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William Henry Sparks


Gender:
Male
Born:
January 16, 1800
Died:
January 13, 1882
Home Town:
St. Simon's Island, GA
Later Residences:
Natchez, MS
New Orleans, LA
Marietta, GA
Marriage(s):
Amanda Carmichael Sparks (1827)
Unknown (unknown)
Unknown (unknown)
Biographical Notes:
William Henry Sparks was born on St. Simon's Island, GA on January 16, 1800. He was raised on his father's plantation in Greene County and when he was eighteen he traveled to Litchfield to attend the Law School. He returned to Georgia to practice law and was elected to the state legislature.

In 1830 he moved to Natchez, Mississippi and engaged largely in sugar planting. In 1850 entered into a law partnership with Judah P. Benjamin in New Orleans, which was dissolved ten years later. He declined many public offices, only once accepting the nomination for United States Senator from Louisiana, but withdrawing in favor of his friend, Alexander Barrow.

He contributed largely to southern publications, and among other verses wrote "Somebody's Darling," "The Dying Year," and " The Old Church-Bell." He published The Memories of Fifty Years in 1870.

Education
Years at LLS:
1820

Profession / Service
Profession:
Arts; Lawyer; Political Office; Agriculture
State Posts:
State Representative (GA) 1830

help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849), 17.

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