July 30, 2023
Pages 4148-4173
Whole Number 163
THE LIFE AND FAMILY OF 32.5 DANIEL SPARKS
(BORN 1763, DIED ca.1820)
OF PENNSYLVANIA, KENTUCKY, AND INDIANA
(Son of 32. Richard Sparks, Sr., born ca.1725, died ca.1792)
by Paul E. Sparks and Russell E. Bidlack
[Editor's Note: What follows is another in a series of articles published over the years about members of the family of 32. Richard Sparks, Sr. of early New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The first article appeared in the December 1971 issue of the Quarterly, Whole No. 76, pp. 1440-46, and was devoted to Richard Sparks, Sr., himself. (Our earliest record pertaining to Richard Sparks, Sr. located thus far is found in Middlesex County, New Jersey, when, on September 3, 1750, he signed his name as a witness to the will of William Story.) A transcript of the papers at the National Archives pertaining to a son of Richard, 32.1 James Sparks, had been published in the September 1954 issue of the Quarterly, Whole No.7.
An Article about one of the sons of Richard Sparks, Sr., 32.3 Richard Sparks, Jr. (who had been stolen by the Shawnee Indians), was published in the September 1974 issue of the Quarterly, Whole No. 87, pp. 1672-1688. An article about another son of Richard Sparks, Sr., 32.4 Walter Sparks, was in the December 1987 issue, Whole No. 140, pp. 3130-3163. We now present the information that we have found regarding Richard Sparks, Sr.'s son, 32.5 Daniel Sparks, along with that of Daniel's children and grandchildren. We regret that we have been unable to locate any photographs of Daniel's children or grandchildren. Should any of our readers know of such photographs, or have additional information regarding Daniel's descendants, we would be delighted to hear from you.]
32.5 Daniel Sparks was born February 10, 1763, according to a typewritten manuscript which contains what appears to be a transcription of his family record, perhaps initially recorded in his family Bible. At the end of this article, we. present a discussion of that manuscript.
Daniel Sparks was born just about the time that his father, Richard Sparks, Sr., was preparing to move his family from Middlesex County, New Jersey, to western Pennsylvania, prior to the start of the American Revolution. Young Daniel may have served in a Pennsylvania Militia unit in the later years of the war, but no definite record of such service has been found.
Shortly before the Revolutionary War ended, Daniel Sparks moved to Kentucky, as did other members of the Sparks family along with a number of their neighbors. Daniel's name appears on a poll list in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on April 2, 1782. (See the Filson Club Historical Quarterly, Vol. 3, pp. 133-34.) On June 4, 1782, Daniel Sparks witnessed an agreement between John Helm and Moses Kuykendall, both of Jefferson County. (See Jefferson County Deed Book 1, page 150) William Johnston and John Ray were also witnesses. According to Kuykendall family records, the maiden name of Elizabeth, wife of Moses Kuykendall, was Sparks, and, as will be noted in greater detail later in this article, there can be little doubt that she was a sister of Daniel Sparks. The name Kuykendall is spelled many different ways in early records. On a base map drawn by John Filson in 1784, "Kirkindol's Mill" is shown as located on Bear-grass Creek, in Jefferson County.)
Daniel Sparks was among the earliest group of men to obtain land grants in the area that was cut off from Virginia to become the state of Kentucky in 1792. These grants are called the "Virginia Land Grants" and were issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia for military service in the French and Indian War and the Revolution. The 100-acre tract on Beargrass Creek in Jefferson County that was acquired by Daniel Sparks on May 23, 1788, had actually been granted to a man named Daniel Sullivan on March 9, 1782, in "Treasury Warrant number 11317." It had been surveyed on January 25, 1786, at which time the tract was described as being located in Jefferson County, Virginia (now Kentucky) "on Beargrass Creek." (See "The Kentucky Land Grants," by Willard Rouse Filson, Filson Club Publications No. 33, Louisville, 1925, p. 116.) What became the state of Kentucky in 1792 was then comprised of three Virginia counties: Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln.
On May 23, 1788, Daniel Sullivan transferred his title to this 100-acre tract to Daniel Sparks, probably for a small sum of money. It is quite possible that Daniel Sparks had been living on this land, perhaps as a "squatter," from the time of his arrival in Jefferson County. The official record of this transfer from Sullivan to Sparks is found in "Land Grants of Virginia, 1779-1803." (In the Quarterly of June 1961, Whole No. 34, pp. 566-67, we published transcripts of ten such grants involving the name Sparks, as copied for us by a Virginia researcher named Charles Hughes Hamlin. Mr. Hamlin copied these from the original handwritten documents preserved at the Virginia State Library in 78 volumes entitled "Land Grants of Virginia, 1779-1803." He found the following document in Book 16, on page 809.
May 23, 1788 - 100 acres of land granted to DANIEL SPARKS, Assignee of James Sullivan, attorney for Daniel Sullivan, by virtue of and in consideration of Treasury Warrant number 11317 issued 9th March 1782, the land being in the County of Jefferson on the waters of Beargrass and the waters of Asturgas Run, adjoining lands of John McManness, Daniel Sullivan, Hites, James Asturgas, etc.
[signed]
Edmund Randolph
The Jefferson County tax list for 1789 survives, and among the names which it contains is that of Daniel Sparks. An interesting feature of this 1789 list is that the commissioners were then required by law to record the date on which they visited each taxpayer. Francis R. Slaughter, the commissioner for the part of Jefferson County west of Floyds Creek to the "Main Road," stopped at the cabin of Daniel Sparks on June 8, 1789. There being no tax in Virginia on land at that time, Daniel was taxed for only one poll (himself) and for his two horses. He owned no slaves in 1789. Other men in Slaughter's district whom he visited also on June 8th, and who were, therefore, close neighbors of Sparks, were Richard Edwards, John Melown, John Williams, and William Bacey. (See "The Personal Property Tax Lists for the Year 1789 for Jefferson County, Virginia, Now Kentucky," transcribed by Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florence Speakman Love, 1987, pp. 1468 and 1480.) Moses Kuykendafl (spelled "Keykindall" by Slaughter), who was, we feel certain, Daniel Sparks's brother-in-law, was visited on July 15th.
Daniel Sparks's name continued to appear on the Jefferson County tax lists through 1797, in which year he was taxed for a tract of 343 acres on Broad River (which flows into Floyds Creek) and another tract in the same area consisting of 126 acres. He was also taxed for a tract of 1,000 acres described as being on the Tar Spring Fork of Clover Creek in Hardin County, Kentucky. This latter tract was located in that part of Hardin County which was cut off to form Breckinridge County in 1799; Daniel Sparks finally sold this huge tract for $1,000 to Amos Williams on March 4, 1811. (Bullitt County, Kentucky, Deed Book B, p.424)
In 1796, the southern half of Jefferson County was cut off to form Bullitt County. The new line passed directly through a tract of land owned by Daniel Sparks on Broad Run, but his house remained on the Jefferson County side. In a deed dated August 1, 1797, he was described as "of Jefferson County," while the man to whom he sold a tract on Broad Run for 20 pounds and 15 shillings, John Budd, was described as "of Bullitt County, Kentucky." (Jefferson County Deed Book 4, p. 565) Early in 1798, however, Daniel Sparks moved over into Bullitt County, near the present town of Mount Washington, on a road leading to what is now Shelbyville.
by 1800, Daniel Sparks was a man of some wealth for his time, and his name appears frequently in the early court records of Bullitt County. On April 24, 1798, the court "ordered that Daniel Sparks be appointed overseer of the road from Brooks Run to the Shelby line and all the hands above Brooks Run between the Road County Line and Salt River do assist said Sparks in keeping road in good repair." (Book 1, p. 75) The following court record was made on August 28, 1798: "On the motion of Daniel Sparks, license is granted him to keep a Tavern at Ms house on the road to Shelby on his entering bond with Joseph Sanders his Security, agreeable to law." (Book 1, p. 88) A tavern in those days was an inn where travelers could find a night's lodging, along with drink and food both for themselves and for their horses or oxen. The prices that tavern keepers could charge for their services were usually set by the county court.
When a census was taken of Bullitt County in 1799, Daniel Sparks was listed as the only male in his household who was over 21 years of age; he was credited with owning three slaves, nine horses, one stud-horse, and one "ordinary Tavern." We can assume, of course, that he owned other livestock--these were the property that was taxable. In 1800, he was taxed on 400 acres of land on Broad Run in Bullitt County, according to the tax list for that year; this tract was part of a huge tract that had belonged originally to a man named David Leach (or Leitch).
There are many deeds recorded in Jefferson, Shelby, and Bullitt Counties involving the purchase and sale of land by Daniel Sparks. Following are the names of some of those from whom he bought and sold land: Josiah Arnel, John Budd, Samuel Phillips, Lemuel Lemmon, James Caldwell, Daniel Ellis, Jesse Jones, George Markwell, Ely Birkhead, Amos Williams, Frederick Leatherman, James Sparks, Samuel Osburn, John Blanton, Thomas Allen, and William Sharp.
In 1804, Daniel Sparks moved again, but within Bullitt County. On January 23, 1804, he sold to Thomas Burk for $891.00 "the Plantation where I now live, con taining 300 acres, also 100 acres called the Arnold Place; also 3 negroes, towit, Fann and her two children." The witnesses to this deed were Lemuel Lemmon, Moses Holmes, and James Holdclaw. (Bullitt County Deed Book A, p. 375) It is of interest that the Lemmon family had been closely associated with the Richard Sparks family in Pennsylvania. 32.1 James Sparks, brother of 32.5 Daniel, stated in his application for a pension, that he had served with Samuel Lemmon in the Pack Horse Service during the Revolution. Daniel Sparks sold land in Bullitt County to Lemuel Lemmon in 1808. (Bullitt County Deed Book B, p. 263)
In 1806, Daniel Sparks apparently moved again, still within Bullitt County, for on March 5, 1806, he sold to Daniel Hook of Shelby County, for 180 pounds, a tract of 151~14 (same as printed issue) acres which was described in the deed as "the same the said Sparks now occupies and deeded to him by David Leech on the waters of Floyd Creek." (Book B, p. 86)
When the 1810 census of Bullitt County was taken, Daniel Sparks was listed as owning five slaves.
Daniel Sparks performed military service in Kentucky as he may have done earlier in Pennsylvania. The MilitaryRecords of George Rogers Clark, 1778- 1784, show that he served in a detachment of Jefferson County Militia under the command of Capt. Aquilla Whitaker from May 31, 1782, until June 22, 1782. He received 1 pound, 10 shillings, and 8 pence for 25 days of service. Later that year, he served under General George Rogers Clark in an expedition against the Indians from October 21st until November 25th. He received 2 pounds for 36 days of service.
On June 28, 1792, Sparks was elected captain of the First Regiment of Jefferson County Militia. When he moved to Bullitt County ca. 1798, he had advanced to the rank of major, and he was in command of the 32nd Regiment of Bullitt County Militia. In 1808, he made a deposition to the Franklin County (Kentucky) Court to the effect that he "was acquainted with Boones Road in 1781; that he never heard of but one ford on Long Run on Boon's [Road] only where women and children were killed near [where] Thos. Sturgeon now lives about three quarters of a mile west direction from the ford on Long Run at Floyds Battle Ground." This suggests that Daniel Sparks was in Kentucky as early as 1781.
Daniel Sparks was married twice. His first marriage probably took place ca. 1785 in Jefferson County, but no record of it has been found. Apparently two children were born to this marriage,
32.5.1 Samuel Ketchum Sparks, a son, born August 10, 1786,
32.5.2 Rebecca Sparks, daughter, born on March 25,1788.
Daniel's wife may have died when their daughter was born. According to the obituary of Samuel Ketchum Sparks, he "was about two years old when his mother died." Daniel's first wife must have died in 1788.
It is quite possible that the maiden name of Daniel's first wife was Ketchum, since this was chosen as the middle name for their son. In fact, when a Samuel Ketchum died in 1778 in southwestern Pennsylvania, an area then claimed by Virginia and organized as Yohogania County in 1776, Daniel Sparks' father, Richard Sparks, Sr., had been one of four men ordered to take an inventory of Ketchum's estate. The 'Yohogania County Court's minute book for 1776 to 1780 survives, and at a meeting of this court on August 24, 1778, it was "Ordered that Andrew Pearce, Richd. Johnston, James Wall and Richd. Sparks, or any three of them being first Sworn, do appraise the Estate of Samuel Ketchum, decd. and make return to next Court." The administration of Samuel Ketchum's estate was granted to his widow, Elizabeth Ketchum, and to his brother, William Ketchum. See pp. 248-49 of Records of the District of West Augusta, Ohio County,and Yohogania County, Virginia, published by Ohio State University, 1970. William Ketchum was still living near Richard Sparks in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, when the 1790 census was taken.
According to Kuykendall family records published in a History of the Kuykendall Family by Geo. B. Kuykendall in 1919, pages 232-33, the widow of the above Samuel Ketchum, whose maiden name had been 32.6 Elizabeth Sparks, was married, 2nd, to Moses Kuykendall. There seems little doubt that this Elizabeth Sparks, often called "Betsey" in records of the time, was a daughter of Richard Sparks, Sr. and was thus a sister of Daniel. A son of Benjamin and Sarah (Feree) Kuykendall, Moses Kuykendall had been born ca. 1748. He was probably a widower when he married 32.6 Elizabeth (Sparks) Ketchum.
Moses Kuykendall, like a number of his neighbors in Pennsylvania, including Daniel Sparks, migrated with his wife and family to Jefferson County, Kentucky, near the close of the American Revolution. He was there in 1782 when he built what came to be called Moses Kuykendall Station on the waters of Harrod's Creek. In 1792, a daughter of Elizabeth by her first marriage, 32.x.y Hannah Ketchum, was married in Jefferson County to Samuel Griffy. (See Bond Book 1781-1826, p. 15) The marriage bond, dated January 20, 1792, was signed by Moses Kuykendall as bondsman and he was identified as Hannah Ketcham's step-father. It is also interesting to note that a deed was recorded in Jefferson County (Book 2, p. 270) by which Moses and Elizabeth gave two slaves to Elizabeth's daughter, Hannah (Ketchum) Griffy, wife of Samuel Griffy. In this deed, Hannah is identified as "the daughter of her, the said Betsey." Moses Kuykendall died prior to June 20, 1808, for on that date his widow, Elizabeth, was married a 3rd time, to William Steele, in Jefferson County, Kentucky (marriage bond dated June 20, 1808).
For additional information on Samuel and Hannah Griffey, see the article on Daniel Sparks' brother, 32.4 Walter Sparks (ca.1760-ca.1827) in the December 1987 issue of the Quarterly, Whole No. 140, pp.3147-48. 32.4.8 Ezra Sparks married Catherine Griffey, a daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Ketchum) Griffey, in Jefferson County, Kentucky, in 1819. Ezra was a son of Walter Sparks and was thus a nephew of Daniel Sparks.
32.5 Daniel Sparks married his second wife in 1789. Her name was Sarah (or Sally) Bogard. She had been born on August 14, 1773, and was a daughter of Jacob Bogard. The marriage bond, dated November 9, 1789, was recorded in Mason County, Kentucky, which, as the crow flies, is about 150 miles up the Ohio River from Jefferson County. This may have been the home of Sally Bogard, or it is possible that she and Daniel met each other there. Mason County (and particularly Maysville, its seat of justice) was a popular stopping place for persons coming to or leaving the frontier. Daniel and Sally became the parents of twelve children.
Little is known about the life of Daniel Sparks except what was recorded in official records in the counties in which he lived. In the obituary of his son, Samuel Ketchum Sparks, however, we get a glimpse of one episode in Daniel's life. When Samuel was 13 or 14 years old (ca. 1790), he remembered accompanying "his father, who took a drove of horses to North Carolina and thence to Maryland."
Our last reference to Daniel Sparks in Kentucky is a Shelby County deed dated May 20, 1811, by which "Daniel Sparks of Bullitt County" sold 100 acres of land on Plum Creek in Shelby County to William Sharp and Thomas Allen for $1.00. (Shelby County Deed Book K, p. 281) This must have been in the form of a gift, in payment of a debt, or a provision in a mortgage.
It is believed that soon after 1811, Daniel Sparks, with the younger members of his family, moved across the Ohio River into Clark County, Indiana, probably settling in that section which was cut off to form Scott County in 1820. It was there that Daniel died, probably in the early part of 1820. On October 31st of that year, 32.5.6 Orson Sparks, son of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, became the guardian of his four youngest sisters, described as "infant and orphan heirs of Daniel Sparks, late deceased." (In legal terminology, "infant" was then often used to describe a minor.) Orson Sparks's seventeen-year-old brother, Harmon Sparks, also chose Orson as his guardian.
A notice appeared in the Impartial Compiler, a newspaper published in Shelbyville, Kentucky, on February 24, 1827, stating that the Spencer County Court had declared that no heirs could be found "of Daniel Sparks, deceased." Apparently, there was property belonging to Daniel in Spencer County which had never been sold. There were actually plenty of heirs, but the authorities in Spencer County apparently did not know their whereabouts. Actually, the widow of Daniel Sparks, Nancy (Bogard) Sparks, was still living as late as June 2, 1827, on which date she gave her consent for their daughter Nancy, then seventeen, to be married to William McGrew in Spencer County, Kentucky.
According to the manuscript referred to at the beginning of this article, which is also discussed at the end, Daniel Sparks had two children by his first marriage:
32.5.1 Samuel Ketchum Sparks, born August 10, 1786.
32.5.2 Rebecca Sparks, born March 25, 1788.
by his second marriage to Sarah Bogard, he had twelve children, six sons and six daughters. In the record which follows, they are designated as:
32.5.3 Valentine Sparks, born September 26, 1790.
32.5.4 Orson Sparks, born July 9, 1792.
32.5.5 Nimrod H. Sparks, born June 11, 1794.
32.5.6 Delila Sparks, born July 18, 1796.
32.5.7 Massa Sparks, born December 22, 1798.
32.5.8 Hector Sparks, born December 21, 1799.
32.5.9 Daniel B. Sparks, born March 28, 1801.
32.5.10 Harmon N. Sparks, born December 1, 1803.
32.5.11 Elizabeth Sparks, born April 1,1809 (this may have been 1807).
32.5.12 Nancy Sparks, born April 1, 1810.
32.5.13 Catherine ["Caty"] Sparks, born February 3, 1812.
32.5.14 Hannah H. Sparks, born December 28, 1813.Early Map showing boundaries of Jefferson County, KY. (Page 4154)
Modern Map of Jefferson and adjacent Counties in Kentucky. (Page 4155)
32.5.1 Samuel Ketchum Sparks, son of 32.5 Daniel Sparks by his first marriage, was born August 10, 1786, in Jefferson County, Kentucky. According to an obituary at the time of his death in 1881, he was born "in a stockade erected for the protection against the Indians eight miles southeast of Louisville." On May 8, 1806, he married Catherine Carr in Shelby County, Kentucky. She had been born on April 27, 1788, in Pennsylvania. She was baptized in 1811 at Kings Church in Bullitt County, Kentucky. Samuel was ordained as an elder in the Plum Creek Baptist Church in Spencer County, Kentucky, in 1830.
It seems quite likely that Samuel Sparks had been born in Moses Kuykendall's Station, or fort, mentioned earlier. According to an article by Neal O. Hammon in the Filson Club Quarterly, No. 52, 1978, in 1782, Moses KuykendalI started a station on the south fork of Beargrass Creek. Old deeds would indicate that it was located just south of where present Buechel Bank Road crosses the creek. by 1785, Kuykendall had built a mill on this site." This site is about eight miles southeast of the Jefferson County courthouse. As noted earlier in this article, Moses Kuykendall had been married to the widow of Samuel Ketchum, 32.6 Elizabeth (Sparks) Ketchum, sometime after Samuel Ketchum's death in 1778. There can be little doubt that this 32.6 Elizabeth Sparks was a daughter of 32. Richard Sparks, Sr. and was, therefore, a sister of Daniel Sparks.
In his reminiscences for a History of Vigo County, Indiana, published in 1880, Samuel K. Sparks recalled that he had first gone to Vigo County in 1812 as a "ranger." He cultivated a crop of corn that year, but he had much trouble with the Indians. One night, seven horses were stolen, and he recalled the pursuit and capture of the stolen animals, as well as the slaying of the Indians. He also recalled that the early clothing of himself and other settlers had been made from animal skins, and plates and bowls were made from wood.
Samuel returned to Bullitt County, Kentucky, where he was listed as the the head of his family in 1820. According to that census, he and Catherine appear to have had three children, all born between 1800 and 1810. He lived in that part of Bullitt County that became part of Spencer County when it was formed in 1824.
Odd bits of information are sometimes found which illuminate the life of an ancestor, indicating what he/she actually did on a given day of his/her life. A document survives at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., which bears the actual signature of Samuel K. Sparks, along with that of his son, 32.5.1.2 Nimrod Sparks. (For a reproduction of this, see the following page.) Dated May 1, 1834, in Spencer County, Kentucky, this is a deposition made by Samuel and his son in support of a neighbor's application for a Revolutionary War pension (#S-38138). This neighbor was Samuel Lee who had been born in 1763 in Richmond, Virginia. Lee stated that he had enlisted in September 1781 while a resident of Hardy County, Virginia, (now in West Virginia). Completing that tour of service, Lee stated that he had then served as a substitute for his father, who had been drafted.
Samuel Lee had moved from Hardy County, Virginia, to Kentucky in 1790, and it was there that he had come to know Samuel K. Sparks and Samuel's son, Nimrod. The fact that Samuel K. Sparks was a clergyman was doubtless a reason why Lee asked him for a deposition of support; Samuel K. and Nimrod Sparks had no personal knowledge of Samuel Lee's service, but they could say that it was generally "reputed in the neighbourhood" that he had performed that service, and that Lee was known to be "a man of strict verasity." A transcription of the full deposition follows its reproduction on page 4157.
DEPOSITION MADE ON MAY 19, 1834
BY SAMUEL K. SPARKS AND HIS SON, NIMROD C. SPARKS
The text of the above deposition reads as follows:
We Samuel K. Sparks Clergyman and Nimrod Sparks residing in the neighbourhood of Samuel Lee who has subscribed and sworn to the foregoing declaration we say we are well acquainted with him we believe him to be 71 years of age. he is reputed in the neighbourhood where he resides to be a man of strict verasity and to have been a soldier in the revolution and we Concur in the opinion of his neighbours.
[signed]
Samuel K. Sparks Nimrod C. Sparks
subscribed and sworn to before me this year and date Last above mentioned [May 19, 1834].
[Signed]
Samuel Marshall
[Elsewhere in the pension application, Samuel Marshall is identified as a justice of the peace in Spencer County, Kentucky.)
Samuel K. Sparks paid taxes in Spencer County, Kentucky, from 1824 to 1835, but on July 13, 1835, he bought seven acres of land in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana. He moved again to Vigo County shortly afterwards, spending the remainder of his life in that area as a minister of the Missionary Baptist Church. He was also a well-to-do man for his time.
Samuel and Catherine Sparks helped to organize the first Baptist church in Terre Haute, IN, on July 9, 1836, and he served as its pastor until 1844. He then organized the Mt. Zion Baptist Church and remained as its minister for 29 years. He is said to have established at least half a dozen churches in and around Terre Haute. His ministry lasted more than forty years.
Catherine (Carr) Sparks died on October 27, 1876, at the age of 88 years. Samuel died on May 8, 1881, dying at the age of 94. They were buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute.
They had three children, including an unidentified daughter who apparently died quite young.
32.5.1.1 Massa Sparks was born August 8, 1807, in Kentucky. She married David Pound on December 24, 1824, in Spencer County, Kentucky. The groom's bondsman was 32.5.10 Harmon N. Sparks, uncle of Massa. David Pound had been born on December 5, 1800, in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and was a son of Hezekiah and Esther (Morris) Pound. According to a book published in 1904 on the Pound family, David and Massa moved to Vigo County, Indiana, in the spring of 1836. David died there on August 29, 1880; Massa died there on September 13, 1887. They had eight children:
32.5.1.1.1 Nimrod Preston Pound;
32.5.1.1.2 Columbus S. Pound;
32.5.1.1.3 Harvey Merritt Pound;
32.5.1.1.4 Ophelia Catherine Pound;
32.5.1.1.5 Catherine Esther Pound;
32.5.1.1.6 Mary Ann Pound:
32.5.1.1.7 Martha Elizabeth Pound; and
32.5.1.1.8 Emerelis Pound.When the 1880 census was taken of Vigo County, Indiana, Harvey Pound, "photographer," was shown with wife, Elizabeth, and "grandfather" Samuel Sparks, aged 94.
32.5.1.2 Nimrod C. Sparks was born ca. 1808 in Kentucky. He married Penelope Tilly on February 10, 1834, in Shelby County, Kentucky. She had been born ca. 1809 and was a daughter of Henry Tilly. Shortly after their marriage, Nimrod and Penelope moved to Scott County, Indiana, and their first child was born there in 1835. by 1840, however, they were in Vigo County where they apparently continued to live for the rest of their lives. They died between 1870 and 1880. They had four children:
32.5.1.2.1 Henry Sparks
32.5.1.2.2 Mary Catherine Sparks
32.5.1.2.3 Margaret Sparks
32.5.1.2.4 Martha Sparks.
32.5.2 Rebecca Sparks, daughter of Daniel Sparks by his first marriage, was born on March 25, 1788, probably in Jefferson County, Kentucky. It was there that she married John Pringle on December 10, 1804. We have no further information about her. (A John Pringle headed a household in Jefferson County when the 1810 census was taken; however, there was no female enumerated in his household who would fit into the age-group category of Rebecca Sparks. Perhaps this was not the John Pringle who married Rebecca Sparks, or she may have died shortly after their marriage.)
32.5.3 Valentine Sparks, oldest son of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born September 26, 1790, in Jefferson County, Kentucky. He married Elizabeth MNU ca. 1815; however, we have found no record of the marriage, nor have we learned the maiden name of his wife. According to extant tax records, they began housekeeping in Bullitt County, Kentucky, where Valentine paid taxes from 1815 to 1819. They then moved to Shelby County, Kentucky, where Valentine paid taxes in 1820 and was shown as heading his household there on the 1820 census. He probably lived in a section of Shelby County that became a part of Spencer County in 1824, since he paid taxes in the latter county from 1824 to 1827. by 1827, however, he was back in Jefferson County where he paid taxes on a small farm on Back Run. He and Elizabeth apparently lived there for the remainder of their lives.
In June 26, 1819, Valentine Sparks and his wife, Elizabeth, "of Bullitt County sold 100 arpents (acres) of land to James, Hughbarger "of Shelby County." The land was located in the Missouri Territory in Big Prairie Township in New Madrid County. Sparks stated in the deed, that the land "was a part of William Coxes headright and was an equal half of 200 arpents (acres) conveyed to me and Harman Sparks. The consideration was $250.
We have found no record of the conveyance of the land to the two brothers, nor can we conjecture as to why they were selected from Daniel Sparks's children to be the co-owners.
The last record we have found of Valentine Sparks is dated October 5, 1835, when he was a witness to a sale of land on Broad Run Fork of Floyds Fork in Jefferson County. The land was sold by 32.4.8 Ezra Sparks, son of Walter Sparks, and a cousin of Valentine, to Martin Fidler.
Valentine Sparks died between 1835 and 1840, and when the 1840 census was taken of Jefferson County, his widow, Elizabeth Sparks, was shown as head of her household. With her were, apparently, her four sons and four daughters. by 1850, however, the children had scattered and were living in several different households.
We believe that we can identify all of the children of 32.5.3 Valentine and Elizabeth Sparks, except for one son, born between 1820 and 1825, and one daughter, born between 1825 and 1830.
32.5.3.1 Daniel S. Sparks was born ca. 1818, probably in Bullitt County. When the 1850 census was taken of Jefferson County, Kentucky, he was living in the household of G. G. Hikes. He married Jane Churchman on July 12, 1851, in Jefferson County. She had been born in August 1828 in Virginia and was a daughter of Elijah Churchman. Daniel and Jane lived in Jefferson County most of their lives. According to the Louisville city directory, he was a carpenter. He died between 1890 and 1900. Jane died sometime after 1900. They had six children:
32.5.3.1.1 Mary Elizabeth Sparks,
32.5.3.1.2 Daniel W. Sparks,
32.5.3.1.3 Rosalie Sparks,
32.5.3.1.4 John Henry Sparks,
32.5.3.1.5 Annie Sparks, and
32.5.3.1.6 Tillie Sparks.32.5.3.2 Sarah Belle Sparks was born ca. 1819. She married Craven K. Slaughter on May 7, 1840, in Jefferson County. (The license was dated May 5, 1840.) Sarah's lawful age was proved by her mother, who also gave her consent to the marriage. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Robert Gailbreath. Slaughter was a carpenter.
The Slaughters lived in Louisville where two children were born to them.
32.5.3.2.1 James C. Slaughter was born in 1841, and
32.5.3.2.2 Elizabeth Slaughter was born in 1847.Sometime ca. 1852, Sarah sued Craven for a divorce on the charges of adultery. In 1855, according to the Louisville city directory, she lived on Jackson Street where she was a seamstress. She died in 1899 and was buried in the Cave Hill Cemetery on February 1, 1900.
32.5.3.3 Son Sparks whom we have been unable to identify was born to Valentine and Elizabeth Sparks between 1820 and 1825.
32.5.3.4 Samuel K. Sparks, obviously named for his uncle, was born ca. 1824, probably in Spencer County, Kentucky. He was a teamster. He married Josephine Cossart ca. 1855. She had been born ca. 1840 in Indiana. She and Samuel lived most of their lives in Louisville, and he died there ca. 1880. Josephine died sometime after 1900. She and Samuel had four children:
32.5.3.4.1 Charles Sparks
32.5.3.4.2 Frank Sparks
32.5.3.4.3 Eugene Sparks
32.5.3.4.5 William Lee Sparks.32.5.3.5 Daughter Sparks whom we have been unable to identify was born to Valentine and Elizabeth Sparks between 1825 and 1830.
32.5.3.6 Richard Wesley Sparks was born in December 1827, probably in Spencer County, Kentucky. After the death of his father, Wesley (as he was called) grew up in the household of Margaret Guthrie and learned the trade of mechanic. He married Eliza Ellen Welch on April 24, 1850, in Jefferson County. She had been born ca. 1830 in Kentucky and was orphaned at an early age.
When the 1860 census was taken, Wesley and Eliza lived on a farm valued at $2,500 near the community of Fern Creek in Jefferson County, Kentucky. He had a mill there in 1879 on property valued at $10,000. It was also about this time that he and Eliza started a boarding house (called the SPARKS HOUSE) at 8th and Jefferson Streets in Louisville. Apparently, they sold that business ca. 1891 and returned to Fern Creek.
Eliza (Welch) Sparks died between 1891 and 1900 at Fern Creek, and after her death, Wesley made his home with a son, Albert. He died on June 29, 1909. He and Eliza had ten children:
32.5.3.6.1 William P. Sparks
32.5.3.6.2 Minnie Sparks
32.5.3.6.3 Albert ["Al"] Sparks
32.5.3.6.4 Robert W. Sparks
32.5.3.6.5 Julia Sparks
32.5.3.6.6 Elizabeth ["Betsy"] Sparks
32.5.3.6.7 Margaret ["Maggie"] Sparks
32.5.3.6.8 Clifton B. Sparks
32.5.3.6.9 George H. Sparks
32.5.3.6.10 Dustin Sparks32.5.3.7 Walter Sparks was born to Valentine and Elizabeth Sparks between 1825 and 1830. When the 1850 census was taken, he was living in a household headed by Edmund Dane. We have no further record of him.
32.5.3.8 Mary Cordelia Sparks was born ca. 1832.
32.5.4 Orson Sparks, son of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born July 9, 1792, in Jefferson County, Kentucky. On September 3, 1811, he married Margaret ["Peggy"] Burdett in Bullitt County, Kentucky. She had been born in October 1793 in southwest Virginia and was a daughter of William and Elizabeth (MNU) Burdett.
Two months after he was married, Orson Sparks volunteered to serve as a ranger during the War of 1812. He served three different tours of duty, each one lasting about six weeks, but was finally discharged as "crippled" in October 1812. He was exempted from paying taxes in Bullitt County in 1813. (See the June 1962 issue of the Quarterly, Whole No. 38, pp. 646-49, for further details of his military service and his bounty land file.)
Shortly after returning from the military service, Orson joined his father in Clark County, Indiana, where he settled in that portion which became a part of Scott County in 1820. When his father died in 1820, Orson was appointed by the Scott County Court as the guardian of his four youngest sisters. He was also commissioned by the court to be a justice of the peace.
Sparks resigned his commission in 1821 and returned to Bullitt County where he bought land on Dutchmans Creek, a tributary of Salt River. The land was located in that portion of Bullitt County which became a part of Spencer County in 1824. He paid taxes in Spencer County untfl 1830. It was also about this time that he petitioned Congress for reimbusement for the loss of a horse during the War of 1812.
Orson and Margaret Sparks decided to move westward, and in September 1830, they sold the land they owned on Dutchmans Creek and went to Missouri. Orson and Margaret were probably accompanied by Orson's cousin, James Sparks, a son of Walter Sparks. (See the December 1987 issue of the Quarterly, Whole No. 140, for a more detailed description of the family of Walter Sparks.) Orson settled near the village of Sharpsburg in Marion County, Missouri, and this is probably where he and Margaret spent the rest of their lives. They sold their last piece of land in Kentucky in July 1832.
Orson Sparks died on May 15, 1870. His wife, Peggy, survived him for nearly ten years, dying on January 9, 1880. According to census records, it would appear that they were the parents of eight chIldren; however, we have succeeded in identifying only four of them.
Two daughters and one son whom we have been unable to identify, appear from census records to have been born to Orson and Peggy between 1810 and 1820.
32.5.4.4 Daniel K. Sparks was born January 20, 1820, probably in Scott County, Indiana. He was still living in 1884, it appears, for in a History of Marion County, Missouri published that year by R. I. Holcombe, a biographical sketch of Daniel K. Sparks appears on page 707. In all probablity, Daniel supplied the author with the information given there. This sketch reads as follows:
Daniel K. Sparks. The subject of this article was born in Indiana, January 20, 1820. His parents moved to Kentucky when he was one year old, and from thence to Marion county, in October, 1830. Here he lived until 1850, when he took the gold fever and went to California. He was in very poor health when he started, weighing less that 100 pounds. After three years' stay he returned home, much improved by the salubrious climate, and weighing 174 pounds. In 1854 he went back to California and remained there twelve years. He again returned to Marion county in 1866, and was married September 20, of the same year, to Miss Mary Bright, who was born in Callaway county, Missouri, September 23, 1836. They have no children of their own, but in 1879 they adopted a bright little girl named Mary Emma Cline, whom they care for tenderly; she is now nine years old. Mr. Sparks and wife are both members of the M. E. Church South, and highly respected citizens of their community.
On page 680 of this same volume, in a chapter headed "Hunting Stories" pertaining to Warren Township in Marion County, Missouri, appears the following:
Mr. Daniel K. Sparks, who came to the township in 1830, when a ten-year-old boy, relates that in ca. 1832 he accompanied his father to a mill, down to Florida, perhaps, twenty-two miles away. Returning home in the evening, they were chased and overtaken by two large black wolves. In their eagerness to get at the contents of the wagon the savage beasts reared up and came near jumping in at the rear end, causing little Dan to come near jumping out at the front end!
32.5.4.5 Son Sparks whom we have been unable to identify appears to have been born to Orson and Peggy Sparks between 1825 and 1830.
32.5.4.6 Mary Jane Sparks was born ca. 1830, probably in Spencer County, Kentucky. She was 21 years of age and living with her parents when the 1850 census was taken of Marion County, Missouri. We have no further information about her.
32.5.4.7 Margaret A. Sparks was born ca. 1833 in Missouri and was a 17-year-old girl living with her parents when the 1850 census was taken of Marion County, Missouri. We have no further information about her.
32.5.4.8 Samuel K. Sparks, youngest child of Orson and Peggy (Burdett) Sparks, was born March 16, 1836, in Marion County, Missouri.
The following biographical sketch appears on page 707 of History of Marion County, Missouri by R. I. Holcombe, published in 1884. We can assume that the information regarding Samuel had been supplied to the author of this book by Samuel, himself.
32.5.4.8 Samuel Sparks. Mr. Sparks is the son of Orson and Margaret G. (Burdett) Sparks, his father a native of Kentucky, his mother of Virginia. He was born in Marion county, Missouri, March 16, 1836, where he was educated and grew to manhood. He was married January 8, 1863, to Paulina Young, daughter of James B. and Malinda Young, of Marion county, Missouri. To this union has been born one child,
32.5.4.8.1 Hiram B. Sparks, born February 8, 1872.
In August, 1861, Mr. Sparks enlisted in the Confederate army, Missouri State Guards, under Capt. John L. Owen. He was in the Monroe City skirmish, also that of Shelbina; and in the battle of Lexington, where Col. Mulligan was captured by Gen. Price. He was discharged at Springfield in January 1862, his discharge signed by Brig.-Gen. Martin E. Green. On his way home Mr. Sparks made a rather perilous trip across the Missouri river on a cake of ice. On May 6, 1869, he settled on his present place, where he owns 165 acres of choice land, well cultivated. His property altogether is valued at $6,500. He has been a prominent member of the Episcopal church since 1865, and has held the office of vestryman in that church. Mrs. Sparks was born in Marion county, Missouri, February 16, 1845.
32.5.5 Nimrod H. Sparks, son of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born June 11, 1794. He may have been the Nimrod Sparks who served in the War of 1812, in the United States regular army, and whose son, 32.5.5.2 Norval W. Sparks, many years later, applied for and received bounty land for his father's service. (See pages 645-646 of the June 1962 issue of the Quarterly, Whole No. 38, pp. 645-46.)
[Editor's Note: As can be seen in the bounty land file referred to above, in the Quarterly of June 1962, the widow of that Nimrod Sparks, whose maiden name had been Susan B. Parker, stated in an affidavit dated May 13, 1859, that she had been married to Nimrod Sparks in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Her reason for making this affidavit was to assist her son, Norval W. Sparks, to obtain bounty land for his father's service in the War of 1812. A marriage bond dated February 26, 1826, does, indeed, exist in Jefferson County records for Nimrod Sparks and Susan B. Parker. She was a minor at the time, and her father, Thomas Parker, gave his permission for her to marry Nimrod. After Nimrod's death on January 20, 1840, Susan had been married a second time, to Henry L. Ball, on November 15, 1842. It was as Ball's wife that Susan made her sworn statement on her son's behalf on May 13, 1859, in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky.
[Included in the bounty land application of Norval W. Sparks is a certified copy of the entries in his parents' family Bible. This reveals that Nimrod and Susan (Parker) Sparks had two children: 32.5.5.1 George W. Sparks, born May 2, 1830; and 32.5.5.2 Norvall W. Sparks, born April 27, 1835. According to Susan's affidavit of 1859, her eldest son, "George W. Sparks had died by that time without issue, never having been married." (George W. Sparks appeared on the 1850 census of Jefferson County with his mother and step-father, so we know his death occurred between 1850 and 1859.) This family Bible record also reveals that Norval W. Sparks had been married to Jennie M. Terell on February 25, 1858.
[Susan B. (Parker) Sparks Ball also stated that, before he had entered the military service in the War of 1812, Nimrod Sparks "had begun to learn the trade of tanning leather." She also provided a physical description of Nimrod; she recalled that his hair was light or auburn, his eyes were blue, complexion fair; he had a high forehead and "he was lame at times -- especially when much fatigued." Susan also stated: "My former husband, said Nimrod Sparks, was never married before he married me, at least he so informed me and I never had any doubt of the truth of his statements and I was the only wife that he ever had."
[There are, however, two statements in Susan B. (Parker) Sparks Bull's deposition of 1859 that cause us to question whether her first husband, named Nimrod Sparks, was the same Nimrod H. Sparks as the one born to Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks on June 11, 1794. Susan stated that her first husband had "told me he was born and (partly or entirely) raised in Washington County, Pennsylvania [and] that his parents died when he was a child, and that he lived with an uncle, and that before he was fully grown he left his uncle, and sometime afterwards enlisted with the Regular Army on the United Sates sometime during [the] War of 1812."
[There can be little doubt that the Nimrod Sparks born to Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks on June 11, 1794, was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, not Washington County, Pennsylvania, although his father, Daniel Sparks, had moved to Kentucky from that area. Daniel Sparks, along with his parents and siblings, had lived in that part of Washington County, Pennsylvania, that was cut off in 1788 to form Allegheny County. Thus it had been from Washington County, Pennsylvania, that Daniel Sparks migrated to Kentucky near the end of the Revolutionary War. Could Susan have confused what her first husband had told her about his father rather than about himself?
[Daniel and Sarah Sparks certainly did not die when their son, Nimrod Sparks, was a child, however. There were nine children born to Daniel and Sarah after Nimrod's birth, in fact, Nimrod (son of Daniel and Sarah) was some 26 years old when Daniel died in or ca. 1820.
[It is possible that the passage of some eighteen years between the death of Susan's first husband and the preparation of her deposition in 1859 could have dulled her memory of what Nimrod Sparks had told her about his past. It is also possible that Nimrod had something in his past to hide and had misinformed Susan. As noted earlier, one can wonder, also, whether what Susan recalled pertained to her father-in-law, Daniel Sparks, rather than to her husband, Nimrod, although even Daniel Sparks's father, Richard Sparks, Sr., lived many years after the birth of Daniel.
[We hope that future research, and possible records held by someone among the Association's membership, may help to solve the mystery of Nimrod H. Sparks's identity.]
32.5.6 Delila Sparks, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born July 18, 1796. We have no further information about her.
32.5.7 Massa Sparks, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born December 22, 1798. We have found no further record of her. (She may have died at or shortly after her birth, considering the date of birth of her brother, Hector.) She should not be confused with her niece, 32.5.1.1 Massa Sparks, born on August 8, 1808, who was a daughter of 32.5.1 Samuel K. and Catherine (Carr) Sparks. See above.
32.5.8 Hector Sparks, son of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born December 21, 1799, in Bullitt County, Kentucky. He accompanied his father to Clark County, Indiana, ca. 1811, and it was there that he entered two tracts of land in 1817. One tract was 160 acres while the other was 161.48 acres. The land was near the Pigeon Roost settlement.
Hector Sparks married Sarah McGuire on June 15, 1819, in Clark County. She had been born July 9, 1791, in Virginia and may have been a widow. Her father was Francis McGuire. She and Hector lived in that portion of Clark County that became a part of Scott County in 1820. Hector was a trustee of the Ox Fork Baptist Church when it was formed in 1827; he was its first clerk.
Hector Sparks died on November 3, 1838, in Scott County, and he was buried in the Old Ox Fork Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. He had made his will a few weeks earlier in which he named his wife as a co-executor with Josiah McGain. He left each of his three daughters 60 acres of land. Sarah, his wife, survived him for over forty years, dying on September 4, 1879. She was buried in the Kimberlin Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Scott County.
32.5.8.1 Eliza Sparks, daughter of Hector and Sarah Sparks, was born June 17, 1820, in Scott County, Indiana. It was there that she married William Jones, Jr., on August 26, 1839. He had been born on December 12, 1819, in Scott County and was a son of William and Elizabeth (MNU) Jones. Eliza died on September 29, 1848, and Willlam died on October 12, 1882. They had five children:
32.5.8.1.1 Lavina Jane Jones;
32.5.8.1.2 William Jones;
32.5.8.1.3 Levi Jones, born November 28, 1843;
32.5.8.1.4 George Jones; and
32.5.8.1.5 Sarah Jones.32.5.8.2 Sarah Jane Sparks was born ca. 1822 in Scott County and was married there to Aaron Rawlings on March 25, 1841. He had been born ca. 1810 in Kentucky. According to the 1850 and 1860 census records of Scott County, Aaron and Sarah Jane appear to have had six children:
32.5.8.2.1 Eliza Ann Rawlings;
32.5.8.2.2 Nathan Rawlings;
32.5.8.2.3 Emily Jane Rawlings;
32.5.8.2.4 Martha Rawlings;
32.5.8.2.5 William Rawlings; and
32.5.8.2.6 Thomas Rawlings.32.5.8.3 Lavina Ann America Sparks was born ca. 1824 in Scott County, and it was there that she married Levi H. Ray on November 25, 1841. We have found no further record of this couple.
32.5.9 Daniel B. Sparks, son of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born March 28, 1801, in Bullitt County, Kentucky. He may have been the Daniel Sparks who married Hannah Sears and was listed on the 1830 through 1870 censuses in Daviess County, Indiana. We have found no record, however, to prove that this was the same Daniel Sparks. Does anyone among our readers have that information?
32.5.10 Harmon N. Sparks, son of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born December 1, 1803, in Bullitt County, Kentucky. (When he enlisted in a military unit in 1836, however, he gave his place of birth as Jefferson County, Kentucky.) He married Malinda Peak on December 26, 1824, in Spencer County, Kentucky. She had been born ca. 1808 in Kentucky. They settled down to housekeeping on Dutchman Creek near the Bullitt-Spencer Counties boundary, so close to the line that Harmon paid taxes in both counties on some occasions. He was a farmer.
On June 1, 1836, Harmon Sparks enlisted, to serve for six months, in the 1st Regiment Kentucky Volunteers. Apparently, this regiment was organized because of a struggle then going on in Texas. The first permanent Anglo- American settlement in Texas had been made at San Felipe de Austin on the lower Brazos River in 1821, and during the next fifteen years some 30,000 Americans had migrated to Texas, going for the most part from the southern states. Texas was then part of Mexico, of course, but the Mexican federal government had paid little attention to these settlers and permitted them largely to govern themselves. In 1835, however, Mexico's government was seized by a military dictator named Santa Anna, to which the American settlers, as well as many Mexicans, protested. In response, Santa Anna sent troops into Texas. The siege of the Alamo, in which every American defender was killed on March 6, 1836, stirred strong feelings in the United States, particularly in the South. We can probably assume that it was in reaction to these events that Harmon Sparks decided to enlist.
The Battle of San Jacinto, however, took place on April 21, 1836, at which a Texan army under command of General Sam Houston defeated and captured Santa Anna. Thus, by the time Harmon Sparks and his fellow volunteers reached Texas, the fighting had ceased. Texas became a republic, with Houston as its president, in October 1836. There continued to be rumors and fear, however, that another military leader might bring another Mexican army into Texas.
Harmon Sparks's six-month commitment ended on November 1, 1836, but he continued in the service for another year. There is a record at the Texas State Archives, for example, that he was paid $64.78 for service between December 28, 1836, and October 2, 1837.
He received a written discharge signed by Lt. W. W. Wallingford, sometime in October 1837, although, for a reason not understood, it was not dated. This document is reproduced from the original at the Texas State Archives on the following page. It reads as follows, with punctuation added:
To all whom it may concern:
Know ye that Harmon Sparks, a private of Captain H. C. D. Earle's company, 1st Regiment of Kentucky Vol unteers, who was enlisted on the first day of June one thousand eight hundred and thirty six to serve six months, is hereby honorably discharged from the Army of Texas.
Said Harmon Sparks was born in Jefferson County, State of Kentucky, is thirty three years of age, five feet, eight inches [tall], dark complixion, blue eyes, brown hair, and by occupation when enlisted a farmer.
(signed) W. W. Wallingford, Lieut.
Com.
With its vast land resources, the Repubilc of Texas could be generous in rewarding the soldiers from the United States who had come to fight on its behalf. Harmon Sparks, like other privates, no doubt, was awarded 640 acres of bounty land within the Republic. Like most veterans of previous wars, i.e., the Revolution and the War of 1812, when bounty land had been provided, Harmon Sparks promptly sold his land warrant to a land speculator, in his case, a man named Philip Reiley. Harmon received only $48.00 from Reiley. With a wife and children waiting for him back in Kentucky, Harmon apparently had no desire actually to acquire the tract of land to which he was entitled.
ARMY DISCHARGE OF HARMON SPARKS
Because it was Harmon Sparks's written discharge that would constitute his official claim (or warrant) for the 640 acres of Texas land, it was this document that he was required to transfer to Reiley. Harmon did this on November 8, 1837, in Houston, Texas, signing by mark the following agreement:
For value received I transfer all my right, title and interest which I have to six hundred and fourty acres of land coming to me for military service rendered as set forth in the annexed certificate of discharge, to Philip Reiley, his heirs or assigns, and I do hereby authorize the said Philip Reiley, or such substitute as he may appoint, to select, locate, survey and perfect title to said land in his own name (or in my name if required by law) at his own expence and according to law. This transfer and power is irrevocable from and after date. Done at the city of Houston 8th day of November 1837.
his
Harmon [ X ] Sparks
mark
Two men signed as witnesses to the agreement of Harmon Sparks: J. W. Moody, whose title was "Auditor," and J. L. Vaughan. (The spelling of the latter name is uncertain.)
We can assume that Harmon Sparks began his return journey to his home on Dutchman Creek located near the Bullitt-Spencer Counties boundary in Kentucky, shortly after he assigned his bounty land right to Philip Reiley on November 8, 1837. We believe that he then lived out his life in Kentucky.
The last record that we have found of 32.5.10 Harmon and Malinda (Peak) Sparks is on the 1860 census of Bullitt County, Kentucky. At that time, they were living in the household of their son, Holden Sparks. According to a history of the Pound and Kester families compiled by John E. Hunt and published in 1904, Harmon and Malinda had seven children.
32.5.10.1 Holden Sparks was born ca. 1826 in Kentucky. He was married twice. His first marriage was to Eliza Jane Humble on September 20, 1860, in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Eliza Jane probably died ca. 1865; apparently they had no children. Holden married (second) Rebecca MNU ca. 1867. They had at least one child,
32.5.10.1.1 Justin B. Sparks, born ca. 1868.
We have not learned whether Holden and Rebecca Sparks had additional children, nor have we found the dates of their deaths.
32.5.10.2 Andrew Jackson Sparks was born ca. 1829 in Kentucky. He married Amanda J. Drake on December 1, 1852, in Spencer County, Kentucky. She had been born in Kentucky ca. 1836. Census and birth records indicate that Jackson (as he apparently was called) and Amanda had four children:
32.5.10.2.1 Eliza J. Sparks
32.5.10.2.2 Susannah Sparks
32.5.10.2.3 William Sparks
32.5.10.2.4 John W. Sparks.32.5.10.3 Sarah C. Sparks was born ca. 1831 in Kentucky. On December 14, 1854, she married Harrison B. Hopewell in Bullitt County, Kentucky. When the 1860 census was taken of Jefferson County, they were living near Fisherville, where Harrison was a blacksmith. We have not learned whether they had any children.
32.5.10.4 Tinsley Sparks was born in December 1832. On January 4, 1855, he married Susan K. Humble in Jefferson County, Kentucky. She had been born in August 1832. She and Tinsley were living by themselves when the 1900 census was taken of Jefferson County. According to census records, they appear to have been the parents of four children:
32.5.10.4.1 Martha Sparks
32.5.10.4.2 Mary Sparks
32.5.10.4.3 Robert Sparks
32.5.10.4.4 William Sparks.32.5.10.5 Frances Jane Sparks was born ca. 1836 in Kentucky. On October 18, 1860, she married John A. King in Bullitt County, Kentucky. We have no further information about this couple.
32.5.10.6 John Harvey Sparks was born May 16, 1842, in Kentucky. He served in the 9th Regiment Kentucky Cavalry during the Civil War and received a pension for his military service. (See page 4174 of this issue of the QUARTERLY for an abstract of his pension file.) After his return from the Union Army, he married Emily C. Pound on September 12, 1866, in Jefferson County. She had been born on October 12, 1843, in Jefferson County and was a daughter of Hezekiah and Emerine (Prewitt) Pound. According to the history of the Pound and Kester families noted above, Harvey (as he apparently was called) and Emily had four children:
32.5.10.6.1 Susan Belle Sparks
32.5.10.6.2 Josie Sparks
32.5.10.6.3 Linnie Sparks
32.5.10.6.4 Alpha Sparks.Harvey died on September 3, 1891, and Emily died on July 1, 1911.
32.5.10.7 William Sparks, son of Harmon and Malinda (Peak) Sparks, was born March 12, 1847, in Jefferson County, Kentucky. He married Nancy Catherine Markwell in October 1868. She had been born on October 6, 1846, in Jefferson County and was a daughter of William Jefferson and Mary Jane (Taylor) Markwell. William and Nancy lived in Bullitt County and had three children, according to information contained in the history of the Pound and Kester Families published in 1904 which has been cited earlier. They were:
32.5.10.7.1 Cora Lee Sparks
32.5.10.7.2 Joseph B. Sparks
32.5.10.7.3 Elza Anne Sparks.William died on June 25, 1885.
32.5.11 Elizabeth Sparks, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born on April 1, 1809, in Kentucky. She married Jesse Jones in 1828, in Scott County, Indiana (the marriage bond was dated March 25, 1828.) We have no further information about her.
32.5.12 Nancy Sparks was born April 1, 1810. She married William McGrew on June 2, 1827, in Spencer County, Kentucky. Her mother gave her consent for Nancy to marry. (Nancy was not yet of age, being only seventeen.)
32.5.13 Catherine ["Caty"] Sparks, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born February 13, 1812. She married Hezekiah Applegate in 1828 in Scott County, Indiana (marriage bond dated August 25, 1828).
The following Applegate information was provided to us in 1988 by an authority on the family's history named L. M. Applegate of Livermore, California. According to L. M. Applegate, family records indicate that Catherine was actually a middle name, her full name being Sarah Catherine Sparks, but she was called Catherine, or Caty. Hezekiah Applegate had been born on February 14, 1810, in Tennessee (probably in Rhea County) and died on February 21, 1878, in Pike County, Illinois. Hezekiah was a son of Samuel Applegate (1783-1870), a Baptist preacher; his mother's name was Sarah. Hezekiah and Catherine ["Caty"] (Sparks) Applegate had the following children, according to the records of L. M. Applegate.
32.5.13.1 Samuel K. Applegate was born in 1830. He was married on December 6, 1852, in Pike County, Illinois, to Mary Ann Myers, and they had a son named
32.5.13.1.1 William Applegate.
Samuel K. Applegate died on April 8, 1857, and his widow, Mary Ann, married (second) George Robert Westrope; she died in 1917 near Oroville, California.
32.5.13.2 Sarah Almyra Applegate was born ca. 1832 (perhaps earlier). She was married in Pike County, Illinois, on November 1, 1849, to Adam Moormaul (or Moormaw). When her father's estate was settled in 1878, she was called "Myra A. Moormaw." We have found no record of her children.
32.5.13.3 William Frank Applegate, born September 6, 1836, died in Magnolia, Pike County, Mississippi, on October 26, 1912. He was married twice, (first) to Fannie McQuirk (1844-1927) on July 21, 1867, in St. Patrick's Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. She had been born in Ireland on December 25, 1844, and died on December 26, 1927, in New Orleans. William Frank and Fannie (McQuirk) Applegate had children named:
32.5.13.3.1 Mary Applegate, born 1868;
32.5.13.3.2 Frances Grace Applegate, born 1872;
32.5.13.3.3 Thomas James Applegate, born 1874;
32.5.13.3.4 Julia Applegate, born 1877; and
32.5.13.3.5 Theresa Applegate. born 1879.William Frank Applegate was married (second) on July 2, 1903, in Chatawa, Mississippi, to Theresa Julia Mason who died July 6, 1907. They had two children:
32.5.13.3.6 Alice Applegate and
32.5.13.3.7 Charles Applegate.32.5.13.4 Mary Jane Applegate was born in 1842; she was married on April 11, 1858, to Morgan Chaplin. They had no children.
The marriage of Catherine ["Caty"] Sparks and Hezekiah Applegate ended in divorce, and Hezekiah Applegate was married twice more. His second marriage was to Louisa MNU, who bore him a child in 1846; his third marriage in 1867 was to Mary ["Ellen"] Gill.
When the 1850 census was taken of Pike County, Illinois, Catherine Applegate was shown as heading a household of her own; she was shown as 39 years of age and living with her were two of her children, her 20-year-old son, Samuel Applegate, "Farmer," and her 8-year-old daughter, Mary J. Applegate.
Sometime after 1850, according to "family tradition" as reported to us by another Applegate genealogist (Jeannette Cogar Rhodes of Grants Pass, Oregon), Catherine was married a second time, to Nicholas Barney, and she accompanied him to Oregon on a wagon train. We have no further information.
32.5.14 Hannah H. Sparks, youngest child of Daniel and Sarah (Bogard) Sparks, was born December 28, 1813. She was married three times. Her first marriage was to Fry Coons in 1829 in Scott County, Indiana. The marriage bond was dated December 24, 1829, and they were probably married shortly there after. Apparently they had two children, a son named
32.5.14.1 Charles C. Coons, born ca.1832, and a daughter,
32.5.14.2 Mary Coons, born ca.1835.
Fry Coons died ca. 1836, and Hannah married (second) Jesse Galloway, son of James Galloway, in March 1837 in Morgan County, Indiana. According to an article devoted to the Galloway family in the Pictorial and Genealogical Record of Greene County,_Missouri published in Chicago,Illinois, in 1893 by Goodspeed Brothers, Jesse Galloway had been married twice prior to his marriage to Hannah H. (Sparks) Coons. His first marriage had been to. a "Miss Williams" in Tennessee; she had borne him three children before her death. Jesse Galloway had then been married (second), also in Tennessee, to Nancy Caldwell; she died in Morgan County, Indiana, after bearing eight children. It is stated in the book cited above, that Jesse Galloway moved to Barry County, Missouri, in 1839, at the age of 68, and died there in June 1844. Three children were born to Jesse and Hannah (Sparks) Coons Galloway:
32.5.14.3 Melvin Galloway, born ca.1842
32.5.14.4 Anna Galloway, born ca.1843
32.5.14.5 Frances M. Galloway, born ca.1843.
The third husband of Hannah H. Sparks was Joseph Doty. The Civil War pension records of Joseph Doty, which include an application for a pension by his widow, Hannah, indicate that he and Hannah had been married on June 20, 1845, in Taney County, Missouri, by Elder Thomas Henson, a Primitive Baptist clergyman. Joseph Doty had been married prior to his marriage to Hannah H. (Sparks) Coons Galloway. Doty's first wife had died in December 1844. On December 14, 1847, Joseph Doty was appointed guardian of Hannah's three Galloway children, mentioned above. Joseph Doty died on June 27, 1880.
From census records of Barry County, Missouri, it appears that Hannah bore four children to her third husband, Joseph Doty:
32.5.14.6 Hannah Doty, born ca. 1847
32.5.14.7 Valentine Doty, born ca.1848
32.5.14.8 Prudence Doty, born ca.1849
32.5.14.9 Davis Doty, born ca.1851.
Much of the above information regarding the marriages of Hannah H. Sparks and the births of her children was provided several years ago by Randy D. Lambert of Milpitas, California. He is a great-great-grandchild of Anna F. Galloway, who married John Paschal Bare on November 3, 1913, in Barry County, Missouri. She died on March 3, 1928, in Hugo, Oklahoma.
AN EDITORIAL NOTE ON SOURCES FOR THE DATES OF BIRTH OF
32.5 DANIEL SPARKS AND HIS CHILDREN
GIVEN IN THE PRECEDING ARTICLE
As seen in the preceding article devoted to Daniel Sparks (1763-ca.1820) and his family we have provided dates of birth not only for his children, but for himself and his second wife, Sarah. We believe that our readers should have the following explanation.
Many years ago, we engaged the professional services of a record seacher in Vigo County, Indiana, named Rula Barbee and asked her to transcribe and document any information she could find pertaining to the Sparks family there during the 1800's. One of the important items that Ms. Barbee provided was a copy of a six-page typewritten manuscript which is entitled "Boyll Family Record." Although Ms. Barbee never revealed to us (she is now deceased) where she had found this record, later research suggests that it had been compiled in the 1930s when a Boyll Family Reunion was organized in Vigo County. Members of the Boyll family apparently brought family Bibles to these annual events to share with relatives. Like several members of the Sparks family, members of the Boyll family had migrated from Kentucky (principally from Spencer County) to Vigo County, Indiana, in the early 1800s.
One or more members of the Boyll family appear to have copied these family records during the reunions and assembled them in this six-page typewritten document. In turn, this compilation was doubtless copied by others, including Ms. Barbee, thus providing ample opportunity for making copying errors.
The reason that this "Boyll Family Record" has significance for our research into the history of Daniel Sparks and his descendants is that the very first item, on page one of this six-page document, pertains to Daniel Sparks and his family. This record has the appearance of having been copied from a family Bible---probably a Bible once belonging to Daniel Sparks or to one of his children. There is also the possibility that it was purchased by a member of the Boyll family at an estate sale, and that Boyll family records were then added on blank pages.
Following the Daniel Sparks family record of births, also on page one of this "Boyll Family Record," is that of the family of David and Ruth Boyll, and a similar listing of the family of Arthur Boyll. (David Boyll, born March 12, 1800, and Arthur Boyll, born January 2, 1802, were brothers, being sons of Henry Boyll, born March 27, 1764, and his wife, Sarah Park, born August 29, 1781.) From other sources, we know that Henry Boyll purchased land on Plum Creek in what is now Spencer County, Kentucky, in 1797; he and his family thus lived in the same Kentucky neighborhood as did Daniel Sparks and Daniel's brother, Walter Sparks. (See the Quarterly of December 1987, Whole No. 140, pp. 3130- 3163.) From other records in this Boyll family document, we know that Henry Boyll and Sarah Park had been married on May 27, 1797.
On page four of this "Boyll Family Record", under the subheading "Bible Records from the Boyll Family Bible," appears the following entry: "Sarah E. Boyll married 32.4.1.1.10 Richard M. Sparks December 7th 1854." This Boyll-Sparks connection may explain how it happens that the family record of Daniel Sparks came to be included in this "Boyll Family Record." Also on this page, appears a record of the birth of Sarah Ellen Boyll on December 22, 1836. She is shown as a daughter of David and Ruth (Carr) Boyll, David being a son of Henry and Sarah (Park) Boyll, as noted earlier.
It must be noted, however, that 32.4.1.1.10 Richard M. Sparks who married Sarah Ellen Boyll in 1854 was not a descendant of 32.5 Daniel Sparks, but rather of Daniel's brother, 32.4 Walter Sparks (born ca.1760, died ca.1827) about whom an article appeared in the Quarterly of December 1987, Whole No. 140. On page 3138 of that article, we gave information about 32.4.1.1 Hiram Sparks (1807-1890) who was the father of 32.4.1.1.10 Richard M. Sparks. Hiram Sparks was a son of 32.4.1 Richard Sparks (1781-1854) who was a son of 32.4 Walter Sparks (ca.1760-ca.1827). Hiram's branch of the Sparks family did, indeed, move from Kentucky to Vigo County, Indiana. When the 1860 census of Indiana was taken, however, Richard M. Sparks, with his wife Ellen (she was called by her middle name) were living in Kirkland Township, Adams County, Indiana; Vigo County, Indiana, Linton Township. He was shown as a brick mason (Queries-166 says he was a shoemaker). From a record provided to us by Ms. Barbee, it appears that they had three children:
32.4.1.1.10.1 Rose Sparks,
32.4.1.1.10.2 Clayton Sparks, and
32.4.1.1.10.3 Perley L. Sparks.
Along with this six-page "Boyll Family Record," Ruth Barbee also provided us with a seven-page typewritten document which appears, also, to have been a product of the Boyll Family Reunion during the 1930s. This has the title "History of the William Boyll Family." William Boyll was the purported father of Henry Boyll (born March 17, 1764).
While much of the information in the seven-page compilation seems to have been based on the Boyll records in the six-page document, there are many additions. Here we are told that four sons of Henry and Sarah (Park) Boyll, all born in Spencer County, Kentucky, migrated to Vigo County, Indiana. The first of the brothers to make the move had been David Boyll "born near Waterford, Spencer County, Kentucky, March 17,1800." It is further stated that tion his first trip to Vigo County, he is said to have walked, accompanied by David Miller; he moved his family to Linton Township ca. 1825." Arthur Boyll, David's brother, who had been born in what is now Spencer County, Kentucky, on June 10, 1802, was married there in 1829, and moved to Vigo County "sometime later." Cuthburtson Boyll, another son of Henry and Sarah (Park) Boyll, born on February 10, 1807, was married in Spencer County to Nancy Hedges in 1837 and moved to Vigo County the following year. Another son of Henry and Sarah Boyll, James B. Boyll, born December 17, 1808, was married in Spencer County, Kentucky, in 1832 and moved to Vigo County, Indiana, in 1834. A daughter of Henry and Sarah Boyll, Rebecca Boyll, born June 14, 1812, came to Vigo County with her husband, Junipher H. Taylor, in 1830. Still another daughter of Henry and Sarah Boyll named Margaret (born October 14, 1815) also come to Vigo County with her husband, Philip Randolph.
It is interesting to note that a son of Philip and Margaret (Boyll) Randolph, named John R. Randolph, born February 16, 1852, married May Etta Sparks on October 10, 1883. She was a daughter of Vaten and Letitia (McMahan) Sparks and a granddaughter of 32.4.1.1 Hiram Sparks (1807-1890). (See pp. 3138 of the Quarterly of December 1987, Number 140.)
We can only speculate that, because of the Sparks-Boyll families connections noted above, someone owning the family Bible of Daniel Sparks brought it to one of the Boyll family reunions in the 1930s, and a copy of the births therein was made.
From records of the family of Daniel Sparks found in sources other than those appearing in the six-page "Boyll Family Record," we know that whoever copied the Sparks births made some errors in transcribing them. The year of birth of Daniel's son, Samuel K. Sparks, was copied as "1780," for example; we have ample evidence that it was 1786, however. (Anyone who has copied old hand writing can easily understand how such an error could be made.) Also, the son of Daniel Sparks named Harmon Sparks was copied as "Hammon."
There is a court record in Scott County, Indiana, which helps considerably either to verify or to correct the dates found in the Boyll manuscript. When Daniel Sparks died in or ca. 1820, several of his younger children were still minors, and on October 31, 1820, the Probate Court of Scott County (see Order Book 1) appointed Daniel's son, Orson Sparks, to serve as guardian for his four youngest sisters. As we would expect from the listing of the children of Daniel and Sarah Sparks in the Boyll document, three of these little sisters were Elizabeth, Catherine, and Hannah, but in the court order there also appears a sister named Nancy whose name does not appear in the Boyll document. It is possible that she had been simply missed when the original Bible record was being kept, but it is more probable that in one of the copyings of that list, Nancy was omitted at that time. There are also differences in the dates of birth--the age of each child was specified in the 1820 probate court order.
The guardianship record indicates that Elizabeth Sparks would be 14 years old on February 4, 1821, which would mean that she had been born on February 4, 1807. This is quite different from Elizabeth's record of birth in the Boyll document, where it appears as April 1, 1809.
Nancy Sparks's age in the guardianship record appears as 11 on April 1, 1821, which would mean that she had been born on April 1, 1810. It should be noted that, while Nancy Sparks' name does not appear among the children of Daniel and Sarah Sparks in the Boyll document, Elizabeth Sparks is listed there as hav ing been born on April 1, 1809. In one of the copyings of the original Sparks family Bible record of the family of Daniel Sparks. it seems probable that the daughter named Nancy was simply skipped over, and that Nancy's date of birth was substituted for that of Elizabeth. Even then, of course, there is a year difference, i.e., 1810 vs. 1809; perhaps this was simply a miscalculation of the age by year of the children in 1820.
The age of Catherine Sparks in the guardianship record is given as 9 on February 13, 1821, which would place her birth date as February 12, 1812. This agrees with the family record for "Cate" in the Boyll document, except for the year, where it appears as 1811 rather than 1812. Again, this could be explained as an error in the girls' ages (by year) as they were calculated for the guardianship order.
Hannah Sparks's age on the guardianship record appears as 7 on December 28, 1820, which would place her birth as December 28, 1813. Again, the month and the day here are in agreement with the Sparks family record in the Boyll document, but there the year appears as 1816, a difference of three years. In this instance, the probability is that, because the numbers 4 and 6 were often made very similarly in early 19th century handwriting, the person copying the original record simply misinterpreted the year. It is this writer's belief that, in the preparation of the guardianship order on October 31, 1820, in Scott County, Indiana, it was thought that each of the four minor sisters of Orson Sparks was one year older that she actually was. At a time when records of births in a family were often mislaid, forgotten, or accidentally destroyed, errors were made frequently in calculating ages at any given time.
The youngest son of 32.5 Daniel Sparks was named 32.5.10 Harmon N. Sparks --given in the family record in the Boyll manuscript as "Hammon N. Sparks." There is a Spencer County, Kentucky, marriage bond for him dated December 26, 1824, for him to be married to Malinda Park (Malinda Peake), and there his name appears as "Harmon N. Sparks." Harmon was a minor when his father (Daniel Sparks) died in or ca. 1820, and, according to the same Scott County, Indiana, probate record noted above, Harmon was offered a choice in selecting his guardian. He chose his older brother, Orson. It was stated in the probate court order that Harmon would be 17 years old on December 1, 1820. This means that he had been born on December 1, 1803, which is exactly the date given for his birth in the family record in the Boyll document.