My Genealogy Hound

William M. Sparr, who is one of the veteran merchants and old settlers of Union county, having resided in Cromwell since 1869, has for thirty-eight years engaged in the lumber and hardware business, winning simultaneously an honored name and gratifying success. He is a native of Williamsburg, Blair county, Pennsylvania, and was born November 5, 1843. His father, John Sparr, was a native of Centre county, Pennsylvania, and was there reared to manhood, after which he followed the vocation of farming. He was married there to Miss Sarah Hall, also a native of Centre county, and to them were born a son and daughter. The mother died when William was but five years of age and the father afterward married again, his second union being with Susan Schultz, by whom he had eight children. His death occurred in 1864, when he was forty-three years of age.

William M. Sparr was reared on the home farm, receiving the educational advantages afforded by the district schools, supplemented by one term in the Williamsburg Academy. Following his father’s death he assumed the management of the farm, which he conducted for four years, and also settled up the estate. Removing westward to Illinois he settled at Keithsburg, where he obtained employment, spending a year in a lumber business. On the expiration of that period he came to Iowa, settling in Cromwell, Union county, in 1869. For a year he was employed in a lumberyard and in 1870 purchased the business, which he has since conducted with growing success. In connection with the yard he established a hardware store which his sons now conduct in a building erected by the father. Aside from his mercantile interests, Mr. Sparr has figured in financial circles, having been one of the founders of the State Savings Bank of Cromwell, a director and stockholder therein and vice president of the institution.

In the fall of 1867 Mr. Sparr was married, in Blair county, Pennsylvania, to Miss Rebecca Snively, born in that county December 10, 1841, and for almost thirty-nine years they traveled life’s journey together but were separated through the death of the wife March 29, 1906. Mrs. Sparr passed away in her sixty-fourth year. Of their five children Harry M., their first-born, died in infancy, while their daughter Fairy, who became the wife of George E. Himes, an insurance agent of Des Moines, died in 1903 at the age of twenty-four years. Frank V., who married Adda Keever, is in business with his father. Fred G., also associated with his father, married Frankie Hathaway, and they have six children. Fannie Bell is the wife of Dr. O. S. Barber, a physician and surgeon of Kent, Iowa, and they have one child.

Mr. Sparr erected a fine residence in Cromwell, which he yet occupies, and he also built a number of fine business blocks, thus contributing materially to the improvement of the city. In 1865 he was appointed and served at Washington, D. C., in charge of the horse department of the United States government, filling the position for a year. He has been a lifelong republican, casting his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, since which time he has never failed to vote at a presidential election. While thoroughly in sympathy with the principles of the party, he casts an independent ballot at local elections where no issue is involved. He has served as township trustee and school treasurer for several years and has been a delegate to various county and state conventions of his party, while for twelve years he has been chairman of the republican central committee. His labors have made him a forceful factor in republican circles and he has wielded a wide influence, doing much to shape the local policy of the party and to promote its success. He holds membership in the Congregational church, to which his wife also belonged, having been a most earnest and devoted Christian woman.

In the work of the church Mr. Sparr is greatly interested, having served on the official board, also as treasurer and trustee, while toward the erection of the two houses of worship owned by the denomination in Cromwell he was a liberal contributor. Fraternally he is identified with the blue lodge of Masons, has held all of its offices and is now its treasurer. He has practically retired from business life, leaving his commercial interests to the care of his sons while he is enjoying well earned ease. A resident of Cromwell for forty years, he has witnessed the growth and development of the county and has contributed in substantial measure to its progress and improvement. His labors, however, have been of a practical character and the sterling force of his character has enabled him to overthrow difficulties and obstacles in his path and press forward to the goal of successful accomplishments.