars out of the debtfor
two cows that she bought at the sale for her part of my estate.
Next, I give to my daughter, Cassy Brooks, a note that I hold against
Hardin Brooks of thirteen dollars and interest for ten year s and the
against Hardin Brooks for property that he bought at the sale for
his [sic] part of my estate.
Next, I give to my son, Daniel Sparkes children twenty five dollarsin
money fo their part of my estate.
Next, I give to my son, William Sparks, one dollar for his part of my
estate.
Next, I give to my son, Solomon Sparks, one dollar for his part of my
estate.
Next, I give to my daughter, Sarah Hall, one dollar for her part ofmy
estate.
Next, to my daughter, Polly Hollaway, children, one dollar each for
their part of my estate.
Next, to my son, R. J. Sparks, the balance of my property andaccounts
for taking care of me my lifetime for his part of my estate, and make
his [sic] son, R. J. Sparks, executor to his [sic] last will andtestament.

Signed, sealed, day and date above written.
his
JOHN X SPARKS (seal)
Attest: mark
John C. Roberts
Wm. Woodruff

State of North Carolina, Alleghany County, Fall Term, 1868, SuperiorCourt
of Law:
The within will of John Sparks, Decd., is duly proven in open courtby
the oath of Wm. Woodruff, one of the subscribing witnesses there toand
ordered to be recorded, whereupon, R. J. Sparks, the executorappointed
comes into court and takes the oath of executor as the law directs.
Witness: Wm. A. J. Foulkes, O.S.C."

See SQ p. 2647 mentioning the existance of this John Sparks.

SQ p. 4051:

"John Sparks was born on February 7, 1793, and died on July 19, 1819,at Natchez, Mississippi. He may have gone there on a business trip. Thefollowing notice of his death appeared in the Mississippi State Gazetteof August 7, 1819: "Died. John Sparks, 30 years of age, of biliousfever." According to the records of Judge Sparks, described earlier, JohnSparks had not been married."

SQ pp 5390-91:

John Sparks, the youngest child of Matthew and Eunice Sparks, was born inor about 1800. We believe that he was the male shown as under 10 years ofage in his parents' household on the 1810 census of Surry County, NorthCarolina.

When Matthew Sparks made a deed of gift to each of his five sons onMarch 26, 1819, "in consideration of the natural love and affection thata parent hath to ward a child," he gave a 50-acre tract to his son, John.Comprising the north east corner of his plantation, with its west sideadjoining the 60-acre tract Matthew gave to Joel Sparks as well as aportion of the land Matthew "loaned" to his wife, John's mother, duringher lifetime. Its southern boundary was also with his mother's land,while on the east was the Hunting Creek, i.e., the "main" Hunting Creek,not the North Branch of Hunting Creek. John's brother, William D. Sparks,signed this deed as a witness, writing his name simply as "WilliamSparks." Thomas Wright, Sheriff of Surry County, who drew up all five ofthe deeds for his old friend, Matthew Sparks, also signed as a witness.It is indicative of John's youth at the time that, while his brotherstook turns witnessing each others deeds, John did not do so. It was hisbrother William who appeared before the Surry County Court to swear thathe had been a witness to this deed, after which it was duly recorded inSurry County Deed Book 0, p.398.

No record of a marriage bond has been found for John Sparks in SurryCounty, but we believe that he was married by the time the 1820 censuswas taken. He could have been married in another county, but it is moreprobable that he and his wife were wed through the posting of banns forthree weeks prior to the ceremony in Surry County. It would appear thatJohn was married at a rather young age.

When the 1820 census was taken in Surry County, John Sparks wasshown as heading a household. His name appeared on the same page as didhis mother and his four brothers. His own age was given as between 16 and26, i.e., he had been born between 1794 and 1804; a female in
his household, who was doubtless his wife, was shown in the same agecategory. There was also one child, a girl, under the age of 10. She wassurely an infant.

Despite the fact that John Sparks was given 50 acres of land in 1819,he was not shown on the 1820 tax list, probably because he had notreached his 21st birthday. (The age at which one was taxed as a poll inNorth Carolina had been changed from 16 to 21 in 1784.) John's name does
appear on the 1821 and 1822 tax lists in the same district as his motherand brothers, but in neither instance was he taxed for land--only as apoll. We have found no record of his selling the 50 acres given to him byhis father, however. This matter remains a mystery.

There is a bill of sale recorded in Surry County Deed Book S,pp.403-04, that may help to explain our lack of information regardingJohn Sparks. Dated August 26, 1825, it reveals that John sold theinheritance that he anticipated receiving with the death of his mother,Eunice Sparks. Only with her death could the land and other possessionsof his father, Matthew Sparks, be sold and the proceeds divided inaccordance with Matthew's will of 1819. A portion of this bill of salereads:

Know all men that I John Sparks of the County of Surry . for and inconsideration of two hundred dollars in
hand paid have bargained and sold and conveyed to Ingram Agill ofthe County of Iredell.. all the right, title,
claim [and] interest which I have in the Estate my Father, MatthewSparks, died possessed of, and my
share of five Negroes of which also my Father died possessed of &their Increase to wit, a Negro man
called Stephen & a Negro Woman called Cate and also Ginny and twoNegro Children called Ransom
and Winthid [?] also my share in stock of horses, cattle and hogsand other personal propperty [sic] and all
my share and interest in any Debts or other Estates which may be dueme as my Fathers Estate...
[signed] John Sparks

Witnesses
[signed] Henry Gill
[signed] William White

It was Henry Gill who appeared before the Surry County Court inFebruary 1826 to swear that he had witnessed the signing of this deed.Because the witness was Henry Gill, we wonder whether Ingram Agill mayhave been a variant spelling of the family name. We have no otherinformation regarding "Ingram Agill of Iredell County," although IredellCounty, which had been cut off from Rowan County in 1788, adjoins thesouth side of Yadkin County which was created in 1850 from that portionof Surry County lying south of the Yadkin River.

Although John Sparks was not shown on the 1830 census as heading ahousehold in Surry County, we may wonder whether he might have been oneof the males, age 30 to 40, shown on that census as living in thehousehold of Eunice Sparks. She was a very old lady at that time, and wemay wonder whether not only John but possibly William D. Sparks, her twoyoungest sons, might have been helping her operate her large farm in 1830.

We have no further information regarding John Sparks, son of Matthewand Eunice Sparks. It would seem that his motive for selling hisinheritance in 1825 could have been in contemplation of moving away fromSurry County. As in many families, the name "John" has been usedfrequently--there have been many John Sparkses through the years makingthe tracing of one John Sparks difficult.

SQ pg 804: "John Sparks, son of David and Mary (Little) Sparks, wasborn in the 179O's in Rowan County, North Carolina. He apparentlyaccompanied his father to Tennessee and was probably the John Sparkslisted on the tax roll of Madison County, Tennessee, in 1828. He wasprobably the John Sparks who married Kitty Harwood, daughter of HenryHarwood, of Rowan County, North Carolina, prior to 1819 when he and otherheirs of Henry Harwood gave a power of attorney to Richard Smith (anotherson-in-law of Henry Harwood) to sell land in Rowan County that hadformerly belonged to Henry Harwood in Rowan County (Rowan County DeedBook 26, p.7). No further record."

SQ pg 2971:

"John Sparks, son of Solomon and Rachel Sparks , was born about 1799in Bedford County. He married Barbara ---, probably about 1830. She wasborn about 1810 in Pennsylvania. John and Barbara were listed on the1840 and 1850 census of Bedford County, and, according to these records,they had eight children, four sons and four daughters. John died about1865 and Barbara died after 1870. Their children were Sarah, Rachel, Ann,Uriah Hughes, Eliza, William, Jonas, and John Sparks Jr."

SQ 2769:

John Sparks, son of William and Mary (Fielder) Sparks, was born about1804 in Georgia. He was a small lad when his parents moved toMississippi. It was there, in Lawrence County, that he was married toJoanna Parkman on December 22, 1825, by Abel Stringer, a justice of thepeace. Joanna was probably a daughter of Joseph and Susannah Parkman. Sheapparently died sometime before 1850. John died sometime after 1854. Theyhad two children.

SQ p 963:

"John Sparks, son of William and Eunice (Woodruff) Sparks was bornabout 1811 in Alabama and died in 1847 in Franklin County, Alabama. Hisburial place is not known, but may be in a grave with an unlettered stonein the Sparks Family Cemetary near Russellville. John Sparks marriedSarah Bowlen, who was born in Georgia in 1815 and died in LawrenceCounty, Arkansas, in 1887. Not long after the death of John Sparks in1847 , his widow and children moved to Hardin County, Tennessee. In1860, Sarah and several of her children moved to Arkansas by ox cart.They settled first at Smithville in Lawrence County on Coopers Creek,where they lived during the Civil War. John and Sarah (Bowlen) Sparksare believed to have had eight children, althought he names of only fiveare known, all sons . The other three were probably daughters; it isknown that one daughter married and remained in Hardin County,Tennessee. The five known sons were
(a) John T. Sparks
(b) James L. Sparks
(c) Robert Sparks
(d) Joseph Sparks
(e) Isaac Newton Sparks

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, June 1987, Whole No. 138, p. 3078:
"John Sparks, son of Abel and Sarah (Cochran) Sparks, was born onMarch 25, 1814, in Tennessee. He married Mary ("Polly") Ann Kirkpatrickwho died on September 9, 1876; she was buried in the KIrkpatrick Cemeteryin Iowa County, Wisconsin, near Rewey. She was a sister of Francis C.Kirkpatrick who married Frances Sparks. He was probably the John Sparksshown on the 1830 census of Morgan County, Illinois, with a household oftwo males and one female. On the 1840 Territorial census of Wisconsin,he was listed as living in Grant County; in 1846, he was living inadjoining Iowa County where he was also listed in the 1850 census (inMifflin Township). (here lists children)

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY article printed in the March 1999, Whole No.185, pps 5106-15:

"JOHN SPARKS (1816-1899) OF LEWIS COUNTY,KENTUCKY
"HIS LIFE AND DESCENDANTS byPaul E. Sparks"

[JS: For the introduction to this article on pp. 5107-7 relating to theparents and siblings of John Sparks, see the notes for his father JosephSparks. We continue with the referenced article on p. 5107:]

"John Sparks, son of Joseph and Anne (Wilson) Sparks, was born onFebruary 21, 1816, in Lewis County, Kentucky. It was there that he grewto manhood, learned the trade of blacksmith, and became a wagon maker. Hewas married to Caroline ----- about 1836. She had been born on December27, 1818, in Kentucky.

"John and Caroline Sparks went to housekeeping in 1848 in or near thevillage of Concord on the south bank of the Ohio River. He practiced histrade of blacksmith, but he gradually began to make wagons. He also madeplows and was the designer of a plow known as the "Clipper." He becamea member of the Concord Masonic Lodge in 1859 and was listed as acarriage and wagon maker in the KENTUCKY STATE GAZETTE AND BUSINESSDIRECTORY that same year. The children of John and Caroline Sparks were:(see their sheets)

SQ 3266: "John Sparks, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Jeffreys) Sparks ,was born about 1824. He is said to have "gone west.""

SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1994, Whole No. 165, p. 4276 states: JohnSparks,
son of Jesse and Nancy Sparks, was born about 1824 in Kentucky. He wasmarried to Lucinda Waggoner and they had ten children: Thomas, Jesse,Elizabeth, Mary, Colonel, Jane, Samuel, Fredrick, Hannah and Nancy.

The family is found in the 1870 US Census for Elliott County, KY, atMoccasin as follows:
#44: John Sparks, 45, b. KY; Lucinda, 40; Mary, 15; Samuel, 12;Frederick, 9; Hannah, 8; Nancy, 6.

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY September 1959, Whole No. 27, p. 418:

"John Sparks, son of Solomon and Isabella (Swaim) Sparks, was born inWilkes County, NC, in 1825 and died in Wells County, IN, in 1917. Hemarried Rebecca Roberts in Wells County on July 25, 1853. She was bornin Ohio in 1837 and died in 1926. Both were buried in the SparksCemetery in Wells County. John and Rebecca were listed on the 1870census of Huntington County, IN., with the following four children:
1. Mary Sparks, born in Indiana about 1856;
2. Lillian Sparks, born in Indiana about 1865;
3. Robert Sparks, born in Indiana about 1867;
4. Janetta Sparks, born in Indiana about 1869."

**********

See SQ p. 5298-9:

John Sparks, son of Solomon and Isabella (Swaim) Sparks, was born inJanuary 1825. When the1850 census was taken of Wells County, Indiana,John was shown as living in the household of his father in Rock CreekTownship in Wells County. His age was given then as 22, but we believethat this was in error; his place of birth was given as Indiana, which,if true, means that his parents had made the journey from North Carolinaas early as 1824.

John Sparks was married in Wells County, Indiana, on July 25, 1853, toRebecca Roberts, who had been born in March 1836 in Ohio according tocensus records. He was living near Markle in Huntington County, Indiana,by 1860.

Many years ago, a member of our Association sent us a photograph of anitem in a January 1915 issue of a Markle, Indiana, weekly newspaperheaded: "John Sparks Observes Ninetieth Birthday." We do not have theprecise date of this item within the month of January 1915:

John Sparks of Markle celebrated his ninetieth birthday anniversaryFriday. The day was spent quietly, a few relatives being entertainedat this home at the dinner hour. Mr. Sparks, who is a pioneer of Markle,has spent most of his life in and near Markle. The house in which he nowlives was built before there was a town of Markle. Mrs. Sparks will beseventy nine years old next March.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Sparks are enjoying fairly good health, and take muchinterest in the affairs of the town. Mr. Sparks owns a farm on the edgeof the town, but each year he has a "patch" of corn on the lot wherehe lives. This affords him both recreation and work during the summermonths.

John Sparks was shown on the 1860 census as a farmer living in HuntingtonCounty, Indiana, with his wife and three children. A number of obviouserrors were made by the census taker in listing his family in 1860, butwe believe that the enumeration of his family on the 1870 and 1880censuses was largely correct. John Sparks died on May 24, 1917, atMarkle, at the age of 92. He was buried in the Sparks Cemetery in WellsCounty, as was also his wife, who died in 1926. From census records, wejudge their children to have been:
(1) Martha Sparks (called Mary on the 1860 census) was bornabout 1854.
(2) Lillian Sparks (called Elizabeth on the 1860 census) wasborn about 1865.
(3) Robert Sparks (called Scott on the 1860 census) was bornabout 1868.
(4) Jenette Sparks was born in October 1869.
(5) Nathan Sparks was born about 1874.

**********

See The Sparks Quarterly, March, 1969, Whole No. 65, pp. 1209-10:

"John Sparks (son of Hardy and Susannah (Brown) Sparks) lost his lifein during the famous blizzard of 1888. Mrs. E. P. Wallin has loaned us aclipping from an old scrapbook telling of this tragedy. This particularaccount was written in 1905 on the 17th anniversary of the great storm.It reads:

"Yesterday was the seventeenth anniversary of THE BLIZZARD. Theterrible storm which covered the country from the north line of theDakotas to central Kansas, and to as great an extent east and west,seemed to select this section of the state, Gage County, Nebraska, as itscenter. Many lives were lost, thousands of cattle perished, trains weredelayed, roads were blockaded, in fact we have no record of such a stormsince the first white men settled in this section, and began to writehistory.

"It was during this terrible storm, which has ever beenremembered as THE BLIZZARD, since it had no equal before nor since, thatHon. John Sparks lost his life, while trying to return from Beatrice tohis home eight miles west of this city.....

"On the fatal day, John Sparks, one of the oldest and most highlyesteemed citizens of the county, started home from Beatrice and was lostin the blinding storm. He had unhitched his team, and turned them loose,and they found their way home the next day. A search was instituted,and the body of Mr. Sparks was found a quarter of a mile from home. Mr.Sparks was a man of about sixty years of age, and had represented Gagecounty in the legislature. He made a hard fight but the elementsovercame him.

"This was the most severe storm in the history of the county, andits anniversary is remembered by those who were here seventeen years agoyesterday."

SQ pg 103: George Washington Sparks and his brother, John Spark s(sons of Reuben and Phoebe Sparks), were killed in service in 186 3 inthe Army of the Confederate States of America.

SQ p 3184: "John Sparks, son of Billie and Sallie (Jennings) Sparks,was born on October 31, 1841, in Indiana and was a young lad when hisparents moved to Iowa. When the Civil War broke out, he enrolled in theUnion Army, but was taken ill and was unable to serve. After the warended, he was married to Adeline Phipps on January 1, 1870. She was adaughter of Solomon Phipps. She died in 1871 when their first child wasborn. The child died also. John Sparks married (2nd) Nancy SophronaCartwright on February 14, 1877. She had been born on November 25, 1858,in Pike County, Ohio, and was a daughter of William A. and Hanna M.(Miller) Cartwright.

"John Sparks was a general farmer and stock-raiser. He also owned asaw-mill and operated a threshing machine during the harvest season. Hewas a member of the Masonic Lodge at Moingona, Iowa. He served as acounty constable, road supervisor, and member of the school board. Heand Nancy had eleven children. (See the cover of this [March 1988, WholeNo. 141, page 3175] issue of the QUARTERLY for a picture of this family.)"

In the March, 1977, issue of the Sparks Quarterly, Whole No. 97, appearedthe following article pp1891-2:

"In 1891, a publication, The National Cyclopedia of American Biography,was begun to honor and to provide biographical data on the leaders of theUnited States of America. The publication stated that it would (1) betruly national, (2) be representative of every section of the country,and (3) embrace every period of American history. Persons whosebiographies would appear would include all high governmental officials;the leaders in the fields of education, religion, law, literature, music,art, engineering, medicine, commerce, and industry; officials ofnational clubs, social institutions and learned societies; and recipientsof notable medals and awards.

In the eighty-five years since the formation of this publication, sevenpersons named SPARKS have been honored. The biographies of these menappearing in the Cyclopedia have been abstracted and appear below......."

"Volume XXVI, 1937. Page 326. JOHN SPARKS, governor of Nevada. He wasborn in Mississippi on August 30, 1843, and waa a son of Samuel and Sarah(Deal) Sparks, and a grandson of Millington Sparks, a Maryland planter.His father moved the family to Lampasas, Texas, in 1857 when that countrywas infested with hostile Indians and as an Indian scout and member ofthe Texas Rangers, young John developed a tenacious courage. combinedwith a cheerful optimism, which characterized his whole career. He servedin the Union Army during the Civil War and moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, in1868, and from there to Reno, Nevada, in 1880. There, he built up a verylarge cattle business, owning 70,000 head. He introduced the firstpure-blooded Hereford cattle to Nevada and established valuable herds ofboth Herefords and Durhams. The town of Sparks, Nevada, was named for him.

Sparks became interested in politics and served as a county commissionerand in both houses of the Nevada legislature. In 1902, he was electedgovernor of Nevada and he was reelected in 1906. His high-mindedintegrity and loyalty to duty won for him the nickname "Honest John"Sparks. During his administrations, the legislature enacted an irrigationlaw; established an eight-hour day for miners; created a state railroadcommission; and enacted law embodying the principle of employer'sliability. A spectacular feature of his administration was a strike inthe Goldfield mine territory which involved the federal government. TheInternational Workers of the World Union called the strike and localauthorities appeared unable or unwilling to stop the trouble, so Sparksrequested President Theodore Roosevelt to send federal troops toGoldfield to restore order.

Governor Sparks was a Baptist. His warm and friendly nature, plus hishigh standard of personal honor,
brought him a host of friends, both personal and political. He was amember of the Masons, Elks, Eagles and Odd Fellows. He was marriedtwice: (1) in June 1872 to Rachel, daughter of Dr. David Forkner Knight,by whom he had a daughter, Maud, wife of A. J. McKinzie, and (2) to NancyEllenora Knight, half-sister of his first wife. By the second marriage,he had three children: Benton Hackney, Charles, and Leland. He died nearReno, Nevada, on May 22, 1908."

***************

SPARKS QUARTERLY, June 1995, Whole No. 170, pps 4473-4477:
"John Sparks, son of Sam and Sarah (Deal) Sparks, was born on August30, 1843, in Winston County, Mississippi, where his father was a cottonfarmer. Shortly after John's birth, Sam Sparks moved his family toAshley County, Arkansas, where the family was enumerated on the 1850census, living near the village of Fountain Hill. John was a teenage boywhen his father made his last move, this time to newly- formed LampasasCounty, Texas, where he settled on the Salt Fork (later Sulfur Fork) ofthe Lampasas River in Lampasas County. It was here that John Sparksattained manhood.

"Lampasas County is located on the eastern fringe of the well-knownTexas "cattle country," and John Sparks became involved in cattle raisingat an early age. As a young lad, he learned to ride horses, rope steers,and shoot "varmints." He also learned cattle raising from weaning andbranding to the final sale at a cattle market.

"Sparks became a large man physically. Estimates of his height varyfrom six feet, two inches, to six feet, five inches, and apparently hehad great muscular strength as well. A contemporary described him as"like a grizzly bear in strength." He was also described as "warm andfriendly," "courageous and fearless," "sincere and honest," and "gentleand generous." Apparently he was also a "joiner," and he heldmemberships in the Odd Fellows, Masons, Elks, and Eagles. He was also aBaptist.

"The Civil War service of John Sparks is not too clear. In 1855 , hedictated a modest account of his military service as follows: " I, beingabout 14 years of age (1857) remained on my father's farm until thebreaking out of the civil War between the North and South wh en I joinedwhat was known as the Home Texas Rangers and was attache d to Norris'sRegiment State Troops. (We were detailed to guard the whites and citizeninhabitants agains the Comanche Indians, they being very troublesome atthis time. In this important service, I remained nearly four years anduntil the close of the war, when I once (again) actively engaged in thecattle business.)"

"Many years later, on May 2, 1930, Sparks's widow, Nancy Elnora(Knight) Sparks, applied for a Texas Confederate States Army Pension .She stated that her husband had served in Capt. J. M. Callan's Com pany,Texas Frontier Regiment from December 13, 1862, until sometime in 1864.The service was confirmed a few days later by the Texas A djutantGeneral's Office which stated: "John Sparks was a private in Capt. J. J.Callan's Company, Texas Frontier Regiment. He was enrolled on December13, 1862, at Camp Colorado, Texas, and was paid for his service throughDecember 31, 1863. The Regiment was accepted into the Confederacy in theearly part of 1864." Mrs. Sparks's applic ation was approved on May 8,1930. Certificate No. 46,500 was issued to her, and she was placed onthe Texas pension Roll.

"John Sparks participated in several cattle drives as a young cowboy.In the main, these drives were from Texas northward to new ranges inNebraska, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and Montana where the cattle wereturned loose to fatten before they were shipped east to markets . Onedrive took him from Texas to Virginia. He was finally able to acquirehis own herds.

"In 1866, Sparks took a herd of cattle to the area where Nebraska andWyoming join. He remained in this area nearly three years beforereturning to Texas. It was there, in the spring of 1872, that he wasmarried to Rachel Knight. She had been born on November 20, 18 53, andwas a daughter of Dr. David and Susannah Knight. She accompanied herhusband when he returned to Wyoming where they lived at Cheyenne. Hebought a ranch in the Chugwater River valley in 1873.

"During the next quarter of a century, the story of the life of JohnSparks can best be told by following his business deals involving thebuying and selling of land and cattle. Each of his transactions seemedto be larger than the one before and finally reached a peak when he andhis partner, John Tinnin, owned nearly 80,000 head of cattle scatteredover land that equalled in size the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island,Delaware, and half of the state of New Jersey. During the harsh winterof 1889-1890, they lost at least 35,000 head o f cattle through freezingand starvation.

"John Sparks also had lost his wife, Rachel, a decade earlier, duringthe winter of 1878-1879. She was only twenty-six years old whe n shedied on February 14, 1879. John was left with two small daughters, agesfour and two. He turned to his sister-in-law, Nancy Elnora ("Nora")Knight for help, and they were married on January 25, 1880 . Rachel wasburied in the Presbyterian Cemetery at Georgetown, Texas.

During this time, Sparks had not lost interest in his Texasupbringing, and in 1878 he had built a home in Georgetown. He alsoacquired about 10,000 acres of land south of Taylor, Texas, in WilliamsonCounty and became half-owner of the Steele & Sparks Bank in Georgetown.

After his second marriage, John Sparks took his bride to Elko County,Nevada, where they lived for a time at the Rancho Grande ranch on GooseCreek in the extreme northeast corner of the county, but by 1885, he hadmoved his family across the state to the town of Reno. There, hepurchased a 1,640-acre tract of land that he named "The Alamo." Itbecame a showcase ranch and was the center of a most successfulcattle-breeding operation. It also became the center of the community'ssocial life where John and Nora gave barbecue parties, entertaining theirneighbors and guests. Guest lists contained the names of severalprominent persons at the national level, including Leland Stanford,Edward Harriman, and Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1891, Sparks and Jasper Harrell formed a new cattle company thatbecame quite successful. He sold his share to Harrell in 1901 . A yearlater, Sparks had an opportunity to buy the Wedekind gold mine just a fewmiles north of Reno. The mine turned out to be a fraud, but Sparkslearned of this only after he had built a thirty-ton mill, with a store,machine shop, assay office, and boarding facilities . It is said that helost over $150,000 on the deal.

In 1902, John Sparks was persuaded to become a candidate for governorot Nevada on the Fusion Party ticket (actually a combination of Democratsand Republicans). He was victorious, and he was reelected to the officefour years later. During his terms of office, legislation was enacted to(1) establish much needed irrigation policies; (2 ) establish aneight-hour work day for miners and abolish "company stores," and (3)establish an employer's liability law. Sparks was responsible, also, forimproving the relationship between Nevada and the federal government withrespect to the cattle industry, the use of water, and the use of publiclands. He became known as "Honest John" because of his fights for therights of his fellow men.

In 1904, John Sparks had a newly-built town in Nevada named for him.The Central Pacific Railroad, completed in 1868, served the entirenorthern part of the state and had repair shops near Reno. In 1901 ,changes in the Railroad's route caused a need to relocate the repai rshops and a "new" town was built for that purpose. It was named for theGovernor and became officially known as Sparks, Nevada, on May 27, 1904.

Governor Sparks suffered for several years from chronic Bright'sDisease, and in the spring of 1908, the malady began to take a heaviertoll, probably due to the problems and stress of his office. Shortlyafter arbitrating a bitter dispute in the mining camp of Goldfield ,Nevada, Sparks died at his home, "The Alamo," on May 22, 1908, at the ageof sixty years. His death brought forth a period of intense mourningacross the state.

The body of Governor Sparks lay in state in Nevada's capitol building,and hundreds of people filed by his bier to pay their last respects. TheHon. Frank H. Norcross, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, deliveredthe eulogy at the funeral on May 25, 1908. He ended his address with thefollowing words:

"His work on earth is ended. He has gone to his reward. A kind anddevoted husband and father; a true and steadfast friend; a noble citizen;a faithful, honest and conscientious public official; a real gentleman,comprises in brief the sum and substance of the life of John Sparks."

John Sparks was buried in Reno, Nevada. A tall, white marble shaftwith a bronze bust of him on the top was erected at his grave in theMasonic Memorial Cemetery in Reno. The bust was sculptured by Sparks'sdaughter, Maud (Sparks) McKenzie.

In 1958, Sparks was honored by the Oklahoma Western Hall of Fame forhis role as a cattleman and a public official. A plaque testifying tohis place of leadership in the cattle industry was placed on the wall ofthe Western Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. cited were: (1 ) hisownership of one of the biggest ranches in the west; (2) his twoelections to the position of governor of Nevada; and (3) his steadyinginfluence in the fight between federal and state governments over theirrespective roles in the use of western land.

According to census records and information given by relatives, JohnSparks had six children. By his first marriage he had two daughters, andby his second marriage, he had four sons. Efforts to find in formationabout these children and their descendants have not been very successful."

See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, September 1986, Whole No. 135, pp 2947-2948:

UNION SOLDIERS NAMED SPARKS WHO APPLIED OR WHOSE HEIRS APPLIED
FOR PENSIONS FOR SERVICE IN THE CIVIL WAR

"JOHN SPARKS, son of John and Barbara (--?--) Sparks, was bornabout 1847
Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He married (lst) Rebecca J. Sleighter and(2nd) Annie E. McFarland. He served in Co. 1, 194th Regt. PennsylvaniaInfantry. File Designations: Inv. Cert. No. 899,175; Minor Cert. No.749,045.

"On May 6, 1892, John Sparks, aged 45, a resident of Tatesville,Pennsylvania, made a declaration for an invalid pension. He stated thathe had enlisted on July 12, 1864, in Company I, 194th RegimentPennsylvania Infantry and had served until he was discharged on November5, 1864, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was now suffering from diseasesof the stomach and kidneys caused by his military service, and was unableto make a living. D. B. Ott and Geo. E. Stailey witnessed his signature.

"The War Department confirmed Sparks's military service on June 16,1892, as he had stated it to be on his application. The Bureau ofPensions issued him Invalid Certificate No. 899,175, and he was placed onthe pension roll. On September 16, 1896, the amount of the pension wasincreased to $10 per month.

"John Sparks responded to a questionnaire from the Bureau of Pensionson July 4, 1898. He stated that he had been married to Annie E.McFarland on July 24, 1892, near Tatesville, Pennsylvania, by G. W.Richey, a justice of the peace. Prior to this marriage, he had beenmarried to Rebecca J. Sleighter who had died on February 24, 1892. Byhis first wife, he had four children, and by his second wife he had hadtwo children, as follows:

"Children of John Sparks:
1. Joseph W. Sparks, born February 5, 1876
2. Harry A. Sparks, born August 18, 1877
3. Samuel E. Sparks, born February 3, 1880
4. Minnie M. Sparks, born July 19, 1883
5. Bertha Blanch Sparks, born May 3, 1893
6. Barbara E. Sparks, born August 26, 1897

"John Sparks died on January 23, 1900, and on January 29, 1900, hiswidow, Annie E. Sparks, applied for a widow's pension. She was then 28years of age and a resident of Tatesville, Pennsylvania. She said thatshe was without any other means of support except her daily labor. JosephMcFarland and J. A. Fletcher witnessed her signature. Apparently noWidow's Certificate was ever issued to Annie Sparks.

"On March 19, 1905, Annie Sparks married (second) a man namedShowalter. On January 30, 19H, she applied for a minor pension for herdaughter, Barbara E. Sparks, under the provisions of the 1890 Act ofCongress. She appointed Robt. J. Strong & Co., Washington, D.C., as herattorney. She gave her address as the Arandale Hotel, Bedford,Pennsylvania. Alvin L. Little and Jos. T. Alsip witnessed her signature.

"On April 6, 1911, William Sparks, aged 69, a resident of Portage,Pennsylvania, made an affidavit,to support the pension claim of the minorchildren of John Sparks. He said that John Sparks first married RebeccaJ. Sleighter. After her death on February 24, 1892, John Sparks marriedAnnie E. McFarland (now Annie E. Showalter) by whom he had two children,Bertha B. Sparks and Barbara E. Sparks, who survived him when he died onJanuary 23, 1900. William Sparks went on to say that he knew thisbecause he was a brother of John Sparks with whom he was intimatelyacquainted. Two days later, Jonas Sparks made a similar statement. Hewas 64 years of age and a resident of Everett, Pennsylvania. He saidthat he knew John and Annie Sparks quite intimately since he was abrother to John. He repeated the same evidence as had been given byWilliam Sparks.

"On April 8, 1911, Annie E. Showalter (late Sparks) applied for theaccrued pension of her late husband, John Sparks, under the provisions ofInvalid Certificate No. 899,175. She appointed E. C. Strong, Washington,D.C., as her attorney. Jonas Sparks and Thomas Crocker witnessed hersignature.

"On April 8, 1911, four affidavits were made to support the claim ofMinnie E. Showalter for a pension for her minor child, Barbara E.Sparks. Fanny Richey, aged 35, a resident of Tatesville; Mary Batzel,aged 32, a resident of Everett; Jonas Sparks, aged 64, a resident ofEverett; and Elizabeth Simmons, aged 63, a resident of Tatesville, alltestified that they had known Annie E. Showalter (late Sparks) prior toher marriage to John Sparks on July 24, 1892, and that she had never beenmarried before. She and John Sparks had had two children, Bertha B.Sparks, born in 1893, and Barbara E. Sparks, born in 1897. Both childrenwere still living and under the care of their mother who was also theirguardian.

"Minor Certificate No. 749,045 was issued to Barbara E. Sparks, andshe was placed upon the pension roll at the rate of $12 per month. Shewas removed from the pension roll on August 25, 1913, when she reachedher sixteenth birthday."

See The SPARKS QUARTERLY, September, 1989, Whole No. 147, pg 3471:
"John Sparks, son of Willoughby and Polly Sparks, was born about 1848in Tennessee. He served in Company D (Lt. Spruell's Company) 35thRegiment Texas Cavalry, Confederate States Army during the Civil War, andafter his death, his widow received a pension from the state of Texas forhis service.
After returning from the military service, John Sparks married RebeccaA. ["Becky"] Brown on December 29, 1871, in Limestone County, Texas. Shewas born on November 25, 1855, in Bienvielle Parish, Louisiana. Johndied on December 13, 1925, in Limestone County, and Becky died on March6, 1953. According to the 1880 census of Limestone County, they had fourchildren; there may have been other children born to them later."