February 13, 2019 3:50 PM

Pages 2673-2674
Whole Number 127

QUERY
EARL ROSCOE SPARKS


Anita Mills-Barry of Dallas, Texas is seeking information regarding the ancestry of her grandfather, Earl Roscoe Sparks. Her mother, Earline Amaryllis Sparks (born July 14, 1927, in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is the only child of Earl Roscoe Sparks.

It is believed that Earl Roscoe Sparks was born ca. 1903-06, perhaps in Quanah (Hardeman County), Texas. He married Goldie Baughman (born in Missouri in 1909); they were married in 1926 in Arkansas, Kansas, and moved to Cripple Creek, Colorado. Earl Roscoe Sparks died in late 1926 or early 1927 (before the birth of Earline Amaryllis Sparks) possibly in South Dakota. He was a photographer and pianist who travelled, playing the piano in movie houses and taking portraits. He supposedly had a unique method of developing pictures and, when he failed to return from a trip, his father-in-law traced him through his portrait taking and discovered he had died - - we think it was in South Dakota.

Earl Roscoe Sparks was the only son of Harold Sparks (born ca. 1880) and Helen (Isbon) Sparks. They were married between 1900 and 1902. Harold may have been from Sparks, Oklahoma, and he may have had a sister or niece named Clara Mae. Helen was half English and half Cherokee Indian.

Ms. Mills-Barry would greatly appreciate receiving any information any reader might have regarding any of the persons mentioned above. Does anyone know who the parents of Harold Sparks may have been? Does anyone know of his siblings and their descendants? Please share such information with your editor as well as Ms. Mills-Barry.