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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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Jerry Walter Sparks The science of agriculture, for it is a science as well as an art, finds an able demonstrator as well as a successful practitioner in the person of Jerry Walter Sparks, of Mariposa Township, one of Jasper County's substantial and honored citizens. It would seem from looking over his well kept fields that he has been most careful of every detail and has tried to do well whatever he undertook, knowing that careless and slovenly done work would never bring large or definite results, and he has never been contented to be in the mediocre class of agriculturists. Mr. Sparks is a native of this community, his birth having occurred here on April 17, 1873, and he is the son of Henry and Ellen (Mathews) Sparks, the father born in Indiana and the mother born in Ohio. They spent their early lives and were educated in the East and married there, emigrating to Iowa in 1860 and devoted themselves to farming. Henry Sparks was a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil war for a period of three years and three months, during which he saw some hard service and conducted himself as a true American soldier. Jerry W. Sparks, of this review, grew to maturity on the home farm, on which he worked when he became of proper age, and he received a good common school education, after which he turned his attention to farming in earnest and has followed that line of endeavor to the present time, locating on his present fine farm in 1911. It consists of one hundred and sixty acres, devoted to general farming. It is well improved and rich, productive soil, which yields abundant harvests under Mr. Sparks' able management. He has a comfortable and well furnished home and large substantial barns and outbuildings. He keeps some good live stock of various grades and never fails to find a ready market for what he offers for sale owing to their superior quality. Mr. Sparks was married on October 7, 1895, to Rebecca McClain, a lady of many commendable characteristics, who was born in Indiana, March 5, 1874. She is the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Haines) McClain, both natives of Indiana and both born in 1840. They were well known and highly respected people in their native community, each representing sterling old pioneer families. To Mr. and Mrs. Sparks four children have been born, three daughters and one son, namely: Tracey Lewis, Aldie Ellen, Gladys Irene and Muriel. Politically, Mr. Sparks is a Republican and in religious matters he belongs to the Christian Church, of which he is a liberal supporter. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 835. |
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