November 15, 2020 3:23 PM

Pages 2932-2942
Whole Number 135

PERSONS NAMED SPARKS
APPEARING ON THE FEDERAL CENSUSES OF VIRGINIA
in 1840 and 1850
Introductory Note

It is most unfortunate for the genealogist that the records of both the first U.S. Census (1790) and the second (1800) for the state of Virginia have been destroyed. Those after 1800, however, have been preserved. A record of the persons named Sparks (including Sparkes and Spark) who headed households according to the 1810 and 1820 censuses of Virginia was published in the September 1967 issue of the Quarterly (Whole No. 59), pages 1091-93. Thirteen such households were enumerated in 1810; by 1820 the number had grown to 23.

Sparks households appearing on the 1830 census of Virginia were published in the Quarterly of September 1977 (Whole No. 99) on pages 1928-29. Interestingly, the households headed by persons named Sparks (Sparkes, Spark) in 1830 numbered only 18, a decrease from 1820. While it is well known that families were sometimes missed by census takers, it is probable that this decrease in Sparks households can be explained by the considerable migration from Virginia to the westward that took place in the 1820's.

We here present the results of a search made for us by a professional genealogist for households headed by persons named Sparks (Sparkes, Spark) that are recorded in the 1840 census of Virginia. By 1840, the number of such households had grown to 23, the same number as had been recorded twenty years earlier in 1820.

As we have reminded our readers before, federal census records before that for 1850 contain only the names of the heads of households. The members of each household were then enumerated following the name of the head according to age groupings, with males separated from females. We know that mistakes were sometimes made in calculating ages, and it should also be kept in mind that the enumeration of household members included more than family in some instances. Anyone besides family members living in a household, whether a hired man, a roomer, or a neighbor child serving as an apprentice, for example, was enumerated as a member of that household. Slaves were also counted, but they were not enumerated by age, only by sex. As will be noted, slaves were owned by only 6 of the 23 heads of households in 1840 whose names were Sparks (Sparkes, Spark).

The 1850 census was the first to include the name, with age, place of birth, occupation (if any), and value of real estate owned (if any) of each person (except slaves) found by the census taker in his district. (The separate slave schedule for 1850 has not been searched for slave owners named Sparks.)

A number was assigned by the census taker to each dwelling house that he visited and another to each family living in that house, though, as will be seen, the Virginia census takers appear not to have separated the two in many instances. These are useful in suggesting how close to each other two families may have lived, since the numbers were assigned as the census taker progressed. In copying the entries for Sparkses from the 1850 census of Virginia, beginning on page 2933, we have included the names of all members of each household where a Sparks appears. This information often provides a clue for identifying family relationships even though such relationships were not given on the 1850 census.

In using Virginia census records, it should be kept in mind that those through 1860 included the counties that became West Virginia in 1863. The counties that became West Virginia in which persons named Sparks (Sparkes, Spark) were living in 1850 were: Marion, Monongalia, Nicholas, Taylor, and Wood.

SPARKS HOUSEHOLDS LISTED ON THE
1840 CENSUS OF VIRGINIA