Jared Sparks

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Jared Sparks bigraphy, stories - American historian

Jared Sparks : biography

May 10, 1789 – March 14, 1866

Jared Sparks (May 10, 1789–March 14, 1866) was an American historian, educator, and Unitarian minister. He served as President of Harvard College, (now Harvard University) from 1849 to 1853.

Notes

Attribution

Memorials

Famous historian Francis Parkman’s "The Conspiracy of Pontiac" (1851), was dedicated to Sparks.

Memorial plaques and historical displays with portraits of Channing, Sparks and others in the historical exhibit area of the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore (Unitarian and Universalist). The congregation also observes and commemorates the annual anniversary of "The Baltimore Sermon" of May 5, 1819, on the first Sunday in May with a "Union Sunday", with a featured sermon/homily/address by a noted invited speaker and attended by the ministers and members of the Unitarian churches in Maryland along with other visiting ecumenical members of other local Christian churches and those interested in the religious history of America and the city/state. P

Works

Other works by Sparks include:

  • "Memoirs of the Life and Travels of John Ledyard" (1828);
  • "The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution" (12 volumes, 1829–1830; redated 1854);
  • "Life of Gouverneur Morris, with Selections from his Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers" (3 volumes, 1832);
  • "A Collection of the Familiar Letters and Miscellaneous Papers of Benjamin Franklin" (1833);
  • "The Works of Benjamin Franklin; with Notes and a Life of the Author" (10 vols, 1836–1840; redated 1850), a work second in scope and importance to his Washington;
  • "Correspondence of the American Revolution; being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of his taking Command of the Army to the End of his Presidency" (4 volumes, 1853);

He also edited the "Library of American Biography", in two series (10 and 15 volumes, respectively, 1834–1838, 1844–1847), – – to which he contributed articles on the lives of Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne, Henry Vane the Younger, Ethan Allen, spy, Gen. Benedict Arnold, explorer Jacques Marquette, explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, Kazimierz Pulaski ("Count Pulaski"), Jean Ribault, Gen. Charles Lee and John Ledyard, the last a reprint of his earlier work.

In addition, he aided Henry D. Gilpin in preparing an edition of the "Papers of James Madison" (1840), and brought out an American edition of William Smyth’s "Lectures on Modern History" (2 volumes, 1841), which did much to stimulate historical study in the United States.

Biography

Born in Willington, Connecticut, Sparks studied in the common schools, worked for a time at the carpenter’s trade, and then became a schoolteacher. In 1809–1811, he attended the Phillips Exeter Academy where he met John G. Palfrey, a lifelong friend. He graduated from Harvard University, (now Harvard University), with a (A.B. in 1815, and a A.M. in 1818); in 1812, served as a tutor to the children of a family in Havre de Grace, Maryland, taught in a private school at Lancaster, Massachusetts during 1815–1817; and studied theology and was college tutor in mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard College in 1817–1819. In 1817–1818 he was acting editor of the "North American Review". He was the first pastor of the newly-organized (1817), "First Independent Church of Baltimore" (in a prominent landmark structure at West Franklin Street at North Charles Street – which later became the "First Unitarian Church of Baltimore (Unitarian and Universalist)" after a 1935 merger with the Second Universalist Church at Guilford Avenue and East Lanvale Street) in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1819 to 1823, Dr. William Ellery Channing, (1780-1842), of the Federal Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts, delivering at his ordination, his famous discourse on Unitarian Christianity later known as "The Baltimore Sermon", which set out the tenets and some principles for the developing theology and philosophy of "Unitarianism". By 1825, these principles led to the founding of the religious denomination of the American Unitarian Association, and later by 1961 into the merger which created the modern Unitarian Universalist Association of America. During this period, Sparks founded the "Unitarian Miscellany" and "Christian Monitor" (1821), a monthly, and edited its first three volumes. He was also chaplain of the United States House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress at the Capitol, in Washington, D.C. from 1821 to 1823; and he contributed to the "National Intelligencer" and other periodicals.