June 20, 2023
Pages 3927-3928
Whole Number 157
JOHN J. KITCHEN DIES
It is with deep personal sadness that we report the death of John J. Kitchen who passed away on December 28, 1991, at Columbus, Ohio. He had been in poor health for several months. He is survived by his father, Cletis C. Kitchen; a brother; Everett C. Kitchen: and two sisters, Thelma Paula Lieve and Arlene Morock.
John J. Kitchen was born January 19, 1946, at Bellefontaine, Ohio, and was a son of Cletis C. and Louise (Cox) Kitchen, and a grandson of Cecil and Dora Vessie (Sparks) Kitchen. Dora Vessie Sparks was a daughter of Melvin and Mary (Miller) Sparks and a granddaughter of 1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15 Garrett and Elizabeth (Boggs) Sparks who came from Wilkes County, North Carolina, to Lawrence County, Kentucky, ca. 1821. [See the December 1955 issue of the Quarterly, Whole No. 12, for further details of this branch of the Sparks family.]
We take this occasion to publish a photograph taken ca. 1903 of Garrett M. and Mary A. (Miller) Sparks, great-grandparents of John J. Kitchen, with four of their children.
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| Back row, L-R: L. Jay Sparks, D. L. Sparks, Dora V. Sparks, and Dova H. Sparks Front row, L-R: Garrett Melvin Sparks, Mary (Miller) Sparks |
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15 Garrett Melvin Sparks was born April 15, 1854, in Lawrence County, Ken?tucky, and was the youngest son of Garrett and Elizabeth (Boggs) Sparks. Melvin (as he was called) married Mary A. Miller on August 24, 1871, in Lawrence County. She had been born on April 12, 1854, in Lawrence County and was a daughter of James Asher and Mary ["Polly"] (Hinkle) Miller. Melvin and Mary lived near the Forks of the Big Blaine Creek where they became the parents of eight children. He died on June 3, 1929, and Mary died on June 16,1937.
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.1 Cora Besco Sparks was born in October 1874. She married Ulysses Bishop on September 14, 1894, in Lawrence County, and they had at least two children,
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.1.1 Herbert Bishop and
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.1.2 Clyde Bishop.1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.2 Nora Estelle Sparks was born ca. 1877. She died when she was quite young.
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.3 Delora Onesco Sparks was born ca. 1879. She married George McComas in 1897 in Lawrence County.
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.4 D. L. Sparks was born in May 1882. He married Laverna Kitchen in 1905.
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.5 Dora Vessie Sparks was born March 3, 1886. She married Cecil Kitchen on March 14, 1907, in Lawrence County. He had been born June 22, 1883, and was a son of Enoch and Margaret (Hensley) Kitchen. Cecil and Dora had two children,
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.5.1 Gertrude Kitchen and
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.5.2 Cletis Kitchen.Cecil died on April 20, 1962, and Dora died on April 18, 1980.
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.6 L. Jay Sparks was born in February 1889. He married Lyda Holbrook in 1915, and they had at least one child, Hazel V. Sparks
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.7 Dova H. Sparks was born in January 1892. She married Wayne Griffith in 1912.
1.2.5.1.2.1.1.15.8 Oscar Sparks was born ca. 1895 and died when he was quite young.