So often a history snoop comes across the fragments of a person’s life that hint at a much deeper story needing to be told. Yet the search for more information is too often fruitless, and the story elusive at best.
Many have genealogy charts that trace their ancestors back centuries, along with a few hand-me-down memories and stories from their parents or grandparents. But even then, they know little about those who came before.
Our lives often are like footprints in the snow. They disappear when the season changes.
So it is with Wesley Richard Sparks.
Wesley was a shoemaker in Jacksonville until he died Sept. 26, 1923. He and his wife, Katherina “Katie” Schwagler, came from Pasadena, California, in 1906. Richard was 55 and Katie 38. They had been married for 14 years and had three children, with one on the way.
Katie was born in Germany, Oct. 26, 1868, and emigrated to the United States in 1885. Learning English while working as a domestic for a Washington, D.C. family, she and Wesley somehow met and married, but that part of the story never survived.
Wesley was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, and by the time he met Katie, he likely was living in Leonardtown, Maryland, about 50 miles south of Washington. The married couple lived there in 1900 before leaving for California.
Wesley was discharged from the U.S. Army in July 1883. It isn’t known how long he had served with the 9th U.S. Infantry, but he was still a private and listed as an invalid on his official papers.
The 9th Infantry was involved in most of the Indian Wars of the late 19th century, and were nearly always on the move in the American West. Wesley could have been with the unit as early as 1874, when the 9th was ordered into Wyoming, and Wesley’s life changed forever.
While patrolling Wyoming’s plains and mountains, the soldiers frequently had to hunt for meat. Often, this meant braving a harsh winter in the middle of a snowstorm.
One day, Wesley and a friend were ordered out to hunt. Suddenly they were lost in a brutal blizzard that seemed to come out of nowhere. While they tried to find their way back to camp, their socks were soaked with frigid water. Wesley later said their biggest mistake that day was taking off their boots to wring out their socks. While he was wringing, icicles already were forming.
Somehow they found their way back, where surgeons removed parts of their feet, from the instep back. While the soldiers recovered in a cold shack, officers believed Wesley was dying and ordered a grave dug. But Wesley survived.
The Army sent him to school for special training, perhaps near Washington, D.C. There he learned to make shoes and boots, the profession he continued to the day of his death.
The family’s home in Jacksonville was in the hills, less than a mile south of downtown. First they lived in a tent, where Katie’s last child, a girl, was born. Soon there was a small cabin and a few outbuildings on the hilly slopes. Twelve years later they moved into town.
Beyond a few hints of shoe repair store locations, Wesley and Katie never made the newspapers and lived a quiet life.
In 2006, the Sparks property on South Third Street, just north of Sterling Street in Jacksonville, was purchased, became part of Jacksonville’s woodland parks and was named Woods Grove.
Writer Bill Miller is the author of five books, including “Silent City on the Hill, Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery.” Reach him at newsmiller@live.com.
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