January 25, 2022
Pages 718
Whole Number 41
DESCENDANTS OF
32.1.8.5.2 ROBERT THOMAS SPARKS
TO HOLD FAMILY REUNION
On Sunday, August 25, 1963, the descendants of Robert Thomas Sparks, a pioneer settler of Denton County, Texas, will hold their annual reunion at the Denton City Park. All members of this branch of the Sparks family are urged to attend. At last year's reunion there were over one hundred family members present.
32.1.8.5.2 Robert Thomas Sparks was born September 14, 1848, and died in Denton, Texas, on April 15, 1925. His parents were 32.1.8.5 Stephen and Elizabeth J. (Levi) Sparks, who were married in Allen County, Kentucky, on June 3, 1843. Stephen Sparks joined the Union Army early in the Civil War and died at Pittsburg, Tennessee, on April 15, 1862, as a result of wounds received on the battlefield.
In 1866, his widow applied for a pension and listed those of her children who were then under sixteen years of age as follows:
32.1.8.5.3 John Solomon Sparks, born July 13, 1851;
32.1.8.5.4 William W. Sparks, born April 10, 1854;
32.1.8.5.5 Louisa Margaret Katherine Sparks, born November 25, 1857; and
32.1.8.5.5 Mary E. V. Sparks, born June 26, 1860.
Census records indicate there was also a daughter named 32.1.8.5.1 Amanda C. Sparks who was born ca. 1846, as well as the eldest son, 32.1.8.5.2 Robert Thomas Sparks
As a young man, Robert Thomas Sparks, son of Stephen and Elizabeth J. (Levi) Sparks, moved to Missouri and later to Denton County, Texas. He was married twice. His first wife was Amanda Caroline Collins, whom he married in Bakersfield, Missouri, on November 19, 1876. She was the daughter of John Bunyon and Ruth Elizabeth Collins; she was born in Tennessee on February 20, 1851, and died in Denton, Texas, on June 11, 1888. On January 27, 1889, Robert Thomas Sparks married, second, Ruth Isabel Collins, sister of his first wife.
by his first wife, Robert Thomas Sparks had four children:
32.1.8.5.2.1 George Warren Sparks, born October 13, 1879.
32.1.8.5.2.2 Mary Olie Sparks, born December 1, 1881.
32.1.8.5.2.3 Thomas Luther Sparks, born September 13, 1884.
32.1.8.5.2.4 Lotta Ethel Sparks, born November 2, 1886.
by his second wife, Robert Thomas Sparks had six children:
32.1.8.5.2.5 John Stephen Sparks, born August 25, 1890.
32.1.8.5.2.6 William Franklin Sparks, born August 27, 1892.
32.1.8.5.2.7 Ruth Elizabeth Sparks, born September 10, 1895.
32.1.8.5.2.8 Amanda Carolyn Sparks, born April 6, 1898.
32.1.8.5.2.9 Gilford Raymond Sparks, born October 11, 1900.
32.1.8.5.2.10 Milbra June Sparks, born January 19, 1903.