| The Family of John SPARKS The Elder |
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| John SPARKS married Mary MAIN in 1765. The couple tried twice to name a son Philip, the first dying at a very young age, so I was not entirely surprised to discover that John, baptised in Congresbury on 27 May, 1734, was the son of Philip and Ann SPARKS. At the time of writing this (11 Sept 2007) I have not yet found a marriage for Philip and Ann, and have only found one other child's baptism - that of Theodore SPARKS, baptised Sept 1750 in St Martin's Church, Worle, Somerset. According to that baptismal record, the family was of Yatton at that time. Upon searching for the burials of a Philip SPARKS I located 2. One is the burial of John and Mary's first Philip. The other, I assume, is the burial of Philip the Elder. This burial occured in Yatton on 9 Dec 1757. The timeperiod, name and location all match up and while there is no concrete proof this is our man, I am inclined to say it is. On an interesting note, a widow, Ann SPARKS, married Abraham MITCHELL (mentioned below) on 25 Mar 1766 at St Andrew's Church in Congresbury, Somerset, England. This an could be the wife of an unyet located son of Philip and Ann, but more likely is Ann herself. More research will need to be done. Hopefully I can find a burial for this Ann and an age at death which will point more clearly to who she was. For njow I say Ann Sr. I have already written about the marriage and children of John and Mary, so I will follow with the known information about Theodore and some speculation as to who else may be a part of this family. |
| Theodore SPARKS was baptised September 1750 in Worle, Somerset, England. He was the son of Philip, a labourer, and Ann SPARKS who lived in Yatton. Theodore married Alice CHURCHOUSE on 25 June 1771 in Congresbury, Somerset. Witnesses were Abraham MITCHELL and Edmund ARNOLD. Theodore and Alice baptised one known child and that was Theodore on 11 July 1772, but, sadly, it seems Theo did not live to see any more children as he was buried 15 May, 1774 in Congresbury, Somerset, England. Alice went on to have an illegitimate son, George SPARKS, who was baptised 2 Aug 1775 in Congresbury. The name of the father was not given. Little George was buried 6 April 1777 in Congresbury. On 12 January 1791 Alice married William HUNT, a widower from Puxton. Witnesses were Theodore SPARKS and Mark MAY. Alice HUNT was buried 3 October 1830 in Badgworth, Somerset, England. She was 85 years old. She is the only Alice HUNT to be buried in the timeframe, so I feel confident she is ours. |
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| Theodore SPARKS the younger married Elizabeth aka Lydia ROWLEY on 9 April 1793 by Banns in Puxton, Somerset, England. They had 4 or 5 known children between 1795 and 1806, and it seems that only one, maybe two, survived. Lydia, hereself, was buried 7 July 1807 in Congresbury, Somerset. Theodore re-married to Edith MAIN and the couple show up in the 1841 census for Congresbury. I have not yet established a link between Edith MAIN and Mary MAIN, wife of John SPARKS, but the possibility is both likely and intriguing. Theodore, aged 77, was buried 28 Aug 1845 and Edith, age 85 of Yatton, was buried 6 April 1860. Both were buried in Congresbury, Somerset, England. They had 3-4 known children. These families will be listed in a bit more detail at a later time. |
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| Speculation on Other Family Members |
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| Once we get back to a certain point in history a certain amount of guess-work, based on available information and logic, must be used. I am speculating that, given the last name, timeperiod of marriages and children baptised, and location of the following two men, they are also sons of Ann and Philip. In these cases I am still looking for baptisms for the two and hopefully I will find them. For now I think they are two good possibilities to be brothers of John and Theordore SPARKS: Samuel SPARKS, husbandman, married Elizabeth MACEY, spinster, by Banns in Congresbury on 30 Nov 1759. Witnesses were John WILMOTT (he was the local Blacksmith and was a witness on the majority of the marriages in this time-period) and William MAISHMAN. Sam and Elizabeth (also known as Betty) had 6 known children between the years 1760 and 1775. There is a burial for a Samuel SPARKS on 11 February 1782 and this could be Sam Sr or it could be his second son, also called Sam (as was his first son who died young). It could also be another Samuel SPARKS entirely, but at this point I am inclined to believe it is Sam Sr. William SPARKS had Banns read for his intended marriage to Susannah TUTTON in June and of 1761 in Congresbury. The marrieage did not take place there and I am still loooking for it. The couple did, however, baptise at least one child in Congresbury: on 1 Aug 1762 a daughter, Hester was baptised to William and Susan SPARKS. I will be looking further into this family in time. |
| Speculation on Other Family Members part 2 |
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| I am also planning to look into the families of two other SPARKS men in the area: Robert (b C1821 in Congresbury, but apparently not batised there) and Mary SPARKS whose family is shown in 1861 in Congresbury. Henry SPARKS (b C1821 in Somerset), a Cattle Dealer, and his wife (briefly) Charlotte HAWKINS. Henry is in some censuses, but not in others. I don't know if they had children, but it doesn't appear to be the case. |