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About William Sample Sparks, lV
William Sample Sparks
Find A Grave Memorial ID # 59308897
William Sparks (son of William Sample Sparks and Rachael) was born 1725 in Frederick County, Maryland, and died 1801 in Surrey County, North Carolina. He married Ann.
A probable reason why William Sparks did not accompany his father and siblings to North Carolina in or about 1754 was the fact that he had become a land owner; in all likliehood, he was also married by that time.
"On July 11, 1749, the colony's land office accepted the claim that William Sparks had made for fifty acres of vacant land and issued him a "certificate of survey" or warrant. See Liber BY & GS, folio 25, Commissioner Land Office, Annapolis, Maryland. Since William Sparks was quite a young man in 1749, and the fact that his father was not a landowner, we wonder whether he may have married about this time and whether his father-in-law might have "backed" him in the enterprise. Unfortunately, we have found no record revealing the name of William's wife other than the fact that her first name was Ann. Four months later, on November 4, 1749, a man named Isaac Brooke, measured William Sparks's claim...(Article describes the system used for measuring and describing tracts of land by Metes and Bounds). For other purchases by William Sparks, see Frederick Co. Deed Book E, page 82 4; Frederick Co. Deed Book G, pp. 463-64 and Deed Book G, pp. 460-61 ; Commissioner Land Office,Liber BC & GS, Folio 642.
As will be seen, William chose the name SPARKS DELIGHT for his tract, obviously expressing his pleasure at becoming a landowner. (Taneytown is the nearest town to SPARKS DELIGHT today,being about eight miles southeast. The Taneytown Pike (Highway 140) passes through the tract's southern tip.)
William Sparks's father, William Sample Sparks , had moved with his family from Frederick County, MD., to the Forks of the Yadkin in Rowan County, North Carolina, in, we believe, 1754 . Only William, the oldest of his sons, had remained behind. The family had been accompanied by three of the sons of Joseph Sparks (344 ) (uncle of William Sample Sparks who had died in 1749). These three were Solomon(356), Jonas (354) and Jonathan (357). It was Solomon who had obtained a grant for ninety-three acres of vacant land on the west side of the Monocacy River in the same year that William Sparks received his warrant for SPARKS DELIGHT. Solomon Sparks had called his tract COLD FRIDAY.When he sold it to Matthew Howard on June 2 0, 1753, for "35 Pounds sterling money," he was making preparation for the move to North Carolina.
There must have been communication of some kind between William Sparks and his relatives in the Forks of the Yadkin because, in 1764, just a decade after his father, brothers, and cousins left Frederick County, William followed them to their new home. In preparation for this move, on April 26, 1746, he sold his entire farm, comprising some 283acres, to Christian Newswanger for 400 pounds.
The deed which William Sparks signed on this occasion signified a major change in his and his family's lives. The deed was recorded in the Frederick County Courthouse in Deed Book J., pp. 305-06. The decision by William Sparks to follow his father and siblings to NC in 1764 may well have related to the growing political unrest in western Maryland. The French and Indian War, which was the American phase of the Seven Years War in Europe, had finally come to an end in 1763, but the threat from hostile Indians continued to be a constant worry. While the Indian attacks against Frederick County settlers had been well to the west of the settlements along the Monocacy River, in the area that now comprises the counties of Washington, Allegany, and Garrett, the stories carried eastward of Indian atrocities received wide publicity . A writer living in Fredericktown (now called Frederick) wrote in July 1763 to the Maryland Gazette: "Every day, for some time past, has offered the melancholy scene of poor, distressed families driving downwards through this town with their effects, who have deserted their plantations for fear of falling into the cruel hands of our savage enemies, now daily seen in the woods.
The Forks of the Yadkin (now Davie County), where William's father,brothers, and cousins had gone ten years earlier, was part of the Granville land, and this area became William Sparks's destination when he and his family began their journey in the late spring of 1764. Whether other Frederick County families accompanied them, we do not know,although when the 1765 quit-rent list was prepared for Frederick County ,the words "gone to Carolina" followed ten of the names.
The likelihood is that William Sparks traveled down the Great Trading Path (also called the Great Wagon Road) from Frederick, Maryland ,through Winchester and Staunton in Virginia, to Drapers Meadows,Chiswells, and Wolf Hills, then along the north and east side of the(North) Yadkin River to where it is joined by the South Yadkin. He may have crossed the Yadkin at the Shallow Ford in what is now southeast Yadkin County, or he may have continued a few miles beyond the Fork where his brother, Matthew, had acquired Granville land in 1761, to the Trading Ford near the village of Salisbury. If he chose the latter, he would then have traveled back northward to Howard's Ferry across the South Yadkin.
This tract lay at the very point where the South Yadkin River joins the (North)Yadkin River . The tract which Matthew's (and William's) cousin, Solomon Sparks , purchased also in 1761, lay on the North or Main Yadkin.
It was not until 1836 that the area between the two rivers was cutoff from Rowan County to become Davie County. (The name "Forks of the Yadkin" is often used for this area, but it has sometimes been used,also, for a larger area, even including parts of what are now Iredell and Davidson Counties.) "We believe that Matthew Sparks , who was about five years younger than William, had "squatted" on his land for a number of years before he actually purchased it, this being a custom followed by most of the early settlers on Granville lands. We believe that William Sample Sparks, father of William and Matthew, had made his home on Matthew's land. We know from court records that it was in his home that he had a license to "keep an ordinary" (that is, a tavern to accomodate travelers), beginning in 1762. The seat of justice for Rowan County,the town of Salisbury, is located only nine miles further down on the Yadkin River, so M atthew's land would have been a strategic spot for an"ordinary." His house no doubt stood near the river which formed a natural highway . It is quite probable that William Sample Sparks, his wife (whose name, we believe, was Rachael, although she was surely a second or eve n third wife), and his younger children, lived near his son, Matthew.
During the ten years between the arrival of William's father,brothers, and cousins, the population of the Forks of the Yadkin had grown, but not dramatically, for this had been the period of the French and Indian War. While the war had caused hardships in western Maryland,as had been noted earlier, it had been even more devastating for the settler s along the Yadkin River. The French had directed their allies,the Cherokee Indians, to conduct numerous raids against the settlers, although our records of these events are few. We know that Daniel Boone feared so for the safety of his family that either in late 1759 or early1760, he moved his wife and children to Culpepper County, Virginia, while his parents returned to Maryland. During 1761 and 1762 , however, the Cherokees were subdued, and Daniel Boone, who had figured prominently in this war against the Cherokees, brought his family back to the Forks of the Yadkin that year. It will be recalled that it was also in 1762 that William Sample Sparks obtained his first license to keep an ordinary (a Tavern).
Children of William Sparks and Ann are:
i. +James Sr Sparks, b. 1762, Fredrick County Maryland, d. Abt. 1826, Lawrence County Kentucky.
ii. +Thomas Sparks, b. Abt. 1766, Rowan Co., North Carolina, d. Abt. 1837, Lawrence County Kentucky.
iii. William Sparks Jr, b. Abt. 1750, Frederick, Maryland, d., Burke County North Carolina.
iv. Matthew Sparks, b. Abt. 1752, Frederick, Maryland, d., Surrey County North Carolina.
v. Rachel Sparks, b. Abt. 1754, Frederick, Maryland.
vi. Nancy Sparks, b. Abt. 1756, North Carolina.
vii. George Sparks, b. Abt. 1758, Frederick, Maryland, d., Jonesville, North Carolina.
viii. Margaret Sparks, b. Abt. 1764, North Carolina.
ix. Benjamin Sparks, b. Abt. 1769, Davie County, North Carolina, d., Caldwell, Burke County, North Carolina.
x. Jeremiah Sparks, b. Abt. 1772, North Carolina.
xi. +James Sparks, b. Abt. 1765, North Carolina, d. 1837.
- Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Oct 17 2022, 18:15:03 UTC
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L1XB-WKP
Children
Son: William Sparks Jr [1]
Son: Matthew Sparks [1]
Daughter: Rachel Sparks [1]
Daughter: Nancy Sparks [1]
Son: George Sparks [1]
Son: James Sparks [1]
Daughter: Margaret Sparks [1]
Son: Thomas Sparks [1]
Son: Benjamin Sparks (1769-1849) [1] [2]
Son: Jeremiah Sparks [1]
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William Sample Sparks, lV's Timeline
| 1725 |
April 27, 1725
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Queen Anne, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, Colonial America
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| 1730 |
1730
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| 1738 |
June 4, 1738
Age 13
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June 4, 1738
Age 13
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| 1750 |
1750
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Frederick County, MD, United States
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| 1752 |
1752
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Fredrick Co., MD
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| 1754 |
1754
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Frederick, Maryland, USA
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| 1756 |
1756
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Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland, Colonial America
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| 1759 |
1759
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Fredrick Co., MD
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