There is a section of the Baltimore County Genweb page on the Internet called “First Families of Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties” that includes family genealogies submitted by various people to document the earliest families who were settled in those counties by 1735. The Sparks family is covered and Rachel, wife of Josias, is said to have been Rachel Collett, born 1748, daughter of Moses Collett and Elizabeth Wyle.

This is proven by her father’s will -- “to my daughter Rachel surnamed Sparks.”

From 1790 until her death, she can be accounted for in her husband’s household.

On a CD-ROM at my local library titled Church Records: MD/DE 1600s-1800s, there are several citations pertaining to someone named Rachel Collett, but after considering them all, I am certain they only show there were multiple women named Rachel Collett. Nonetheless other genealogists have attributed some of these so called facts to our Rachel, so I cite them here only to dismiss them as having any relevance whatsoever.

The marriage of John Kilpatrick and Rachel Collett on 18 Jun 1801 at First Presbyterian Church, Baltimore is cited. Then, there are several other related references of note in Methodist records of Baltimore. A son of John died at age 9 in 1824. John Kilpatrick died at age 57 (of cholera) and was buried November 1834. So, we can calculate his birth as 1777. Rachel Kilpatrick removed to New York in 1826. I think the Rachel Collett who married John Kilpatrick was much younger than our Rachel.

Separately, those records cite the marriage of Rachel Collett and John Dottan 16 Nov 1764 at Old Swede’s Church in New Castle, DE. This also I believe was a different Rachel.

Finally, many children of Moses and Rachel Collett were born/baptized in 1783-1798 at St. James Parish. Obviously this was not our Moses nor our Rachel, who in any event wasn’t born Rachel Collett.

Rachel Collett was the mother of both Ruth and Elizabeth Sparks so she and all of her ancestors are of double importance to us, as are the Sparks. It is why she and all of her ancestors carry, in my database, my double prefix designation, in her case 4G/5G. She was our 4G grandmother tracing back our grandfather’s lineage and our 5G grandmother tracing back our grandmother’s.

The dates of Rachel’s life are well documented by the family bible and by the Sparks Family Association which published a transcription of her tombstone which provides the date of death and age in years. She was buried near her husband and their daughters in a family graveyard in Baltimore County and her tombstone says: “Rachel Sparks, wife of Josias, departed this life 28 Sep 1818, age 69 years & 9 months.” The arithmetic suggests she was born in December 1748. We also know from the transcription of his grave that Josias outlived Rachel almost 30 years.

It is not clear if Rachel’s inscription is meant to be a little vague or quite exact. Often on tombstones it will say a person lived so many years, months and days, so if hers means 9 months and no days she was therefore born on December 28, 1748; but I always assumed it was plus or minus, say, 15 days.

So now that I have found evidence that her birth date was 15 Dec 1748 I believe it conforms to my logic all along.

The authoritative Sparks Family Association said Josiah was the son of Josias and Penelope. Josiah and Josias were really the same name, just different spellings. I often choose the spelling for a certain person most often associated with that person in public records. So I am not at all uncomfortable thinking of these men as Josias Sr. and Josiah Jr. I simply accept spelling variation as part of genealogy.

1790. Josiah Sparks lives in Misc Run Hundred, Baltimore County with sufficient females to include wife Rachel 42, and daughters Ruth 9 and Rachel 16.

1810. Josiah Sparks lives in Mine Run Hundred. He and his wife are 45+ and one of the two females age 16-25 most likely is his daughter Ruth, age 19.

1820. Josiah Sparkes Sr., age 45+, lives in 5th District, BAL Co. Christopher and Abraham Slade live nearby.

1830. Josiah Sparkes lives in the 5th Collection District age 70-79.

1840. Josias Sparkes lives in Baltimore District 4 age 80-89. A neighbor is Francis Sparkes age 30-40 and another neighbor is William Carling age 20-30.

His life was well documented by the Sparks Family Association including a transcription of his tombstone which provided the date of death and age in years. His will named daughters Elizabeth Carlin and Ruthy Pearce.

SFA had several articles on Josiah Jr., each adding new material or clarifying previous comments. It is interesting to see how the information evolved as to the name of Josiah’s wife and whether his daughter who married William Carlin was named Rachel or Elizabeth.

The June 1958 issue documented the life and marriage of Josiah Sr. and Penelope Brown based on the work done in 1890 by John F Kaufman of Baltimore, a descendant. He listed, among their children, Josiah Jr. born about 1752. Josiah Jr.’s wife was not named, but eight children were listed including "Ruth married a farmer named Pearce and lived in 7th District, Baltimore County" and "Rachel married William Carland, a farmer." Some birth dates were given for the sons ranging from 1787 to 1794, no dates were given for the daughters.

The December 1959 issue expanded on the work of John Kaufman by adding the then recently compiled work of M A Sparks of Charlottesville, VA who journeyed back to his ancestral home in Maryland to complete the picture of the descendants of Josiah Jr. who he said was the second son of Josiah and Penelope Brown and married Rachel (last name unknown). He clearly had visited the Sparks Family Graveyard as he added information that obviously came from the tombstones of Josiah and Rachel and their daughter Ruth and her husband William Pearce. He did not have anything more to say on their daughter Rachel who married William Carlan and seems to have entirely overlooked their tombstones in the same cemetery.

In the June 1970 issue, additional information was given provided by Donn H Sparks of St. Louis which really was a collection of family records prepared many years previous by members of his family, including his grandfather, John Thomas Sparks, a great-grandson of Josiah Jr. This information stated quite clearly that Josiah Sparks Jr. married Rachel Collett. He verified Josiah Jr.'s and Rachel's tombstone information. And he listed 8 children for Josiah Jr. and Rachel including Ruth, born about 1781, who married William Pearce and Rachel who married William Carland (sometimes spelled Carlin).

In September 1975, a correction to the above was published to the extent that the Sparks who married William Carlin was named Elizabeth, not Rachel. This information was attributed to James B McCurley Jr. of Chevy Chase, MD. He said she was born about 1774 and married William Carlin (also spelled Carland). Both were buried in the Sparks Cemetery near Monkton and her inscription reads: Elizabeth Carlin, died April 25, 1860, 86 years old. And his says: William Carlin, died October 3, 1847, 73 years old. McCurley also sent data copied from an old family bible that documented other descendants of Josias Sparks Jr. and Rachel (Collett) Sparks.

Finally, in June 1994, SFA published a letter from William Gumprecht reporting on his visit to the Sparks-Carlin graveyard making it clear exactly which previous information had in fact come from those tombstones and which had been overlooked. He specifically transcribed the tombstones of William Pearce and William Carlin and their wives Ruth and Elizabeth. And he transcribed the tombstones of Josias and Rachel. ”In memory of Rachel wife of Josias departed 28 Sep 1818 age 69 years 9 months. In memory of Josias departed 19 Jan 1846 in 94th year.”

So, in this progression, Josiah’s wife went from unnamed to Rachel to Rachel Collett and their daughter who married William Carlin/Carland went from Rachel to Elizabeth.

Josiah Sparks wrote his will 29 Nov 1843. It proved 28 Feb 1846 and named children: Aaron, Francis, Matthew, Elizabeth Carlin of Harford Co, Sarah Maze and Ruthy Pierce. It also named Ellen Sparks wife of Francis.

A real estate advertisement for the ”Josiah Sparks house” was quoted on the Sparks Genealogy Message Board posted by Alice Herrick Reynolds. Her post said: ”Historic estate on 24 acres, one of the oldest homes on My Lady’s Manor (Historic District), original portion of house built by Josiah Sparks in 1798. $875,000.” My Lady’s Manor refers to the 10,000 acres given to 3rd Lord Baltimore by the King of England and the acreage is now spread across Carroll, Baltimore and Harford Counties.

SFA says that Josiah Sparks Jr. served in the Whiskey Rebellion as well as in the War of 1812. He lived in the Tenth District, Baltimore County, Maryland.

It is not important to the Sparks Family Association but very important to me that Ruth and William Pearce were the grandparents of Margaret Ruth Pearce who was the mother of Carl LeRoy Curry. And Rachel and William Carlin were the grandparents of Maria Elizabeth Carlin who in turn was the grandmother of Lida Slade Hoshall. Grandpa and Grandma Curry were third cousins, once removed!

The births of his three youngest children were all recorded in the records of St. James Parish, but not his two older daughters -- who were our ancestors.