May 22, 2003
Pages 4590
Whole Number 172
QUERY - (KILBY/SPARKS CONNECTION IN VIRGINIA)
David Scott Harlow of 10224 Korona Dr., Mechanicsville, VA 23111, is seeking information regarding the parentage of his great-grandfather, William Ansylum (or Anselm) Kilby, who was born in 1813. He lived in the same Culpeper-Madison Counties, Virginia, area as did James and Lucy (Sparks) Kilby, and Mr. Harlow is trying to determine whether William Ansylum Kilby may have been a son of James and Lucy (Sparks) Kilby's son, Joseph Kilby (born 1780) who married Celah Jenkins in October 1801.
There is also the possibility that he was a son of John Kilby, Jr. (brother of James) whose wife was Agathy Ballenger.
Mr. Harlow wonders whether there might exist a Sparks family Bible, or an old family letter, containing information on the parentage of William Ansylum Kilby (sometimes spelled Killbe or Killbee).
Lucy Sparks, wife of James Kilby, was born ca. 1751; she was a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Towles) Sparks. An article about this branch of the Sparks family appeared in the Quarterly of June 1956, Whole No. 14, pp. 129-147.
In the will of Thomas Sparks (died 1787), probated in Culpeper County, Virginia, which had been written on December 10, 1784, mention was made of his son-in-law, James Kilby, to whom Thomas Sparks bequeathed "a parcill of Land he now lives on..." (The full text of the will of Thomas Sparks appears on pp. 134-35 of the Quarterly.) Thomas Sparks (who was a son of John and Mary Sparks) had been a witness to the will of John Kilby on December 8, 1770. John Kilby was the father of James Kilby and John Kilby, Jr.)