August 18, 2023
Pages 323
Whole Number 23
QUERY
[Webmaster: Please see the Quarterly Whole No. 114, pp. 2294-2304 for details on this family.
Mrs. Mary A. Sparks, Box 512, Lovell, Wyoming, is seeking information regarding the parentage of 44.4.10.1 John Sparks, born in Indiana in 1832. He married Mary West, who was born in Missouri. They resided on a farm seven miles north of Cassville, Barry County, Missouri. It is here that seven of their children were born, one child was born in Arkansas, but the place of his birth is not known. The children of John and Mary (West) Sparks were as follows:
44.4.10.1.1 Richard Sparks, born 1856, Cassville, Missouri, believed to have died between 1870 and 1880 and buried on the old Sparks farm.
44.4.10.1.2 Daril Sparks, born 1860, in Arkansas, also believed to have died between the years 1870 and 1880 and buried on the Sparks farm.
44.4.10.1.3 Sarah Elizabeth Sparks, born August 31, 1865, Cassville, Missouri.; married James Leep in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.; she died in Cookso'n, Oklahoma., August 8, 1937.
44.4.10.1.4 James William Sparks, born 1866, Cassville, Missouri.; married Dora Thornton in Tahlequah, Okia.; his death date is not known.
44.4.10.1.5 Peter Sparks, born May 8, 1869, Cassville, Missouri.; married Glena C. Reed, in Tahlequah, Okia. He died in Thermopolis, Wyoming, February 11, 1943.
44.4.10.1.6George A. L.George Washington Sparks, born January 6, 1871, Cassville, Missouri.; married Ockrie Ellen Chaudoin in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He died June 3, 1951, in Arkansas City, Kansas.
44.4.10.1.7 General Grant Sparks, born 1875, Cassville, Missouri.; died May 31, 1946, in Vinita, Oklahoma.
There was also an Ellis Sparks in this family, but the date of his birth is not known. John Sparks is believed to have had a brother who lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, but his name is not known. He is also known to have had a brother named Peter, and it is assumed by relatives that John's father was also named John and was born in Kentucky. John and Mary (West) Sparks moved with their family to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, ca. 1890, and they both died there about 1900 or in the early 1900's.
The old Sparks school house is still standing on the Sparks farm near Cassville, Missouri., and is now being used as a country church. Behind this church is a cemetery and are three of John Sparks's sons buried there, presumeably Richard, Daril, and Ellis. The graves are not marked.
Does anyone have any information on this family which might assist me in tracing the parentage of John Sparks? I should like to get in touch with any Sparks in or near Smith, Arkansas.