December 23, 2020

Pages 1762
Whole Number 91

QUERY
54.6 LEONARD & ZERIAH SPARKS



Major Gerald H. Sparks, Box 443, Runge, Texas (78151) is seeking the ancestry of 54.6 Leonard and Zeriah Sparks who were listed with their family on the 1850 census of Union County, South Carolina (see the Quarterly of September 1956, Whole No. 15, pp. 164-66 for complete listing of Sparks families on the 1850 census of Union County, S.C.). Leonard Sparks's age was given as 28 in 1850, thus he was born ca. 1822; Zeriah was born ca. 1821; both were born in South Carolina according to the 1850 census. Family tradition indicates that Zeriah's maiden name was also SPARKS. The names Valentine Sparks, 17.2.7.5.4 Truelove Sparks, and George Sparks are closely connected with this family. (This may suggest a connection with the Sparks family that came from Maryland to Pittsylvania County, Virginia, in 1778.) Leonard Sparks moved his family from Union County, S.C., to Georgia in the early 1850's; we have not located him on the 1860 census, but his family was living in Gwinnett County, Georgia, in 1870, moving to Calhoun County, Alabama, by 1880.

The sons of Leonard and Zeriah Sparks were

54.6.1 Thomas Sparks. Many of the descendants of Thomas Sparks now live in Calhoun County, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. Major Gerald Sparks descends from this first son of Leonard and Zeriah.

54.6.2 George Washington Sparks who married Sarah Jane Turner and moved to Clarksville, near Russellville, Arkansas, immediately after the Civil War. His descendants still live there, although some have moved to California.

54.6.5 John Sparks, married Mary Canada; they also lived in Calhoun County.

54.6.6 James Josiah ["Burk"] Sparks married Mary T. Garrott; they lived in Calhoun County, Alabama.

Daughters of Leonard and Zeriah were named:

54.6.3 Amanda Sparks. She married Brock Massey in Gwinnett County, Georgia; their descendants moved to Lineville, Alabama, then to Gainsville, Florida.

54.6.4 Catherine Sparks, born ca. 1847.

54.6.7 Mary Sparks. She married Hill Garrott, and lived in Calhoun County, Ala.

54.6.8 Hester Sparks. Hester married Robert Garrott, and lived in Calhoun County, Ala.

54.6.9 Florence Sparks. She married James Dutton and moved to Lehigh, Coal County, Oklahoma, where she was still living in the 1920's, with one son and two daughters.

Records obtained from the National Archives reveal that Leonard Sparks enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private in Company E, 66th Regiment Georgia Infantry on August 24, 1863, at Decatur, Georgia. On September 19, 1864, he was captured by General Sherman's Army near Warsaw, Georgia. He was sent first to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was listed on a role of prisoners of war on October 27, 1864. On October 29 he was sent to Louisville, Kentucky, and from there he was sent to the military prison at Camp Douglas, Illinois, arriving on November 1. He died at Camp Douglas on January 30, 1865, from "hepatitus" and was buried in grave number 627 in Block 2, Chicago City Cemetery.

top