The Sparks family cemetery lies shrouded in ivy at the top of a hill near Homestead Oaks—a memorial to some of the earliest European residents of Rutherford County, North Carolina. The hill is a tangle of blackberry bushes and poison ivy with a mixture of wild cherry, holly and oak within and without the battered wrought iron fence.
There are eight to ten headstones and markers on the site, but only two are legible. Several marble slabs are broken, some of the markers are stones turned on end and some headstones appear to have had the slabs removed with only the hollow base remaining. The most prominent headstone marks the burial place of Lewis Morgan Sparks and his wife, Sarah Bridges. The only other legible headstone is for Mary Ida Sparks, possibly a granddaughter, who lived less than two months. The headstone of Martha Sparks, daughter of H.A. Sparks, who lived from December 18, 1881 to September 10, 1882, was identified on October 13, 1997 but that headstone is no longer there.
The inscription at the foot of Mary Ida Sparks’ tombstone reads, “Age 1mo 14ds Asleep in Jesus.”
Lewis Morgan Sparks was born April 27, 1820, the first of eight children. His father, John Sparks, was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia in 1773 just prior to the American Revolution (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783) and his mother, Nancy, was born during the war in 1780. Lewis married Sarah Bridges, daughter of Samuel Bridges and Mary Hamrick on November 28, 1837.
The Bridges and Hamrick families were already well established in Rutherford County, NC by the first census in 1790. The first Sparks family appears on the 1810 census and by the 1840 census several Sparks families had moved to Rutherford County. Lewis Morgan arrived between the 1840 and 1850 censuses.
Lewis and Sarah had four sons: John Landrum born November 16, 1841 in Cleveland County, North Carolina, Caleb Leander born January 25, 1843, also in Cleveland County, William Andrew born January 27, 1845 and Anderson Ensley born September 03, 1849. Before their youngest son’s 11th birthday, war broke out at Fort Sumter, South Carolina and by April 12, 1861 the American Civil War had begun. John Landrum—who had married Mary Ann Mintz two years earlier on April 14, 1859 and had a son, James Lewis Sparks, born June 16, 1861—was 20 and Caleb Leander was 18.
The Sparks’ family farm was now in Ellenboro on Philadelphia Church Road that was named for the church on the south side of the road across from their home. On September 2, 1861 John Landrum and Caleb Leander signed up at Philadelphia Church and were assigned to the “Sandy Run Yellow Jackets” known formally as Company B of the 34th North Carolina Infantry Regiment which was part of the Army of Northern Virginia. Company B was made up of Confederate States Army recruits from Rutherford and Cleveland Counties under the command of Captain John Edwards.
Philadelphia Church in Ellenboro, Established 1850.
John Landrum and his younger brother Caleb joined the 34th North Carolina Infantry Regiment at Camp Fisher in High Point, North Carolina near Greensboro on October 25, 1861. Less than three months later, on January 21, 1862, John Landrum succumbed to pneumonia. According to family history, his father, Lewis, claimed his body and returned it for burial to Rutherford County. There is a stone on the southwest corner of the Sparks Family Cemetery that may have been the first grave and mark his place of burial. John Landrum is also listed on a monument, along with several others from the 34th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, in Willow Dale Cemetery, Goldsboro, North Carolina.
Southwest marker may be for John Landrum Sparks.
John’s wife Mary lived another 57 years, dying in 1917 in Chase City, Virginia. Their son, James Lewis Sparks stayed in Rutherford County, had 23 children and lived until January 28, 1938. One of James’ sons Robert Lee was the father of Jimmy Louis Sparks, born April 3, 1935, who compiled and wrote the book, Some of the Ancestors and Descendants of Robert Lee Sparks and Ebber Sloan Bostic, privately published in 1999.
Caleb Leander continued with the 34th North Carolina Infantry Regiment after his brother’s death and was promoted to corporal in May 1862. He went home during the winters—leaving December 31, 1862, returning April 1863 and again leaving December 1, 1863 and returning April 1864. He was present for the March 25, 1865 attack of Union Batteries 10, 11 and 12 at Fort Stedman near Petersburg, Virginia. The attack under Major General John B. Gordon failed and Caleb was captured and confined at Point Lookout, Maryland until after the Civil War ended.
Caleb was released to return home on June 20, 1865. After returning home, he married Emily A. Watson on October 29, 1866 and died nine years later on September 8, 1875 at age 32 without any recorded children. Even though it’s said that his grave was recorded to be in Bethel Baptist Church in Ellenboro, North Carolina near their family farm, there is no marker with his name at that cemetery. Is he also buried in one of the unidentified graves in Sparks Cemetery or does his headstone lie covered at Bethel Baptist Church?
On August 8, 1864, while Caleb was away at war, his father Lewis Morgan Sparks died and was buried in Sparks Cemetery in Ellenboro, North Carolina. His headstone—L.M. Sparks, April 27, 1820 – August 6, 1864—shared with his wife, Sarah Bridges, is the largest and most clearly marked in the wooded cemetery. Lewis Morgan Sparks was only 42 when he died.
Tombstone of L.M. Sparks (L) and Sarah Bridges (R).
The date William Andrew Sparks joined Company 1 of the 56th Regiment North Carolina Infantry is unrecorded. He was 16 when the Civil War started so may have joined as early as 1863 but possibly not until after his father’s death in August of 1864. He was transferred to Company B of the 34th North Carolina Infantry Regiment on March 2, 1865, shortly before the battle on March 25th when his brother Caleb was captured.
On April 9, 1865, just over a month after William was transferred to Company B, the 34th North Carolina Regiment surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, along with General Robert E. Lee and the rest of the Northern Army of Virginia. William was released to return to home on June 18, 1865. He and his brother Caleb would have returned to their family farm in Ellenboro close to the same time. William married Martha L. Spurlin Bedford on September 6, 1866, about a month before Caleb’s marriage. He died on May 17, 1914 and was buried in Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery, Ellenboro, North Carolina.
Anderson Ensley Sparks married Martha J. Biggerstaff, September 23, 1875. He is recorded as having died March 07, 1896 and is buried in Bethel Baptist Church, Ellenboro near the Sparks family farm.
One of several unidentified graves in Sparks Cemetery.
Many mysteries remain about who is buried in the other six graves in the Sparks family cemetery and what happened to the missing headstones. Who were the parents of the infant girls identified in the cemetery, Mary Ida Sparks and Martha Sparks? What were the boundaries of the Sparks farm and was it purchased from an earlier owner or was it a new claim? Lewis Morgan Spark’s mother-in-law, Mary Hamrick Bridges, is recorded as having owned slaves but did the Lewis Morgan Sparks family? What were the causes of death for those who died young? Where were the original houses? Are there any remaining copies of the book, Some of the Ancestors and Descendants of Robert Lee Sparks and Ebber Sloan Bostic, compiled by Jimmy Louis Sparks? When was the Sparks farm sold to Jim Butler?
Some tombstones are broken and others are completely removed and missing from their bases.
If you know any of the missing details from the Sparks family history or are a descendant of Lewis Morgan Sparks and Sarah Bridges, we would love to hear from you.