Zerah Sparks ^{53,59,60,65,66,67,68}

  Research Notes:

He is listed in the 1810 census he is living in Union Co., South Carolina. Listed are: 2-males (), 1-male (), 1-female (), and 1-female (). Those are the only columns with definite numbers in the various age groups, but there are two with shadow-numbers which may only be a transfer from opposing pages.

In the 1820 he and his family are living in the town of Union, Union Co., South Carolina. In his household are 3 males (0-10), 1 male (27-45, himself), 1-female (0-10), 1-female (27-45, his wife), his profession was agriculture, and there were no slaves in his household.

Sometime after about 1826 about before about 1831, Zerah's first wife died. This is true because the 1820 census gives his wife's age bewteen 27-45, or born as early as about 1785, and as late as about 1803. Whereas in the 1850 census where his wife's birth's year is about 1812, while his oldest son in 1830 was born from 1810-1815. This is conclusive evidence that he was twice married.

In the 1830 census he is living in Spartanburg Co., South Carolina. In his household are: 1-male (under 5), 1-male (5-10), 2-males (10-15), 1-male (15-20), 1-male (40-49, himself), 1-female (10-15), and 1-female (30-39, his first wife).

In the 1840 census he is still living in Spartanburg Co., South Carolina. In his household are: 2-males (0-4), 1-male (5-10), 2-males (15-20), 1-male (50-60, himself), 1-female (0-4), 1-female (10-15), and 1-female (20-30, his second wife). There are no free colored persons in his household. In this census, the female (10-15) is certainly his daughter by his first wife, even though her age here is about 1-5 years younger than she should be compared to her age in the 1830 census.

The 1850 census lists his birth state but it isn't clearly written. From analysis of the birth state entries both above and below on the same page, he was definitely not born in Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, or Tennessee. The entry most resembles VA for Virginia, but it could be SC for South Carolina. My assessment is that it's Virginia because SC is listed for several others on the same page, but his entry is different from the other SC entries. The 1900 census for his son, Moses, says that his father was born in Virginia, and his mother in North Carolina.

From the birth locations of their children, they were living in South Carolina from about 1832 to 1842, then North Carolina from about 1843 to 1846 and then to Georgia in about 1847 or 1848 where they stayed until at least 1850 or 1851, and then on to Marshall Co., Alabama where their youngest child was born in about 1852 or 1853.

In the 1850 census he is 66, but in the 1860 census he says he is 80. ⁶⁶

Zerah married Unknown Unknown.⁶⁵ (Unknown Unknown was born about 1790-1800 ⁶⁵.)

Zerah next married Luranna Rufair Watts Horn, daughter of Elias Horn and Nancy Watts, about 1834 in Spartanburg Co., South Carolina, USA ^53,60,65.^,66 (Luranna Rufair Watts Horn was born in Nov 1810 in NC, USA ^58,60.)