Lucy (Allen) Sparks (abt. 1767 - bef. 1810)

Wife of Daniel Sparks — married 17 Feb 1787 (to about 1810) in Southhampton Township, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 22 Mar 1810 before about age 43 in White's Point, Cambridge, Queens, New Brunswick [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Wanda Skidmore [send private message]

Biography

Lucy Allen was the daughter of John Allen and Judith (Unknown) Allen. ^[1]

Lucy married Daniel Sparks, son of Robert and Joanna Sparks on 17 February 1787 in Southhampton Township, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. ^[1]

Reportedly, they had nine children together over the course of twenty-three years.

Mrs. Sparks (no first name given) died at the about the age of 43 ^[2], and was either buried on March 1, 1810 in Gagetown, Queens, New Brunswick ^[3] or died on March 19, 1810 and was buried on on March 22 in an unmarked grave in Whites Point, Cambridge, Queens, New Brunswick. ^[4]

Research Notes

Several family trees say that Lucinda (Lucy) Allen was born about 1767 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but no sources are provided. A birth record has not been found, nor any evidence that her first name at birth was Lucinda.

There's an unresolved discrepancy in her last name at birth.

A typewritten list of marriages from Southhampton Township records says that her name was Lucy Allen, daughter of John and Judith Allen, when she married Daniel Sparks in 1787. ^[1]

However, her maiden name is typewritten as Lucie Bennovie in the French-language transcription of the marriage record of her daughter Françoise (to David Foster) in 1806. ^[5] The original handwritten marriage record has not been found.

Since Lucy may have been only about 19 years old when she married David Foster, it's possible but seems unlikely that she had first married a Bonnevie man. And since she gave birth to seven Sparks children before 1810, a second marriage to a Bonnevie also seems unlikely.

Could she have been surnamed Bonnevie and then adopted by John and Judith Allen?

She's listed as Lucie Bonnevie in some usually reliable genealogies ^[6] and also in family trees, some of which name her L'Ennovie.

Bonnevie is an original Acadian surname, whose patriarch was Jacques (Bonnevie) Bonnevie dit Beaumont (abt.1660-1733). ^[7]

In contrast, the surname Benvie is Scottish in origin. ^[8]

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Allen-4422 created through the import of Richard Roberts Family Tree.ged on Aug 13, 2011 by Irene x.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Nova Scotia Archives. Township Records at the Nova Scotia Archives. Southampton Township, Cumberland County. Marriages - Southhampton Township Records. See a copy of the page listing the marriage of Daniel Sparks and Lucy Allen and their parents. Accessed 24 February 2024.
2. ↑ From famiy trees. PRIMARY SOURCE NEEDED
3. ↑ The Marianne Grey Otty Database. Database Search, Last Name: Sparks. UNB Libraries. Accessed 24 Feb 2024.
4. ↑ Unsourced FamilySearch family tree, citing Burial Record, which is viewable but unsourced.
5. ↑ Marriage (Transcription): Memramcook, Nouveau-Brunswick, Registre de la paroisse Saint-Thomas, catholique, Baptêmes et Mariages 1806-1870, Sépultures 1807-1870 ( F.M. 9, A 11, vol 8), Image #791, marriage for David Foster and Francoise Spark, 11 Nov 1806, digital images, Héritage, Genealogy collection, Library and Archives Canada, reel C-3018, Parish Registers: New Brunswick : C-3018 accessed 2 Nov 2023.
6. ↑ PRDH - Programme de recherche en démographie historique. Daniel Spark and Lucie Bonnevie. (Subscription required).
7. ↑ DNAeXplained - Genetic Genealogy. Jacques "dit Beaumont" de Bonnevie, Acadian from Paris. 52 Ancestors #26.
8. ↑ Forebears. Benvie Surname Meaning. Citing George Fraser Black, The Surnames of Scotland, 1946.