January 17, 2022
Pages 3571
Whole Number 149
PERSONS NAMED SPARKS
FOUND ON THE 1850 CENSUS OF FLORIDA
[Editor's Note: As shown below, only one Sparks family, that of Martin Sparks, was found to be living in Florida when the 1850 census was taken. An article regarding this Martin Sparks appeared in the Quarterly of December 1984, Whole No. 128, pp. 2687-89. He was born in Georgia ca. 1804 and died while a member of the Confederate States Army on August 21, 1862. Although it appears from other records that Martin Sparks was living in Florida when the 1830 census was taken, his name does not appear on that census. Only the names of heads of households appeared on any federal census prior to 1850, so it may well be that Martin Sparks was living with another family in 1830. His name does appear as heading a household in 1840, however, on which census record his age was given as between 30 and 40. His wife's age was recorded as between 20 and 30. They had three children according to the 1840 census, a daughter between 5 and 10, another daughter under 5, and a son also under 5 years. These three children are easily identified on the 1850 census, below, when every member of every household was listed by name, age, sex, and place of birth. For further information on the questions asked by census takers in 1850, the reader is referred to the introduction to the 1850 census of California appearing in the present issue of the Quarterly, pp. 3565-66.]
Page 16. Census taken November 29, 1850.
| 198-198 | Sparks, Martin | 47 | Georgia | Carpenter | $500 | |
| " Lydia | 38 | " | ||||
| " Elizabeth L. | 15 | Florida | ||||
| " Thomas C. | 13 | " | ||||
| " Florida A. | 10 | " | ||||
| " William D. | 8 | " | ||||
| " John A. | 5 | " | ||||
| " Hampden | 10/12 | " |