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Ira Sparks (1821 - 1903)

Ira Sparks
Born in Bedford, Frontenac, Upper Canadamap
Ancestors ancestors
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 82 in Rockwood, Frontenac, Ontario, Canadamap
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Profile last modified | Created 12 Apr 2018
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Biography

He may have been born in 1816. He was a farmer. Religion is listed as Weslyan Methodist. In Canada Census for 1871, he is not listed with the family. He was an inmate in Rockwood Asylum for the Criminally Insane from 1850's til his death in 1903.

Ira Sparks born circa 1821 or 1822 in Ontario (or perhaps his father Reuben?) settled in Bedford in 1836 on lot 21 Concession 7 according to Bedford Township Papers (The Damned Lakes, pg 242). He had 8 family members. This was Margaret Sparks Thompson’s father. In the Bedford 1861 census, Ira is listed as a farmer and a Wesleyan Methodist. Richard Sparks lived here in 1848, lot 21, Concession 7. Richard Sparks had 107.5 acres. (Frontenac County Map in 1878. See http://www.mcgill.ca).

During the 1837-38 uprisings, unrest and rebellions in what is now known as both Quebec and Ontario, loyal farmers were called upon to maintain the peace by serving in militias. In fact, male citizens over 18 yrs of age could be called upon to serve at any time. Ira served in the militia from Nov 18 to May 26, 1838 according to the Canadian, British Army and Canadian Muster Rolls and Paylist 1795-1850 doc signed 15 Jan 1839. The Document mentions the following battalions: Third Lacadie, LaCole, Hemmingford Cavalry etc ..... Leeds Cavalry, 2nd Leeds Militia, and Sixth Leeds Militia. (pg 535 of 709). He was a private and was paid 2 pounds. In the Canada Census 1881, Ira is listed as a patient in an asylum. His occupation is not given.

Ira was born in 1841. Ira and Martha married about 1840. Ira is not shown at home on the Bedford Census list for 1871. The Waller report (pg 53) has him in an asylum as does the 1871 Census. At age 36, Ira was in the Kingston Gaol. This would have been as early as the 1853 or as late as 1856 and before there was any asylum in which to put him.

Given the treatment of the insane in the 1800's (ie merely locked away), he probably lived the rest of his life there. I have no knowledge of why he was initially committed. The insane, the criminally insane and common criminals were all lumped in together in an era before there were any asylums for the insane. As the article you provided to me pointed out, one of the only ways to get your relative committed if they were of some danger to themselves or the community was to have a warrant issued for them to be put in jail. This may have happened with Ira. I also remember reading something about early inmates being kept in the stables at Rockwood for a number of years before the asylum was actually built. Now this may have been only the women .......I can’t remember for sure.

Ira died in March 1903 at the Rockwood Asylum and is buried at the Cataraqui Cemetery, Frontenac, Kingston.

Interestingly, it is his ancestors who descended from royalty in Britain Scotland Wales France and Navarre.

He was committed in the 1850s before Rockwood asylum was even built. So he spent time in the Kingston jail. As a 36-40-year old, he was definitely not one of the senior aged committed for senility

My guess is that some 20 yrs after his commitment, in the early 1880s, his daughter and his son, his wife were heading west to Manitoba because of the inexpensive or free land. And this would have been the big draw for heading to Manitoba. In south Frontenac, the Land was very poor and the topsoil thin. Once the farms were deforested as happened after about 20 or 30 years of living on the land, the soil was not enough to sustain a family. Many families left here and went either to Manitoba or to Wisconsin in the 1880s and 1890s when the west was opened up.

In the Canada Census, 1901, he is listed with 30 other members of his household (?) presumably meaning the residents of Rockwood Asylum, Portsmouth Village. He is also listed as married, 79, born in Ontario, a farmer of English origin and a Methodist. In the final column of this document entitled Infirmitie: only 3 options are given a) deaf and dumb, b) blind, c) unsound mind, Ira is listed as unsound mind.

Curiously, his wife Martha Gibson, living in Manitoba at this time, is listed as widowed in both the censuses of 1881 and 1891. It is possible that she was embarrassed to explain about her living husband's absence from her life). Ira at died at Rockwood in March 26, 1903 at age 80 yrs. He is buried at the Cataraqui Cemetery, Frontenac, Kingston. The Waller report (pg 53) has Ira in an asylum in the 1871 Census. In Canada Census for 1871, he is not listed as living with his family in Frontenac. Ira would have been living at Rockwood or in the Kingston gaol at 36 yrs which would have been as early as the 1856 or 1857. (ontariogenealogy.com)


Sources

  • Canada Census for 1871,1901

Detail Manitoba Free Press Winnipeg, Wednesday, April 11, 1908 Vol 33, No. 240 Transcription of text PROBABLE HEIRS TO RICE’S MILLIONS Residents of Manitoba and British Columbia Closely Connected With the murdered Millionaire of New York For Killing Whom Patrick is Now Under Sentence of Death---Claims Being Investigated A Free Press correspondent sends the following biographic sketch in connection with the death of Martha Sparks which occurred recently at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John A. Lee, of High Bluff, Man.; In 1837 four young people, Elizabeth, Margaret, James and Martha Gibson, came from the county of Down, Ireland, and settled In the county of Leeds, Ontario, where they all married. Margaret was married to Robert Blair, near Westport; four of their sons have been prominent in mining circles in British Columbia. Elizabeth was married to Samuel Hannah, who was well known at Seaforth, Ont.; his son, the late Samuel Hannah, carried on extensive farming operations at Griswold. Man., and was killed some five years ago by falling into a well beneath a windmill which he was repairing on one of his farms. James Gibson was married at Westport. He died some years ago, leaving three sons, David, James and Robert, all well known in that locality. Martha, whose demise is just reported, was married to Ira Sparks, by whom there were six children, Mrs. Stafford, of Tichborne, Ont.; David, liveryman of Debolco City, Pennsylvania; Richard, of Prince Albert, Sask.; and Mrs. Joseph Thompson, Mrs. John A. Lee, and Amos Sparks, all of High Bluff, Man. Amos Sparks married Lucietta Rice, an American born lady. who came to Canada from near the border of the state of Connecticut, leaving nearly all her friends behind her. She had a brother, Marshall, unmarried, who had been in business in Texas. Amos Sparks and his friends owned pretty nearly the whole town site of Bytown, now the city of Ottawa; the name is still preserved in that of Sparks street. Lucietta had three sons, Amos, Reuben and Ira Sparks, all of whom moved up near Westport where Ira and Martha Gibson were married, and had the six children whose names have already been given. After a few years, Amos Sparks moved to Texas and Reuben Sparks to Arkansas, leaving their mother on the farm where their father had died in 1869; but later she sold the farm and joined her son Reuben; it is believed that she has since died. Heirs of Marshall Rice. Four years ago Marshall Rice, whose name was identical with the one already mentioned, was murdered in New York city by his underwriters, Jones and Albert T. Patrick, of what the latter is now in the prison at Sing Sing under the penalty of death, the former having been allowed to go free for giving state evidence. Marshall Rice is said to have been eight times a millionaire when assassinated. In 1896, he made his will, a copy of which is in the possession of John A. Lee, High Bluff; in it the name of Lucietta appears. The fact of one of his sisters having gone to Canada many years ago, and the fact of his friends being unknown, led to the connecting of the names of Amos Sparks, Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. John A. Lee, of High Bluff, with the story, but the carelessness of the people and the poor system of registration of nearly a century ago have made it very difficult for the commission which is still investigating to establish the facts. DetailManitoba Free Press Winnipeg, Wednesday, April 11, 1908 Vol 33, No. 240





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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Ira by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Ira:

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Categories: Bedford Township, Upper Canada