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Subject: [VACULPEP] Newman Article: Error for Mary Towles and Thomas Sparks
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 20:06:12 EST


Dear Rick and Fellow Listers:

I also have a copy of Willaim B. Newman's Article, first published in Tyler's
Quarterly (Vol. XIII, No. 1, July 1931; reprinted in "Genealogy of Virginia
Families Vol. III, as "Towles and Clark Families" ) which was the source for
the later article entitled "The Sparks Family of Orange, Culpeper and Madison
Counties, Virginia" by Russell E. Bidlack (Vol. IV, No. 2, June 1956).
Additional information (or misinformation) comes from an article entitled
"The Aylor Family," by Sarah Aylor Lewis (The Germanna Record, No. 12, The
Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonists in Virginia, 1970). All three
contain errors which I would like to correct here regarding the family of
Thomas Sparks and his wife Mary Towles.

Let me first say that my corrections come from the actual court suit "Clark's
Administrator's v. Towles' Executors, housed as Chancery File #45 in the
Madison County Circuit Clerk's Office in Madison, VA which I copied in
December 1998. [NB: the index to court suits lists this as Towles v. Towles
though that is not the actual title to the case.]

While Mr. Newman made many excellent notes from this file, he apparently
glossed over a few of the papers without paying much attention. I have
already added information on the family of Catherine Towles who married
Abraham Eddins. That information did not come from this court suit, which
merely named a few of their children and said they could not be found. I
should add here that I think some of the papers from this file have gone
"missing" since Newman wrote his article in 1931. However, the papers still
in the file will bear me out.

First, a very brief background on Thomas Sparks. Thomas Sparks purchased
land from John Towles in 1764, which was adjacent to John Kilby. He wrote
his will 30 DEC 1784, which was proved 19 FEB 1787. (Culpeper Co. WB C, p.
226-7). It names wife Mary, mentions he had already given land to two of his
sons, John and Humphrey Sparks, leaves land to son Henry, and then bequeaths
to James Kilby “a parcill of land he lives on which he is to hold by the
boundaries I made him.” Other land was left to Russell Vawter (the land that
Thomas Sparks lived on) and Jacob Aylor (the land I now live on after my
wife's decease). The balance of his estate was to be divided between all his
children, named as John, Ann, Humphrey, Lucy, Henry, Thomas, Mary and
Frankey.

Regarding the family of Thomas Sparks and his wife, Mary Towles, there are
egregious errors.

Specifically, the errors are as follows in Newman's article (repeated by the
Sparks Quarterly) are:

1. That there was a daughter named Mildred when in fact there never was.
Newman says "The decree and other papers in Clark v. Towles indicate that
(probably in copying) the name of a daughter Mildred is o0mmitted from this
will [i.e., the Will of Thomas Sparks]. Neither the will of Thomas Sparks
nor the chancery files ever mention a daughter Mildred. There was a "Milly
Sparks" in the papers, but she was Mildred Nalle wife of Humphrey Sparks.

2. a. That Nancy ("Ann") Sparks married Jacob Aylor when in fact she
married Jarvis Smith
b. That Mary ("Molly") Sparks married (1) Russell Vawter and (2) James
Smith when in fact there is no mention of a 2nd husband named James
Smith or otherwise in the file. Probably confused with Jarvis
Smith.
c. No mention of Frances Sparks who was the actual wife of Jacob Aylor.
The Sparks Quarterly article states that Frances Sparks never
married, taken from her ommission from Newman's account.
d. The only thing that is correct is that Lucy Sparks did marry James
Kilby, a son of John Kilby and brother of William Kilby who
married Frances Eddins of my previoust post.

The file contains two court summons and a list of heirs which clearly state
that:

1. Nancy Sparks was the wife of Jarvis Smith who had gone to North Carolina
(This is born out by a deed from William Kilby to Jarvis Smith in Wilkes
County NC dated 24 JAN 1791, "land and mill sit. on Reddy's River, part of
a grant to William Kilby and conveyed to Jarvis Smith for express purpose of
erecting a Bloomery for making Bar Iron, "etc." WIT: Hillais Rousseau and
Isaac Parlier (Wilkes Co., NC Deed Book B-1, p. 124)
2. Mary Sparks was the wife of Russell Vawter (no mention of a 2nd husband
James Smith)
3. Frances Sparks was the wife of Jacob Aylor, who were both dead by the
time of the final decree and their children named in lieu thereof.
4. Lucy Sparks was the wife of James Kilby, who were both dead and their
children named in lieu thereof

As the sons are not in doubt, I will not belabor those points here, except to
say the Aylor Family article published by the Germanna Foundation is in error
in stating that the wife of Jacob Aylor was Frances Murrary. This arose from
the Revolutionary War pention application of Mark Finks, which contains a
deposition from Jacob Aylor who mentions his brother-in-law Francis Murray.
This relationship arose because Jacob Aylor's sister, Susannah, had married
Francis Murray, not because Jacob's wife was the sister of Francis Aylor.

I hope that this information will help those Towles researchers, especially
on the Catherine and Mary lines. I can continue some of these lines forward
if anyone is interested in them beyond this.

Regards to All,
Craig Kilby

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