Nicholas Sparks (abt. 1792 - 1862)

Born about 1792 in Darragh, County Wexford, Ireland

Husband of Sarah (Olmstead) Sparks — married 1826 in Quebec, Canada

Descendants

Died 27 Feb 1862 at about age 70 in Ottawa, Carleton, Canada West

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Biography

Nicholas Sparks is/was a significant Ontarian .

Nicholas Sparks is Notable.

Nicholas Sparks (b.1792) was from Darragh, County Wexford. He came "up river" in 1816 to work for the founding Wrights of Hull.

Nicholas Sparks (c1791-1862), (a son of George Sparks of Ballylusk, Co. Wexford, Ireland) was the first of many members of a Sparks family from Wexford County, Ireland, to emigrate to Bytown and its environs in the early 1800s. His cousin, George Sparks (c1801-1867), a son of Abraham Sparks of the Townland of Dranagh Co. Wexford, Ireland, followed him circa 1824, and settled on Lot 8, Junction Gore, township of Gloucester. Because the Christian names of Nicholas, George, Abraham, Frederick have been used commonly in the family from early times, it is now difficult to know to which George or Abraham or Nicholas one refers when tracing this family tree.

In 1826 he married Philemon Wright Jr.'s widow (Sarah Olmstead) and her nine children (he and she were to have one son and two daughters): crossed to the south shore, and for £ 95 bought the 200 acres, and log cabin thereon, from the first patentee, John Burrows Honey. His household thus became the first in the swale which Col. John By made his campsite for the building of the Rideau Canal and "Bytown", later the city of Ottawa.

Sparks was the first Ottawa owner expropriated for the Crown, Col. By taking 104 acres for the canal, which Sparks regained in 1848. He then cut Sparks Street through from Bank to Biddy's Lane (Elgin Street) and gave it to the city.

He became the first developer, albeit a generous one. He also gave land for the Methodist Chapel; St. Andrew's Church of Scotland and Anglican Christ Church; and sites for the fire station, court house with the gaol (jail), and two market places. One of the markets became the site of City Hall (in part, to-day's National Arts Centre - NAC). To assure broad 99 foot Wellington and Rideau Street, Sparks gave 66 feet for every 33 feet given by the Crown.

He served on Bytown's Abortive Council in 1827; the first Town Council in 1847; and the City of Ottawa Council in 1854.

He died Feb. 27, 1862 and is buried in St. James Cemetery, the Alymer Road.

Some early Descendants of Nicholas Sparks

1 Nicholas Sparks 1792 - 1862

+ Sarah 'Sally' Olmstead 1790 - 1871 (widow of Philomen Wright Jr.). The Olmsteads came from Burritt's Rapids to Hull.

2 Mary Sparks 1829 - 1904

+Alonzo Wright 1825 - 1894

2 Esther Sparks 1832 - 1894

+James Dyson Slater 1813 - 1876

3 Robert Nicholas Slater 1851 - 1920

+ Ann Tomlinson 1854 - 1941

4 Leonard Dyson Slater 1880 - 1915

+ Flora MacDonald Stewart 1883 - 1964

4 Mary Slater 1882 -

+ William Foster Wilson 1874 - 1944

3 Florence Augusta Slater 1859 -

+ James E.W. Currier 1849 -

2 Nicholas Sparks 1833 - 1872

+ Caroline Blaisdell 1843 - 1887

The George Sparks family in Goulbourn Township was related to Nicholas Sparks.

Sources

• Nicholas Sparks Marker Photo by William Fischer, Jr., July 3, 2014
• Database created by the Late Mr. Robert Sample of Goulbourn Township.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Ancestral File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:93ZC-ZP2 : accessed 2017-05-09), entry for Nicholas Sparks Sr..
• "Ontario Census, 1861," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQ7Q-1HK : 5 September 2017), N Sparks, Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; citing p. 142, line 1; Library and Archives Canada film number C-1101-1103, Public Archives, Toronto; FHL microfilm 2,435,833.
• Wikipedia - Nicholas Sparks (politician)
• Doris Grierson Hope. Essay - SORTING OUT THE VARIOUS SPARKS FAMILIES OF EARLY BYTOWN
• Ottawa Citizen. "One in a million: The story of an Ottawa family tree, as the city's population approaches a milestone". Andrew Duffy. March 22, 2019.
• Ottawa Citizen. "Sparks and Mall" Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 25 Aug 1967, Friday. Page 2.