Martha Brophy

Rosser married Helen Brainerd. Helen (daughter of Charles Brainerd and Elsie Gregory) was born about 1900 in Marquette, Marquette, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Charles married Elsie Gregory on 10 Sep 1898 in Marquette, Marquette, Michigan. Elsie (daughter of Hampson Gregory and Dinah Sparrow) was born about 1875 in Marquette, Marquette, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Addie Hildebrant. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Hampson married Dinah Sparrow on 11 Apr 1856 in Tavistock, Devon, England. Dinah (daughter of William Sparrow and Dinah Sillick) was born about 1836 in Tavistock, Devon, England; died on 25 Apr 1919 in Marquette, Marquette, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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.