June 16, 2023
Pages 3481-3482
Whole Number 147
SOME DEATH NOTICES & OBITUARIES
PUBLISHED IN THE BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT
[Editor's Note: The exact date of death was often not given in these death notices and obituaries appearing in this Boston, Massachusetts, newspaper, but the date of the newspaper itself provides a clue.]
1881, March 26 (Saturday)
"Solyman Sparks, half-brother of the late President [of Harvard] Jared Sparks, committed suicide at Willington, Conn., on Thursday. He had long been suffering from ill health and depression of spirits."
1889, February 9 (Saturday)
"Captain James T. Sparks, a well-known master mariner, died at Provincetown, Friday, aged 73 years."
1892, September 19 (Monday)
"State Senator, Samuel P. Sparks, the author of the Sparks Election Law, now governing elections in Missouri, committed suicide Friday at his home in Warrensburg, Missouri. He was a prominent attorney general of the state, was chairman of the judiciary committee, and one of the most prominent men in Missouri. He was born January 1, 1844."
1895, November 25 (Monday)
"Mr. John A. Sparks, for many years the confidential bookkeeper of R. H. White & Co., died at this residence in Roxbury yesterday, aged 62. He was widely known in business circles. The burial will be in Forest Hills Cemetery. "
1896, May 1 to August 31 -- exact date of issue not copied by researcher.
"Major J. W. Sparks [Jesse Wadlington Sparks], United States Counsul at Piedras Norgras, Mexico, died suddenly Saturday. He was a prominent candidate for governor of Tennessee when appointed consul by President Cleveland. He was vice-president of the United American Veterans, an association of Confederate soldiers. He was widely known throughout the South, and had come into national prominence through his energetic action in behalf of stranded Negro colonists from Mexico. "
1922, February 25 (Saturday)
"Thomas W. Sparks, janitor at the Town Hall in Brookline for a number of years, died this morning of pneumonia at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, at the age of seventy-three years. Mr. Sparks was a native of Provincetown and in his early years followed the sea and made several voyages to the Arctic Regions. He came to Brookline about twenty-five years ago to assist his uncle, the later Willard Y. Gross, who at that time was the custodian of the Town Hall. Following the death of Mr. Gross, he succeeded his uncle in caring for the property and made his home in the building. Mr. Sparks is survived by a brother, Charles Sparks, and a sister, Mrs. Hannah Atkins, both of whom live in Provincetown. As a special mark of respect, the flag on the Town Hall in Brookline is at half-staff today."
1927, June 15 (Wednesday)
"Edward Sparks, fifty-five, former athletic trainer of Yale University, is dead in San Francisco. Years ago Sparks was widely known in theatrical and sporting circles of Boston and New York. His hotel in New Haven was a rendezvous for many of the wealthy sportsmen of the East, and at one time he seemed on the road to wealth like that of many of his patrons. A tragedy - - the loss of three children by disease - - broke his ambition, with the result that for a time he lived in poverty and regarded himself as a failure. Later, however, he was engaged in physical education and following a period of training he was engaged as boxing instructor at Yale. From Yale he went to Harvard to study with Sargent, thence to Christiansen to learn about diet, thence to Dr. Kellogg and Irving Fisher at Battle Creek Sanatorium. He achieved success in New York and San Francisco with gymnasiums, where he specialized in building up the physique, not of athletes, but of the ordinary person."
1927, November 26 (Saturday)
"Richard Sparks, a resident of South Boston where he died last night, was born in Bath, Somerset, England, June 15, 1833. Mr. Sparks was the holder of a four-clasp medal for service in the Crimean War, which means he landed with the first expedition to the war in 1854, and participated in the battles of Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol. He was one of the survivors of the awful winter of 1854-55. His regiment was the 'Bloodsuckers', the Old 63d, now called the Manchester Regiment. He was the owner of a mending case, called a 'soldier's housewife', which he prized very highly as it was handed to him by Florence Nightingale, and which is now in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society. [A line or paragraph omitted here by our researcher.] He came back to the United States when troops were being recruited for the Civil War. He enlisted in the war as a groom for the late Colonel Arnold A. Rand, being with him all through the war. Colonel Rand was a great admirer of Mr. Sparks because of his ability as a soldier in the Crimean War, and his trustworthiness. After the war Colonel Rand was the means of obtaining a position for Mr. Sparks with the late Francis H. Peabody of Kidder, Peabody, and Company. He worked for him for thirty-six years. Before Mr. Peabody passed away, he made provision for Mr. Sparks by giving him a pension for life. He was a member of Gate of Temple Lodge of Masons of South Boston. He is survived by his wife, Mary A. Sparks."