September 16, 2023
Pages 1733
Whole Number 90
PHOTOGRAPH OF JAMES MONROE SPARKS (1833-1906)
WITH HIS SECOND WIFE, MELISSA JANE (HEIM) SPARKS
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In the March 1973 issue of the Quarterly (Whole No. 81) page 1546, and in the December 1973 issue (Whole No. 84) pages 1611 -1612, we published queries regarding James Monroe Sparks. Mrs. R. E. Greene of Sumner, Washington, who is seeking to determine the parentage of James Monroe Sparks, has supplied a photograph of him and his second wife, Melissa Jane (Helm) Sparks, which we have reproduced above. Mrs. Greene took a snapshot of the original framed photograph 47 years ago; it is this snapshot that we have reproduced here.
James Monroe Sparks was born somewhere in Kentucky on June 8, 1833. He died in Pittsburg, Kansas, on March 8, 1906. He married (first) Sara A. McPhearson (or McPherson) on March 6, 1856. She died April 3, 1874, and on May 6, 1875, he married as his second wife a widow named Melissa Jane (Helm) Jones. Information regarding the children of James Monroe Sparks by each of his wives is contained in the articles cited above.