Mary Sparks

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From the Sparks Family Association Quarterlies:

"Sometime prior to 1786, Jonas Sparks's first wife died. Possibly she died in Kentucky before the family returned to North Carolina. On September 5, 1786, Jonas Sparks obtained a marriage bond in Rowan County to marry Mary Eakle. The bond was signed by Peter Little, while Hugh Magoune signed as witness. Mary Eakle had been twice a widow when she married Jonas Sparks. Her first husband, whom she married about 1751, was Capt. Daniel Little (born in 1731, died December 10, 1775), who was a prominent citizen of Salisbury in Rowan County. (He held numerous high offices in Salisbury: Constable, Jailer, Commissioner, High Sheriff, Justice of the Peace, and Captain of the Militia.) Daniel and Mary Little had seven children: Peter; Daniel, Jr.; John, Henry, James, Lewis, and Mary. In 1779, Mary, widow of Daniel Little, married as her second husband, Jacob Eakle (also spelled Eckle); the Rowan County marriage bond was dated January 5, 1779, and Mary's name appeared as Anne Mary Little; the bondsman was John Lewis Beard, while the witness was William R. Davis. Jacob Eakle (or Eckle) died, date not known, and Jonas Sparks became Mary's third husband.

According to a tradition among the descendants of Jonas Sparks's son, David, this second wife was a 'Dutch woman,' (that is, German), and David, who would have been about eighteen years old at the time, strongly objected to his father marrying her. Later, however, David married the 'Dutch woman's' pretty daughter, whose name was Mary. A descendant who could remember Mary recalled many years ago that she had a German accent. Daniel Little is said to have come to Rowan County from Pennsylvania about 1750. Without doubt, both he and Mary, his wife, were Pennsylvania Dutch." [Whole Number 45]

"We believe that Jonas Sparks's first wife died in Kentucky; in 1805 he married a widow named Mary Eakie." [Whole Number 154]

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