RELIGION

and the

SPARKS FAMILY

"The Circuit Riding preacher used to ride across the land,
With a rifle on his saddle and a Bible in his hand."

Three of the Sparks brothers, sons of Nathan Sparks, became ordained ministers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  They were:  Martin Sparks, Nathan Matthew Sparks and William C. Sparks.    Isaac Sparks, brother of the elder Nathan, was a Charter member of the Shiloh Society, later Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church, near McKenzie Tennessee, in 1825.  Nathan Matthew Sparks became a Cumberland Presbyterian minister and according to a history of Nevada County, in 1857 he led the community in building the Mount Moriah Church about ten miles south of the town of Prescott, Arkansas. He was also called to be its first minister and assumed that position on March 22, 1857.  William C. Sparks was a circuit riding preacher while he was in Texas.

       | The Circuit Riders  |  The Cumberland Presbyterian Church  |  1850 Church Picture  |