This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Sparks Roberts Hultz
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/gh.2ADI/5179
Message Board Post:
Isaac B. Sparks, retired farmer, is a native of Indiana, and the tenth of a family of
thirteen children born to Solomon and Isabell (Swaim) Sparks, parents natives of North
Carolina, and of English and German descent, respectively. Solomon Sparks was by
occupation a farmer, and grew to manhood in North Carolina. He emigrated to Ohio in an
early day, and later to Indiana, renting on what is known as Nettle Creek, where he lived
until his removal to Wells County in 1834. He settled near the present site of Markle on
the south side of the Wabash, and was one of the earliest settlers in that locality. He
entered a valuable tract of land near Rock Creek, and spent quite a number of years in
true pioneer style, meeting with many interesting adventures with the Indians and wild
beasts during his early experience in the backwoods. He lived to see ten of his children
grown and settled, was a man of influence in the community where he resided, and died some
time prior to 1860. !
Isaac B. Sparks was born April 2, 1822, and was only twelve years of age when his parents
moved to Wells County. He was early taught those lessons of industry and frugality by
which his subsequent life has been characterized, and grew to manhood amid the rugged
duties of farm life. He attended school for only a limited period, consequently did not
acquire much of an education so far as books are concerned, but by intelligent observation
has since obtained a valuable practical knowledge, which has enabled him to transact
business in a safe and satisfactory manner. He early became quite expert in the use of
the rifle, and at one time killed nine deer and crippled the tenth in one day. He made
his home with his parents until his twenty-eighth year, and in 1845 purchased his first
land, an eighty-c\acre tract, for which he paid the sum of $240, and upon which he made a
number of substantial improvements, including a double log barn that is still doing good
service. He move!
d to the farm in 1853 and has since made it one of the best places in
the township. Mr. Sparks was formerly a Democrat, but espoused the principles of the
Greenback party when Greeley ran for the Presidency, and has ever since been an earnest
advocate of said principles. He was for some years prominently identified with the Grange
movement, having been one of its ablest workers in Rock Creek Township. Mr. Sparks was
married December 18, 151, to Miss Cynthia A. Roberts, of Kentucky, and daughter of William
and Martha (Hultz) Roberts. Mrs. Sparks was born December 27, 1832, and is the mother of
the following children, viz: William, Albert C., deceased; Robert R., Rachael E.,
Frederick, Sarah A., Mariah, Rebecca J., deceased; Susan E., Isaac H., Cynthia I.,
deceased, and Mary E., deceased. Mrs. Sparks is a member of the Christian Church, and Mr.
Sparks, although a man of strong religious convictions, is not identified with any church
organization.
History of Huntington County, Indiana (Brant & Fuller: Chicago) 1887. Biographical
sketches of Rock Creek Township, pages 786 and 787.