January 23, 2022
Pages 2757-2759
Whole Number 130
WHO WERE THE PARENTS OF
CALVIN R. SPARKS (ca.1809-1890)
OF GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA?
Mrs. Patricia (Sparks) Wiiki, Richmond, Virginia, 23234, would like help with her SPARKS ancestry. She can trace her lineage to her great-greatgrandfather, Calvin R. Sparks, but she cannot find his origin. She invites correspondence with anyone who can offer any clues.
Calvin R. Sparks was born ca. 1809 in Ohio. According to information given to the census-taker in 1880, his parents were natives of Pennsylvania. On November 6, 1832, he married Rebecca McDonald in Brown County, Ohio. She was born ca. 1813 in Brown County and was a daughter of Joseph and Milly (Higgins) McDonald. A few years after their marriage, Calvin and Rebecca moved to Johnson County, Indiana, where they were listed on the 1840 census. With them were two children, a girl who was born ca. 1834 and a boy who was born ca. 1836.
When the 1850 census was taken, Calvin and Rebecca had settled down near Jonesborough in Center Township of Greene County, Indiana. They were listed there on the 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses. Rebecca died sometime prior to June 1880. Calvin died ca. 1890. According to a descendant, he suffered a stroke and became so despondent that he hanged himself from a peach tree in his backyard.
From census records and from information given by descendants, it seems fairly obvious that Calvin and Rebecca (McDonald) Sparks were the parents of seven children.
A. An unidentified daughter was born to Calvin and Rebecca in 1834.
B. Jerome Sparks, son of Calvin and Rebecca (McDonald) Sparks, was born ca. 1836 in Ohio. He accompanied his parents to Greene County, Indiana, and it was there that he married Malissa J. Ferguson on March 6, 1853. He married (second) Sarah Rainbolt on April 23, 1889. He died February 21, 1917. He and Malissa had seven children.
1. Martha E. Sparks was born ca. 1854.
2. Delsina C. Sparks was born ca. 1857. She married George Beasley on July 3, 1876, in Greene County.
3. John Richard Sparks was born ca. 1859.
4. Thomas Sparks was born ca. 1860. He married Susan Horn on February 19, 1885.
5. William Sparks was born ca. 1862.
6. Hiram C. Sparks was born ca. 1865.
7. Jerome W. Sparks was born ca. 1868.
C. Sarah C. Sparks, daughter of Calvin and Rebecca (McDonald) Sparks, was born ca. 1843 in Indiana. She was probably the Sarah Sparks who married John E. Payne in Greene County on November 16, 1864.
D. James Lee Sparks, son of Calvin and Rebecca (McDonald) Sparks, was born ca. 1846. He is said to have married and lived near Apache, Oklahoma, for a long time, but ultimately he moved to Arkansas where he had a daughter, Lura (Sparks) Vaughn.
E. Joseph Theodore Sparks, son of Calvin and Rebecca (McDonald) Sparks, was born January 25, 1850, in Greene County. It was there that he married Mrs. Amanda Jane (Toler) Buffalo on June 30, 1880. She had been born on December 21, 1860, and was a daughter of John J. and Elizabeth (Spelts) Toler. She was a widow of Monroe Buffalo by whom she had had a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Buffalo, in 1877. Joseph Sparks died February 1, 1914, at Frisco, Oklahoma. He and Amanda had eleven children, most of whom lived in and around Ada, Oklahoma.
1. Emit (Emmett) Sparks was born March 30, 1881. He died August 4, 1905, and was buried at Grassy, Missouri. He never married.
2. Octavia Sparks was born May 31, 1883. She married Gus Barrett, and they had three children: Dollie, Mary Edna, and William Edgar.
3. Acie (Asa Walter) Sparks was born April 12, 1885. He died March 12, 1947, from injuries suffered when a silo collapsed. He was married twice. His first marriage wasto Ellie Linthecum on December 31, 1907, in Greene County. They had two children: Beulah and Frieda. His second marriage was to Alma Berger by whom he had three sons: Alvin D., Ronald, and Donald.
4. Arminda Sparks was born July 9, 1887. She died February 26, 1889.
5. Matison (John Madison) Sparks was born April 16, 1889. He married Ada Tate and they had one child, Lorene.
6. Dortha Alice Sparks was born February 21, 1891. She died February 18, 1926. She married Edward Armstrong and they had three daughters: Alfreda, Anna Jane, and Isabelle.
7. Ralph Ellsworth Sparks was born September 2, 1893. He died January 22, 1973, and was buried at Portales, New Mexico. He married Lilliam Satterfield.
8. Cordelia Sparks was born August 13, 1896. She married Richard Tillman Thomas and they had three children: Richard, Jannie Lue, and Joe H.
9. Harley Harlan Sparks was born August 17, 1898. He died January 11, 1978, and was buried at Roff, Oklahoma. He married Lora Hill and they had three children: Frances, Melba, and Bobby.
10. Pansy Mildred Sparks was born September 13, 1900. She died January 17, 1926. She married John Hobgood.
11. Vada Mason Sparks was born in October 1903. She died May 25, 1957, near Ada, Oklahoma. She married Leslie Voyles and they had two sons Leslie and Roger.
F. Alonzo S. Sparks, son of Calvin and Rebecca (McDonald) Sparks, was born ca. 1854 in Greene County, Indiana. It was there that he married Mary C. Gee on April 8, 1874. She had been born in 1855 in Indiana. Alonzo died in 1887 in Indiana. Mary died in 1946. They had seven children.
1. Isaac ["Ike"] Sparks was born ca. 1875 and died in infancy.
2. Anna C. Sparks was born ca. 1878.
3. Sanford Ones (Onus) Sparks was born March 7, 1880. He died October 11, 1949, in Jasper County, Illinois. He married Myrtle May Keeler on February 27, 1902. She was born October 13, 1884, and was a daughter of James 0. and America (Spurgeon) Keeler. She died May 7, 1958. She and Onus had four children: Hurcle Alonzo,Anna May, William D., and Roy D. Hurcle Sparks. Roy D. Hurcle Sparks is the father of Mrs. Wiiki and lives in Indiana.
4. Grace Sparks married Ira Dennis. She died at Oblong, Illinois.
5. Gertrude Sparks married H. J. Winterrowd and lives at Chinook, Montana.
6. James L. Sparks was born April 8, 1884, and died July 18, 1958.
7. Ira Calvin Sparks, son of Alonzo S. and Mary C. (Gee) Sparks, was born on March 5, 1887. He died July 18, 1958.
G. Hester G. Sparks, daughter of Calvin R. and Rebecca (McDonald) Sparks, was born ca. 1857. She married John Payne.