Biographical Sketch William Sparks, Dent County, Missouri

>From "History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, 
Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri" The Goodspeed Publishing
Company, 1889.
**********************************************************************

William Sparks, a wealthy agriculturist and stock raiser of Dent Co.,
Mo., has resided on his present fine farm of 440 acres since his 
marriage, which took place in 1875.  He has 120 acres under cultivation
and is now completing a large, two story frame residence at a cost of
$1,500.  He has a thrifty orchard of 700 trees, and is considered one
of the successful farmers of the county.  He was born in Wilkes County,
N.C., in 1846, and when twenty-nine years of age was married to Miss
Sarah J. Shirley, who was born in Dent County, Mo., January 15, 1849, a
daughter of Jacob and Lucinda Shirley, both of whom died when Mrs. 
Sparks was quite young.  She is the mother of six children, and is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Mr. Sparks has always been a
Democrat in politics and is a son of Reuben and Blineld (Gray) Sparks,
who were born in Wilkes County, N.C., about 1812 and 1829, respective-
ly.  The father was of German descent, a farmer by occupation, and in
1868 immigrated with his family to Dent County, Mo., where he died in
1881.  He and wife became the parents of ten children, eight of whom 
are living.  Six reside in Dent County, one in Douglas County, and one
in Kansas.

====================================================================
     USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing
         free information on the Internet, data may be used by
         non-commercial entities, as long as this message
         remains on all copied material. These electronic
         pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit
         or for presentation by other persons or organizations.

         Persons or organizations desiring to use this material
         for purposes other than stated above must obtain the
         written consent of the file contributor.

         This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
         Archives by: Joe Miller <mio@netins.net>
		      Penny (Eisenbarger) Harrell <Incog3678@aol.com>

====================================================================