 Abt 1836 - 1919 (83 years)
-
| Name |
Dinah Sparrow |
| Born |
Abt 1836 |
Tavistock, Devon, England  |
| Gender |
Female |
| Died |
25 Apr 1919 |
Marquette, Marquette, Michigan |
| Person ID |
I6969 |
My Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
9 Dec 2015 |
| Father |
William Sparrow, b. Abt 1799, Tavistock, Devon, England , d. Aft 1881, England (Age > 83 years) |
| Mother |
Dinah Sillick, b. Bef 18 Aug 1804, Tavistock, Devon, England , d. Oct 1877, England (Age > 73 years) |
| Married |
14 Aug 1825 |
Okehampton, Devon, England |
| Notes |
- The marriage is recorded in the Devon Record Office in Exeter. William Sparrow is listed as a labourer. Dinah is listed as a spinster. Both made marks. The witnesses were Samuel Doney and James Cole.
|
| Family ID |
F18 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Hampson Gregory, b. 28 Oct 1834, Tavistock, Devon, England , d. Abt 1921, Marquette City, Marquette Co., Mi (Age 86 years) |
| Married |
11 Apr 1856 |
Tavistock, Devon, England |
| Children |
| | 1. Mary Emily Gregory, b. Abt 1858, d. 30 Dec 1871, Marquette, Marquette, Michigan (Age 13 years) |
| | 2. Alma Gregory, b. 24 Nov 1859, Canada , d. 29 Mar 1950, Pentland, Luce, Michigan (Age 90 years) |
| | 3. Ellen Gregory, b. 26 Sep 1862, Woodstock, Ontario, Canada , d. 31 Oct 1946 (Age 84 years) |
| | 4. Thomas Gregory, b. Abt 1866, Woodstock, Ontario, Canada , d. Abt 1868, Marquette, Marquette, Michigan (Age 2 years) |
| | 5. Clara Gregory, b. Abt 1870, Marquette, Marquette, Michigan , d. 20 May 1927, duluth, st. Louis, MN (Age 57 years) |
| | 6. Mary Gregory, b. 15 Dec 1872, Marquette, Marquette, Michigan , d. 27 Jul 1935, Marquette, Marquette, Michigan (Age 62 years) |
| | 7. Elsie Gregory, b. Abt 1875, Marquette, Marquette, Michigan |
|
| Last Modified |
1 Dec 2015 |
| Family ID |
F5095 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
-
| Photos |
 |
|
 |
|
-
| Notes |
- I always thought that my Great-Grandfather, Richard Sparrow, was a real hero as, in the late 1860s, he bravely left his home in England to come to America to start a new life. Great-Grandpa was the reason we were born Americans. We had him to thank for being in Michigan, etc., etc.
Well, in the Spring of 2007, I found this entry in a book that was written in 1903 about the men of Marquette County. "Mr. Gregory was about 21 years old when he married Dinah Sparrow, an English girl, and a family of seven children were born to them ..."
Mr. Gregory was Hampson Gregory, an English immigrant who was a very successful builder in Marquette. A number of the buildings credited to him are still standing. Some are on the lists on National Historic Places.
Naturally, I was intrigued by the Dinah Sparrow he married. I knew Great-Grandpa Richard mother's name was Dinah (Sillick) and that Richard and his wife, Hannah Pike, had a daughter named Dinah. But, that Dinah was far too young to be married to Hampson, as they would have had to marry when she was about a year old.
Then I remembered that William and Dinah Sparrow (Richard's parents) had a daughter named Dinah. She was the right age to be the wife of Hampson. To make a long story somewhat shorter, after a little research, I sent to the GRO (General Register Office) in England for a copy of Hampson's (a house carpenter) and Dinah's marriage certificate. They were married in Tavistock, Devonshire, England on 11 April 1856. Dinah's father was listed as William Sparrow. There was only one William Sparrow in Tavistock about that time: Richard and Dinah's father and my Great-Great-Grandfather.
According to the article in 1903 book, Hampson and Dinah went to Woodstock, Ontario, Canada in 1857 and from there to Marquette in 1867 looking for work as an architect and contractor. Timing is everything. In 1868 a fire wiped out much of the Marquette business district.
I think Hampson and Dinah encouraged Richard and other siblings and friends in England to "come to America and work for me." I think there was even the promise of training in a trade. In the English census, Richard is always listed as a roper or rope maker. In the American census, he is listed as a stone mason.
Using Lake Superior sandstone, Hampson's comnpany built the first Marquette high school, St. Peter's cathedral, and St. Mary's Hospital. They also built the Gregory Block (now gone) and Harlow Block in downtown Marquette, the Iron Bay Foundry, the People's State Bank in Munising, and many of Marquette's finer homes.
Hampson and Dinah had their share of tragedy in Marquette. Their only son, Thomas, died after a short illness in 1869 when he was about two years old. On New Year's Eve in 1871, their oldest child, Mary Emily, died from injuries resulting from burning kerosene. Dinah was also burned trying to save Mary Emily. As Mary Emily was dying she kept saying, "Don't cry, Mother. I'll look after Tommy for you now." Hampson and Dinah donated funds to put a stained glass window in the First Methodist Church in Marquette as a memorial to their son and daughter.
So, the HEROINE of our family, the TRAIL BLAZER, the one who is really responsible for us being here and being Americans is my Great-Great-Aunt Dinah Sparrow.
As Sinatra once said, "Ain't that a kick in the head?" Or, as my daughter, Jenny Sparrow said upon learning about Dinah, "The revelation that it was a Sparrow sister who led her brother to American does not surprise me at all ..."
The data about Hampson and Dinah's descendants (none of whom my father or grandmother ever mentioned to my knowledge) is in the database.
|
|
|
.jpg)
