October 9, 2023
Pages 27-29
Whole Number 5
EARLY SPARKS IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA
PART ONE: VIRGINIA
by William Perry Johnson
(Continued from Whole No. 4, page 23)
(Note: On page 22 of the Sparks Quarterly, Whole No. 4, reference is made to "Nugent's Cavaliers and Pioneers (Ref. 1)" which "lists the earliest land patents and grants in Virginia, from 1623 to 1800." Actually, this book covers only from 1623 to 1666, and was designated as Volume One, and was published several years ago. If a second volume is forthcoming, I have not heard of it. Therefore data on the Sparks immigrants to Virginia after 1666 must be obtained directly from the Land Patent and Land Grant books on file in the Virginia State Library, Richmond, Virginia. I have gone through the Index to Patents and Grants from 1623 to 1776, for Virginia, and have found but two Sparkses listed as having been granted land. One was the John Sparks who obtained 750 acres in 1635 (see the Sparks Quarterly, page 23), and the other was a James Sparks who obtained 1,000 acres in 1729 (details below). It would be a tedious and time consuming task to ascertain the number of Sparkses brought into Virginia from 1666 to 1776 as headrights, a task that could be accomplished only by reading the voluminous land patent and land grant records page by page. Someday I hope to be able to do this needed research. William Perry Johnson.)
(The article EARLY SPARKS IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA -- Part One: Virginia -- now continues with a few more items from the records of 17th Century Virginia.)
"King and Queen Co. Patents. Book 9, page 209. William Jones, junr. 6 June 1699. 700 acres in King and Queen Co. Boundary begins at corner red oak of Robinsons land on a brow in sight of Spark's house on the lower side of his plantation. Adjoins run of Dragon Swamp, the land of Margaret Todd and Frances Todd orphans to Mr. Mm. Todd, the mouth of mirey meadow, etc. Due for importing 16 persons." (Ref. 5, Vol. 27)
"Ages of Lower Norfolk Co. People - 1666-1675. John Sparks aged 30 years 1671. (Ref. 6)
"Anne, widow of John Stradder, was granted 1. c. on his estate with John Sparkes and Henry Asbury as her sec. Westmoreland County, January 11, 1687/8." (Ref. 7)
"Minutes of Council and General Court. 1622-1629. John Sparke, gentleman, sworn and exam'd sayeth that he was a Wittnes did set his hande to Mr. Mansteeds Will butt did not see Mr. Mansteed signe seal and deliver the same but, yt the Will was brought brought (sic) by Mr. Bruster to have his hande thereto. Robert Dennys also being sworne and exam'd as a Wittness affirmeth as much as Mr. Sparkes hath done. (Footnote: In the census of 1625 John Sparks who came in the GEORGE in 1621 is included among the 'servants' of George Sandys.)" (Ref. 8, Vol. 23, page 15)
"Minutes of Council and General Court. At cort of James Citty, 9th of February 1632. Mr. Thomas Harwood desired the Cort to take Notice that he is readie on the behalf of Mr. Edward Hurt to satisfie unto Thomas Sparkes such Clothes and other things As are due unto him by Covenant." (Ref. 8, Vol. 31, page 294)
There was a Rent Roll of Virginia taken in the years 1704 and 1705. The twenty-five counties at that time were: Accomack, Charles City, Elizabeth City, Essex, Gloucester, Henrico, Isle of Wight, James City, King and Queen, King William,Lancaster, Middlesex, Nansemond, New Kent, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland, Prince George, Princess Ann, Richmond, Stafford, Surry, Warwick, Westmoreland, and York. All of this Rent Roll has been preserved with the exception of the following five counties, whose Rent Roll was sent direct to England, and has apparently not been preserved: Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, Stafford and Westmoreland. These five were vital counties, and the loss is great. Sparks families are known to have been in at least two of the five. However, it is very significant that in the twenty counties remaining on the Rent Roll, there was but ONE SPARKS LANDOWNER! He was JOHN SPARKS, in King and Queen Co., Va., 1704, with 200 acres of land. (Ref. 4) This is rather startling, in view of the fact that we have record of so many of the name immigrating to and settling in Virginia in the 1600s. One might expect there to be literally hundreds of the name by 1708/5, scattered throughout the entire colony. Even three or four generations later (the 1790 Census of Virginia compiled from Tax Lists taken in the 1780s--see the Quarterly, p. 11, Whole No. 2) the name Sparks is comparatively rare in Virginia. There can be but one explanation, and that is that the early Sparkses in Virginia were not very prolific, at least not as far as sons were concerned. The name Sparks very nearly died out, or, as one genealogist so aptly expressed it, the name almost "daughtered" out!
Shortly after 1700 the name Sparks begins to occur more frequently in the records of Virginia. On the 27th of September 1729, James Sparkes of St. Georges Parish, Spotsylvania Co., Virginia, was granted 1,000 acres of land on the North side of Rappidan River. (Land Patent and Grant Book No. 13, page 414, Va. State Library, Richmond, Va.) This was no doubt the James Sparks who died intestate (i.e. without leaving a will) in 1758 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
Torrence, in his Virginia Wills and Administrations, 1632-1800, (Ref. ll), lists all the wills on record in Virginia up to 1800, as well as all the administrations. Of course, this record is far from complete, but this is no fault of Mr. Torrence, for the court records of many of the oldest counties in Virginia have been forever lost or destroyed.
There are ten Sparks wills on record in Virginia up to 1800, two administrations, and one inventory, making a total of 13 Sparkses who died in Virginia before 1800- -but there is no way of ascertaining the extent of the loss of Sparks wills and administrations, inventories, etc., due to the destruction of court records as mentioned above.
Surely there were dozens of Sparkses who died in Virginia in the 1600s and 1700s.
The 13 Sparkses listed by Torrence are:
Culpeper County, Virginia:
1. Henry Sparkes - 1770 - will
2. Thos. Sparks - 1787 - will
3. Wm. Sparks - 1781 - will
Essex County, Virginia:
4. John Sparks - 1786 - will
Fairfax County, Virginia:
5. Jeremiah Sparks - 1750 - administration
Prince William County, Virginia:
6. John Spark - 1787 - inventory
7. Wm. Sparks - 1788 - will
8. Wm. Sparkes - 1735 - will
Spotsylvania County, Virginia:
9. James Sparks - 1758 - administration
Westmoreland County, Virginia:
10. Alex. Sparks - 1783 - will
11. Wm. Sparks - 1767 - will
12. Wm. Sparks - 1767 - will
York County, Virginia:
13. Nimrod Spark - 1795 - will
Note that the earliest extant Sparks will is dated 1735 and is for a William Sparkes of Prince William Co., Va. The various Sparks families of Virginia will be taken up in subsequent articles in the Quarterly. These families will be grouped more or less according to locations (counties), and the above Sparks wills of Virginia will be included and in more detail.
References:
1. Nugent, Neil Marion, Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants :1623-1800.
2. Everton, Walter M, The Handy Book for Genealogists, Herald-Journal Printing Co., Logan, Utah, 1949.
3. Hotten, John Camden, The Original Lists of Persons of Quality; Emigrants Religious Exiles; Political Rebels; Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years; Apprentices; Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed; and Others Who Went From Great Britain to the American Plantations (1600-1700), Chatte and Windus, Pub.; London, Eng., 1874.
4. Wertenbaker, The Planters of Colonial Virginia, Princeton Univ. Press, 1922.
5. Fleet, Beverly, Virginia Colonial Abstracts.
6. William and Mary College Quarterly, First Series.
7. William and Mary College Quarterly, Second Series.
8. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.
9. First Gentlemen of Virginia, Louis B. Wright, 1940.
10. Bristol and America; A Record of the First Settlers in the Colonies of America, 1654-1685, London, Sydney, n.d. (Part II: Servants to Foreign Plantations)
11. Torrence, Virginia Wills and Administrations, 1632-1800.