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| Before John And Mary Ann |
| John SPARKS was born to Samuel SPARKS and Hannah HILLMAN and was baptised 22 Jul 1827 in Congresbury, Somerst, England. Hannah was Samuel's second wife, he married Tamar TAYLOR on 1 Jan 1804. The marriage was by banns and the couple were from Puxton. Witnesses to the marriage were John TAYLOR and John RIDDLE(R). I have not yet been able to ascertain the death of Tamar, but she and Sam did baptise Eliza SPARKS, a baby girl, on 16 Jul 1809. I have not followed up on Eliza to see if I can find a marriage or burial for her. It is possible the marriage produced other children. One in particular may be "George", as there is a George SPARKS living beside John in one census. This is an on-going project, and hopefully more information will arise. Samuel SPARKS married Hannah HILLMAN 5 Sept 1826 in Bedminster, Somerset, England. Samuel, a labourer, died in Congresbury, and was buried in Puxton 24 Feb 1828 at the age of 55. He was baptised 19 Jul 1772 in Puxton, Somerset. At this point, little else is known about him, but that may change. Hannah went on to marry a Benjamin WILLIAMS 31 Dec 1828 at St Andrews Church in Congresbury. They had two known children: Elizabeth and Henry whose baptism dates will be added when I summon the energy to go and get the book listing them. In the 1841 census, Hannah WILLIAMS is listed as a Spinster. She is living in Puxton with Elizabeth, who is 11, Henry, who is 9, and Jane SPARKS who is 13 and an Ag Lab. My unsubstantiated guess is that Jane is her daughter with Samuel. I have no baptismal records to prove it at this point, though. I will be making an attempt to obtain Jane's marriage/burial/death information (if there is any). EDIT: Hannah HILLMAN SPARKS WILLIAMS was buried 17 Dec 1843 at age 53. She was buried in the churchyard at St Andrew's in Congresbury, Somerset. Ben WILLIAMS was buried 2 Dec 1832 in St Andrew's, Congresbury, Somerset. He was 37. This data comes from parish records. |
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| Before Samuel and Hannah |
| With the discovery of Samuel, it wasn't too long before my source was able to track down his parents and I was subsequently able to find a plethora of siblings for him. Some siblings also have known death dates, so I will just make a simple line of information for each one. Below that I will post a few unknown persons who, at some point, should be related due to names and locations. It is going to be difficult to find out more about these people, but I intend to try. Bear with me. John SPARKS married Mary MAIN (aka MAINS) after Banns on 15 April 1765 in Congresbury, Somerset, England. They were both "of" Congresbury at the time. Witnesses were Wm. NEIGHBOURS and Betty SHEPPARD. They are Samuel's (see above) parents. Their mairriage information is in parish records. ~John SPARKS was buried 30 Dec 1810 in Puxton. Age unknown, but if we assume he was about the same age as his wife when they married, he was born C 1734. ADDENDUM: John was baptised in St Andrew's, Congresbury, on 27 May 1734. He is the son of Philip and Ann SPARKS. This would explain why he worked so hard to name a son Philip. I have a bit more information about the family which I will write below. ~Mary (MAIN) SPARKS was buried in Puxton 8 Sept 1822 at the age of 88. She was born C 1734. I have little else to go on for her, but I'll keep checking. The following information has been found via Weston-super-mare transcriptions of Baptisms and Burials in Puxton. The children are attributed to John and Mary. Please note that a baptismal date is NOT a birth date. Most baptisms happened within/about two weeks after the birth, but that is not always the case, and sometimes baptisms happen years after a birth. CHILDREN OF JOHN SPARKS AND MARY MAIN John SPARKS jr bap 6 May 1766 in Puxton, buried 26 Aug 1803 in Puxton. OF Kingston Seymour. Philip SPARKS bap 4 Apr 1767 in Puxton, buried 5 Feb 1769 in Puxton. Philip SPARKS bap 5 Mar 1769 in Puxton, buried 1 Apr 1838 in Puxton age 69. OF Congresbury. Hannah SPARKS bap 23 Jan 1771 in Puxton. Samuel SPARKS bap 19 July 1772 in Puxton, buried 24 Feb 1828 in Puxton age 55. OF Congresbury. ADDENDUM: Samuel is listed above with Hannah HILLMAN and Tamar TAYLOR being his second and first wife, respectively. He died shortly after his second marriage and his wife, Hannah, remarried, losing her second husband a few years later. She did not remarry after he died. William SPARKS bap 24 Apr 1774 in Puxton, buried 3 Jan 1858 in Puxton age 83. ADDENDUM: He may have married Mary HAMMANS of Yatton (he being of Congresbury) 8 April 1817 in Yatton, Somerset, England. If this is the case, it may have been a second marriage for both as they would have been a little older. In 1851 and 1841 a William SPARKS, seemingly this William SPARKS is living in Congresbury with the John ALVIS family in Congresbury. He is on the page after Theodore and Edith SPARKS (see Theodore below). The place of birth is given as Wick St Lawrence, as is the place of birth of Mrs ALVIS. I cannot find a tie between the two people. There are two listings for marriages of William SPARKS in Wick, one in 1780 and the other in 1788. Both are far too early to be this William. No other male SPARKS are married there up until 1837. His birth place could be an error. Ann SPARKS bap 27 June 1779 in Puxton. ADDENDUM: A baptism in Banwell has been found for George SPARKS born to Ann SPARKS, single woman, of the Poor House in Banwell. The baptism took place on 20 Aug 1820. Another baptism took place there of a Phebe to Ann SPARKS, single woman, Poor House, Banwell. This baptism ocurred on 10 Feb 1813. I have not found any other reference to Phebe so far, however on 7 Aug 1821 Ann SPARKS married George BANWELL by Banns in Congresbury. Witnesses were Robert BURGES and William BANWELL.The 1841 census shows George, Ann and young George living in Banwell Marsh, Banwell. The men are basket makers. Ann died between 1843 and 1848 as far as I can tell from the FREEBMD indexing. I have no burial information in Banwell after 1837. George Jr married a woman named Emma around 2nd quarter 1848. My spidey senses and some checking tell me this woman was likely named Emma WOOKEY, daughter of Nathaniel WOOKEY and Sarah BANWELL. They had 10 known children between 1849 and 1870 whom I will detail on another page at a later date. WHO IS THIS? There is a burial for a Mary SPARKS age 54 OF Yatton on 3 June 1829 making her born C 1775. She may be the wife of any of the brothers, but, not having a marriage record, that is just speculation at this point. EDIT: I believe this may be Mary HAMMANS SPARKS, wife of William (as listed above). The dates and names certainly mesh well. I have no proof, however, and I'm not sure at this point how to prove it. There were other SPARKS people in the area so I will have to go over the marriages and dates of each. William is single/a widower in 1841 and 1851. A gentleman named Theodore SPARKS becomes prominent in the area. I had no idea how he is related, and yet he should be. On 9 April 1793 he married Elizabeth (aka Lydia) ROWLEY in Puxton. Witnesses are William HUNT, Wm. WELSH, and Joseph CAPLE. Theo was OF Congresbury when he married. In 1841 in Congresbury there is a Theodore SPARKS age 65 married to an Edith SPARKS. EDIT:I decided to follow this man up. It turns out he is a nephew to John the Elder SPARKS. More on that part through this link. |
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| Updated 11 September 2007 |
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