William A. J. Sparks

William Andrew Jackson Sparks ( born November 19, 1828 in New Albany, Floyd County, Indiana, † May 7, 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri ) was an American politician. Between 1875 and 1883 he represented the state of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

In 1836, William Sparks moved with his parents to Illinois, where he attended the public schools. Then he studied until 1850 at McKendree College in Lebanon. At the same time he also worked as a teacher. After studying law and his 1851 was admitted to the bar he began to work in Carlyle in this profession. Between 1853-1856 Sparks led the Federal Cadastral Office in Edwardsville. At the same time he proposed as a member of the Democratic Party launched a political career. In the years 1856 and 1857 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Illinois; 1863 to 1864 he was a member of the State Senate. In July 1868, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in New York in part, on the Horatio Seymour was nominated as a presidential candidate.

In the congressional elections of 1874 Sparks was in the 16th electoral district of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of the Republican James Stewart Martin on March 4, 1875. After three re- elections, he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1883 four legislative sessions. From 1877 to 1879 Sparks was chairman of the Committee to monitor the expenditure of the Ministry of the Interior; 1879 to 1881 he headed the Military Committee. In 1882, he renounced a new Congress candidacy.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives William Sparks practiced as a lawyer again. Between 1885 and 1888 he was Federal Commissioner for the Cadastral Agency ( Commissioner of the United States General Land Office ). After that, he was once again working as a lawyer. He died on 7 May 1904 in St. Louis, and was buried in Carlyle.