Lamar County Texas
The William C. Sparks family was found on the 1870 Census in Paris, Lamar County, Texas. They remained here only a few months before moving on West.
Paris, Texas was founded in 1839 on the divide between the Red and Sulphur Rivers, and became the seat of Lamar County in 1844. It was settled by a diverse frontier society including Sam Bell Maxey, a West Point graduate, attorney and Confederate general; retired outlaw, Frank James (brother of Jesse James) who clerked in a local dry goods store. It was also the home of John Chisum , who became one of the West's foremost cattle barons; and notorious frontier outlaw queen, Belle Star who tended a farm near town.
The home of Samuel Bell Maxey and his wife, Marilda was constructed in 1867, and is an example of the architecture of the period in Paris. Built in the High Victorian Italianate style, the frame house, plus book house, and stable, were a progressive addition to the city's architecture and a proper home for the ex-Confederate general and later United States Senator. In March of 1971, the Maxey House was officially listed on the National Register of Historical Places.