July 18, 2023
Pages 337-339
Whole Number 24
DEATH TAKES GEORGE WILLIAM WAGNER
GREAT-GRANDSON OF 1.2.5.1.1 ABEL SPARKS
It is with deep regret that we report the death of George William Wagner, a devoted member of The Sparks Family Association since 1955. Mr. Wagner died of a heart attack at his home in Conrad, Montana, on August 31, 1958. He was eighty-three years old at the time of his death.
Born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, on September 18, 1874, Mr. Wagner moved with his parents to a farm near Blue Earth, Minnesota, where he attended school. They later farmed near Guckeen, Minnesota. He married Minnie Gertrude Brownlee, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Gordon) Brownlee, in December, 1902, and he and his wife came to Montana in 1910, homesteading twenty-eight miles east of Conrad. He lived there until he retired in 1942. Mrs. Wagner died in 1956. He is survived by four daughters: Mrs. George (Gertrude) Kovatch of Kellogg, Idaho; Mrs. Olive Harris of Conrad; Mrs. A. J. (Marian) Kovatch of Conrad; and Mrs. Mae Bales of Tillamook, Oregon.
Mr. Wagner was connected with the Sparks family through his paternal grandmother, Mary (Sparks) Wagner, daughter of 1.2.5.1.8 Abel and Sarah Sparks.
Abel Sparks, Mr. Wagner's great-grandfather, was the son of 1.2.5.1 Solomon and Sarah Sparks of Surry County, North Carolina. (See page 98 of the December, 1955, issue of The Sparks Quarterly.) [NOTE: This and much of the information below is erroneous. This 1.2.5.1.1.2 Abel Sparks was the grandson of 1.2.5.1 Solomon and Sarah Sparks and the son of 1.2.5.1.1 Joseph and Rachel Sparks. The issue is clarified in The Sparks Quarterly for June 1987, Whole No. 138 in an article titled Two Men Named Abel Sparks, pp. 3061-3084.]
Mr. Wagner owned the family Bible in which was recorded the birth of 1.2.5.1.1.2 Abel Sparks, along with that of his wife and children. Following is a transcription of this record:
1.2.5.1.1.2 Abel Sparks was born January 8th, 1767
Sarah Sparks was born May, 1767
Children:
1.2.5.1.1.2.1 Geo. Sparks, born October 14th, 1800
1.2.5.1.1.2.2 Hannah Sparks, born May 9th, 1802
1.2.5.1.1.2.3 Frances Sparkes, born October 27th, 1803
1.2.5.1.1.2.4 Elizabeth Sparkes, born April 13th, 1805
1.2.5.1.1.2.5 Ann Sparkes, born June 7th, 1808
1.2.5.1.1.2.6 Martha Sparkes, born April 1st, 1811
1.2.5.1.1.2.7 Soloman Sparkes, born September 5th, 1812
1.2.5.1.1.2.8 John Sparkes, born March 25th, 1814
1.2.5.1.1.2.9 Mary Sparks, born October 25th, 1815
1.2.5.1.1.2.10 Sarah Sparks, born September 13th, 1817
1.2.5.1.1.2.11 Abraham Sparks, born July 27th, 1821
1.2.5.1.1.2.12 Rebecca Sparkes, born December 27th, 1825
1.2.5.1.1.2.13 Jane Sparks, born July 19th, 1827
Relatively little has been learned regarding the life of 1.2.5.1.1.2 Abel Sparks. He may have been married twice, for on the 1800 census of Wilkes County, North Carolina, he was listed with five children, two boys and three girls, all under ten years of age. Since the Bible record gives no children born before 1800, it would seem probable that they were children by. an earlier wife. It is possible, of course, that these five children were not his own and were merely living in his household when the 1800 census was taken. Another problem exists regarding the birth date of Sarah, wife of Abel. If she was born in 1767, as the Bible record indicates, she would have been thirty-three years of age when her first child, George, was born in 1800, and sixty years old when her daughter, Jane, was born in 1827. Although it is not impossible for a woman of sixty to bear a child, it is very unusual -- so unusual that, if she was the mother of all the children named, she must have been born several years after 1767.
Several records have been found in Wilkes County, North Carolina, pertaining to Abel Sparks. The earliest of these is a tax record dated 1800 on which he was taxed for 60 acres of land. A letter of attorney dated July 31, 1801, to Abel Sparks from his brothers and sisters is also on file in Wilkes County; this appears to have involved the settlement of the estate of Abel's father. Although it is evident that Abel Sparks owned land in Wilkes County by 1800, the only deed pertaining to his purchase of land is dated December 12, 1801. It records the purchase by Abel Sparks from Humphrey Cockerham, both of Wilkes County, for 100 pounds, a tract of 150 acres described as follows: "a certain tract or parcel of land lying and being in the County of Wilkes beginning on the East fork of Swan Creke on Timothy Sisks line, running with the sd line South to a stake in James Foxes line, then East running with sd line to a white oak on the County ithe, thence North with the County to the Long Glade Creek, thence running down sd crick with the various courses of the stream to the beginning." The witnesses to this deed were Mordecoi Samuel and James Dowell; it was recorded in the Wilkes County courthouse in February, 1805.
In 1805, Abel Sparks was taxed for 100 acres of land in Wilkes County. The last record pertaining to him in the county states that he was chosen to serve on a jury on August 5, 1807.
by 1812 Abel Sparks had moved to Tennessee, but in what section he settled is not known. Sometime between 1815 and 1820 he moved to Illinois, settling in Bond County, for he and his family were listed on the 1820 census of that county as follows:
Abel Sparks
1 male over 21 years
3 males under 21 years
7 free white females
No record has been found thus far to reveal when or where Abel and Sarah Sparks died. Some members of the family moved to Grant, Wisconsin, in later years. A marrlage is recorded in Bond County, Illinois, for one of Abel Sparks' children: on October 10, 1822, Fanny (Frances) Sparks married Francis Kirkpatrick. Of the other children, it is known that Elizabeth married a Jones, Sarah married William Dennis, and Rebecca married William Andrews.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9 Mary Sparks, daughter of Abel, was Mr. Wagner's grandmother. She was born while her parents were living in Tennessee, and died on May 10, 1879, in Hampton, Franklin County, Iowa. She was married twice, her first husband being Jacob Wagner, who was born in Palatine, New York, August 24, 1807. He was a farmer living in Grant County, Wisconsin, when, ca. 1844, he was killed by a neighbor who struck him on the head with a fence post. It was winter and there was lots of snow; Jacob Wagner had taken down this man's fence in order to take a shortcut home. The children of Jacob and Mary (Sparks) Wagner were as follows:
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.1 Elizabeth Wagner, born January 22, 1832, died March 17, 1923; married Samuel Wanamaker.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.2 George Wagner, born May 1, 1833, died March 9, 1863; never married.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.3 Sarah Jane Wagner, born May 22, 1834; married Jake Wire.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.4 Jesse William Wagner, born June 28, 1835; died June 1, 1922; never married.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.5 Emdine Catherine Wagner, born January 9, 1837, died February 1, 1929; married Scott Vincent.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.6 Solomon Wagner, born August 20, 1838, died January 20, 1924; he was married five times. His first wife's maiden name was FNU Sullivan; he married 2nd Mrs. Pricella Ice Ward. Solomon is buried at Stockton, California.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.7 Jasper Newton Wagner, born November 4, 1839; never married; he was lost in a storm on a wagon train going West.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.8 Jacob Harrison Wagner, born February 28, 1841; died February 25, 1929; married Margaret Horning.
Mary (Sparks) Wagner married, as her second husband, Joseph Brown who was born ca. 1810 and died ca. 1860. He was a Quaker, born in Pennsylvania, but lived in Grant County, Wisconsin. They had the following children:
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.1 Apame Ann Brown, born March 25, 1845; died May, 1909; married Bentley Wheeler.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.2 Minerva Brown, born November 14, 1846; died June, 1921; married Charles Humphrey.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.3 John Brown, born July 23, 1848; died August 24, 1920; married Mary Ann Gullickson.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.4 Dave Brown, born August 20, 1850; died February, 1914; married Evelyn Medley.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.5 Marques De Lafayette (Mark) Brown, born June 14, 1852; died December 26, 1899; married Agnes Nowell.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.6 Pheobe Brown, born July 9, 1854; died June 4, 1855.
1.2.5.1.1.2.9.7 Mary Idell Brown, born February 21, 1858; died December 18, 1933; married Dr. John Pride.
The above information on Mary (Sparks) Wagner Brown has been supplied by Mr. Wagner's daughter, Mrs. Olive M. W. Harris, who has been an active supporter of the Association for the past several years.
Should anyone have further information on Abel Sparks or his descendants, your editor would be very pleased to hear from him.