| 6. | Solomon Sparks was born in 1819 in Franklin Co, Tennessee (son of William* Sparks and (Mrs. James Sparks*) Sparks); died in 1867 in Sparks Settlement, Aurora, Jefferson Co, Texas; was buried in Sparks Cem, Aurora, Jefferson Co, Texas. Other Events and Attributes:
- Census: 24 Oct 1850, Sabine Pass, Jefferson Co, Texas
- Census: 22 Jun 1860, Duncans Wood (Precinct 2), Orange Co, Texas
- Occupation: 1863, Old River Cove, Aurora, Jefferson Co, Texas; steam saw mill
- Military: 1863, Liberty Co, Texas; Civil War
Notes:
1850 census: In Franklin Co. TN a Solomon Sparks is JP for two marriages in Jan in Mar 1849. Also in Franklin Co, TN, on Jan 3, 1826, a Solomon Sparks bought a tract of land on Bean's Creek from Nathaniel Davis.
1850 Census Jefferson Co, TX
Solomon Sparks 30 laborer, TN
Martha C 30 SC
Lucy Ann 8 TN
John L 6 TN
James E 3 LA
Mary Susan 1 TX
Jacob 22 TN
Next door to William Brewer age 23, laborer, LA, and Caroline, age 22, Louisiana. Mary E Courts married an Elisha Brewer. probable relative
other neighbor, his brother John S. Sparks.
Solomon died in the Civil War
1870 Jefferson Co census, Caroline is the head of household with sons James Edwin (age 23), Joseph (age 16), and Oscar (age 14) in Sparks Settlement. There is another male, a farmer, age 27 (b 1843 Texas) also there, but his name is illegible.
1880, only Joseph is left at home. She lists her father as being born in Louisiana and her mother's birthplace as South Carolina.
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See THE SPARKS QUARTERLY for June, 1980, Whole No. 110, pp 2202-04:
A SABINE RIVER LEGEND AND ONE SOLOMON SPARKS
A member of the Association recently sent us a clipping from the Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise of August 24, 1978, which contains a reference to a Solomon Sparks. This newspaper account by W. T. Block recounts an old legend that is still repeated along the lower Sabine River separating Louisiana from Texas. We have been able to identify the Solomon Sparks who is mentioned but would welcome help from our members regarding his parentage and descendants.
The legend involves Pavell's Island, which is the delta formed near the mouth of the Sabine where the deep river abruptly divides into its east and west forks. This island marked the journey's end for the Sabine River flatboatmen who, prior to the Civil War, floated their cargoes of cotton to market. This terminus of the cotton trade attracted a German merchant named Augustine Pavell, a native of Prussia, to take up residence on the lonely island and to give it its name. In 1854 he built a store building and a cotton warehouse along with a wharf and there he prospered by buying the cotton from the flatboat trade and storing it until he could transport it to market. Gus Pavell had a wife named Sophie who, according to the legend, was both beautiful and clever in matters of business.
Alone on the island for days, even weeks, at a time, while her husband sailed his schooner between their home and New Orleans buying and selling merchandise, Sophie Pavell was quite able to protect herself. "A buxom female, Sophie often wore a fiber bag, tied at her waist, which usually bared a portion of her yarn and knitting needles, but never the cap and ball Colt upon which they rested."
The Pavell's nearest neighbor was SOLOMON SPARKS who lived a mile upstream, in Jefferson County, Texas. Sparks would play a key role in the discovery that would create the Pavell legend.
While "A. Pavell & Co., Cotton Factors" prospered, with merchandise valued at $10,000 in 1860, Gus Pavell had one great regret: Sophie was apparently barren. As she approached her 35th birthday, knowing her husband's strong desire for an heir, Sophie's hopes to bear a child became increasingly forlorn.
The story goes that one day, upon her husband's return from Orange with some cattle, Sophie joyfully informed him that she was with child. Never doubting her, Gus was delighted. "Time passed, the gold coins clinked on the counter, and Sophie, pregnant with new life and hope, whiled away her days with laughter, planting flowers and knitting tiny garments."
As the 1858 cotton shipping season approached, Gus Pavell was required to sail for Galveston to replenish his stock of merchandise. He proposed closing the store and taking Sophie to a hotel in Sabine Pass while he was gone, but she refused, noting that the baby was not due for two or three months. Upon his return a week later, he was met by a tearful Sophie who led him to a tiny grave. Shortly after he had left, according to her account, she had been frightened by a snake in her kitchen - - she had fallen against a table and shortly thereafter, alone on the island, she had given birth to a stillborn daughter. Later she had made a coffin from some cypress boards and buried her infant. Consoling her husband, she assurred him that, having conceived once, she was confident that she could give him another child. Pavell sent away for a tombstone on which was incribed: "In Memory of Our Darling Daughter, Ann Eliza Pavell, Born and Died Sept. 10, 1858."
Sophie never conceived again and in her grief tended the tiny grave site with the same devotion that she would have given a child. In the center of the grave, Sophie placed a bronze urn, "its rim neatly decorated with cherubims." Steamboatmen often saw Sophie placing fresh flowers in the urn.
The Civil War brought a new prosperity to the PavelIs. While a Union blockade soon choked off all imports, Gus assumed the role of blockaderunner and, as the war raged, lined his pockets with gold. Sophie continued to tend the grave and to keep fresh flowers in the urn.
Two events drastically changed life for the Pavells in 1865 - - the surrender of General Lee and the great storm of September 13, 1865, which destroyed the city of Orange and pounded their island unmercifully. A month later, they suddenly abandoned their store and moved to Galveston. There they opened a new store and moved into a fine house. In 1867, Gus suddenly died of yellow fever. Sophie inherited most of the wealth she had helped to accumulate and eventually she married a second time. So far as is known, she lived out her life in comfort.
But it was a discovery made by Solomon Sparks that has wrapped the story of the Pavells in mystery. Shortly after their hurried departure, Sparks visited the island with the thought of purchasing it himself. He had heard that Sophie had insisted upon digging up the coffin she had made for her stillborn daughter seven years earlier and taking it to Galveston with their other belongings. Sparks was drawn naturally to the grave site. He was startled to discover that, while the coffin had been exhumed, the little tombstone had been left behind along with the bronze urn. Upon examining the urn, he found that it was not really an urn at all - - it was a two-foot section of bronze pipe, one end of which had apparently extended down to the coffin itself. Noting the square corners of the excavation where the coffin had lain, Sparks's eye was caught by a $20-gold piece that had been left behind. Had the cypress coffin been a box in which to hide the Pavells' mounting treasure rather than a box for a tiny skeleton? And had the hollow pipe been a conduit for gold coins rather than a container for fresh flowers? Solomon Sparks could only speculate, but as he recounted these observations to family and neighbors in the years to come, a legend was created which is still told on dark nights along the lower Sabine River.
Who was this Solomon Sparks? We do not know his parentage, but he was married to Martha Caroline Smith in Hardeman County, Tennessee, on March 23, 1841. She was born about 1819 in South Carolina. Solomon, a native of Tennessee, was also born about 1819. Remaining in Tennessee for a few years, Solomon moved his family to Louisiana about 1847 where their third child was born. By 1849 they had moved to Texas. When the 1850 census was taken the family was in Jefferson County. There were then four children, Lucy Ann Sparks, born about 1842 in Tennessee; John Sparks, born about 1844 in Tennessee; James E. Sparks, born about 1847 in Louisiana; and Mary Susan Sparks, born about 1849 in Texas. Also in the household in 1850, according to the census of that year, was a Jacob Sparks, aged 22 (thus born about 1828) and a native of Tennessee. We can speculate that he may have been a brother of Solomon.
Solomon Sparks appears to have lived the rest of his life in Jefferson County, Texas. He apparently died before 1880 for, according to the census of that year, his widow, Caroline (Smith) Sparks, was living with a son in Jefferson County, J. M. Sparks, age 26. (This must have been a different son from the James E. Sparks shown on the 1850 census as born about 1847.)
Can anyone tell us more regarding SOLOMON SPARKS and his family?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
See also the SPARKS QUARTERLY, March, 1989, Whole No. 145, pg 3361:
"Solomon Sparks, probable son of William Sparks, was born about 1819 in Tennessee. He was married to Martha Caroline Smith on March 23, 1841, in Hardeman county, Tennessee. She was born in May 1820 in South Carolina. Caroline (as she was apparently called) and Solomon began house-keeping in Tennessee, but they moved to Louisana about 1847. After a short stay there, they moved on to Jefferson County, Texas, where they joined the family of Solomon's brother, John Sparks, at "Sparks Settlement" (later Port Arthur). There, Solomon built a home just a few hundred feet away from the home of his brother.
"In 1853, Solomon and a partner named Douglas built a steam sawmill on Old River but, in the main, he was a farmer. He apparently died prior to 1870 for he was not listed on the census of that year. Caroline died sometime after 1880 for she was listed on that census along with her son, Joseph M. Sparks. Both Solomon and Caroline were buried in the Sparks Cemetery, but years later their remains were moved to Forest Lawn Cemetery. They had eight children. (See [above] the June 1980 issue of THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, Whole No. 110, pages 2202-04, for additional information about Solomon Sparks and his family." )
* * * *http://www.sparksfamilytree.net/ghtout/npr564.html#H02940 * * * * * * * * * * *
Census:
24 Oct 1850 Sabine Pass
residence 215:
Milton H Bloodworth 25 1825 Louisiana
Nancy (Holt) Bloodworth 18 1832 Texas
Benjamin P Bloodworth 2 1848 Louisiana
William Bloodworth 1 1849 Louisiana
Benjamin Holt 55 1795 Mississippi
Thomas C Holt 50 1800 Mississippi
Thomas D Holt 4 1846 Louisiana
William Holt 53 1797 Mississippi
Mary Ann Holt 17 1833 Texas
Thomas R Holt 26 1824 Louisiana
Charles Holt 28 1822 Louisiana
William C Holt 15 1835 Louisiana
Richard Holt 13 1837 Louisiana
Residence 216
Stockholm, Peter D. 31 1819 New York carpenter
Mary 17 1833 Louisiana
William 2 1848 Texas
Elizabeth 0 1850 Texas
Residence 217
Brewer, William 23 1827 Louisiana
Brewer, Caroline 22 1828 Louisiana
Residence 218
Solomon Sparks 30 1820 Tennessee
Martha C Sparks 30 1829 South Carolina
Lucy Ann Sparks 8 1842 Tennessee
John L Sparks 6 1844 Tennessee
James E Sparks 3 1847 Louisiana
Mary Susan Sparks 1 1849 Texas
Jacob Sparks 22 1828 Tennessee
Residence 219
John S. Sparks 39 1811 North Carolina
Melinda Sparks 29 1821 Tennessee
Albert Sparks 9 1841 Texas
Eliza J. Sparks 7 1843 Texas
John F. Sparks 4 1846 Texas
Sarah C. Sparks 1 1849 Texas
James Court 22 1828 Louisiana
Julia Ann (Sparks) Courts 14 1836 Tennessee
Census:
21 Jun 1860 Orange Co, Texas Precinct 2, PO Duncans Wood
pg 27
178 John Harmon 22 1838 TX <<
Mary (Means) 19 1841 LA
Martha 3 1857 TX
Milley 1 1859 TX
180 Harmon John 70 1790 LA
Elizabeth 1793 LA
Green, Manda 20 1840 TX
pg 29
res 192 Solomon Sparks 40 1820 Alabama
Martha C Sparks 40 1820 S.C
John L 16 1844 TN
James E 14 1846 LA
William E 9 1851 TX
Mary S 11 1849 TX
Joseph M 7 1853 TX
Oscah 4 1856 TX
note: next door to Solomon, in residence 191, is J. Pavell who was the namesake of Pavell's Island of which Mr. Block wrote about. Pavell is not related to any of our family lines, therefore, is not in this record other than his part in the history of area.
In this record:
J. Pavell 39 merchant, 3,000 6,000 Prussia
Sophiah Pavell 41 Hanover
Hammon, Rosenbam 29 merchant 1,000 Germany
Hammon, Hammer 24 merchant Prussia
res 193 John Railah 1798 62
Malinda Railah 1816 44
Christian W Railah 1848 12 TX
Isaac P Railah 8 1852 TX
Rachel D Railah 5 1855 TX
Mary C Railah 3 1857 TX
Julia C 2 1858
pg 30
201 Burrell James 35 1825 LA
Elizabeth 25 1835 LA
William 12 1848 TX
Robert 10 1850
Emoly 8 1852
David 3 1857
Lucy 2 1858
Frederick Burrell 19 1841 TX
pg 31
207 Gallier Jane 23 1837 MS
Rufus 6 1854 TX
Andrew 4 1856 TX
Willis 3 1857 TX
pg 36
229 Jemima Morgan 54 1806 LA
Allen 20 1840 TX
William 17 1843
Sarah 1 1847
pg 38
238 Myers James 31 1829 LA
Sarah E 27 1833 TX
James Orin 1 1859 TX
Mary Myers 70 1790 LA
240 John Cole 55 1805 farmer LA
Rachel 55 1805 LA
Absalome 20 1840 stock keeper TX
James 16 1844 stock keeper TX
Hulda 13 1847 TX
Clark 20 1830 stock keeper TX
241 Mark Cole 25 1835 TX
Hester A. 21 1839 TX
Hulda 1 1859 TX
Occupation:
built a steam saw mill with a partner named Douglas on the Old River Cove.
Military:
On August 9, 1863 Solomon listed at Liberty, Texas for six months.
Name and rank: Sparks, Sol, Pvt.
Comm. Off. Sexton, W. C. Capt
Organization Co. C, 2nd Brig.
Gen. Geo. W. Van Vleck
Com. G, Infantry, TST-TR. to CSA.
Disch: Description Age 45,
Remark: R&F 72 En. Off. Brig.
Gen. G.W. Van Vleck; Co. Sta. at Camp Wood, August 10, 1863. Co. called into CSA service by Governor Lubbock; 1 mus. roll ddt. August 10, 1863.
Solomon married Martha Caroline Smith on 23 Mar 1841 in Hardiman Co, Tennessee. Martha was born in May 1819 in South Carolina; died after 1880 in Jefferson Co, Texas; was buried in McFaddin, TF Smith Homestead, Forest Lawn Cem, Beaumont, Jefferson Co, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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1876 - 1917 (41 years)
Martha Caroline Smith was born in May 1819 in South Carolina; died after 1880 in Jefferson Co, Texas; was buried in McFaddin, TF Smith Homestead, Forest Lawn Cem, Beaumont, Jefferson Co, Texas. 