SPARKS, JARED

(1789-1866), an American historian. He won a scholarship at Harvard University. During the War of Independence he fought against. the British at Havre de Grace. In May, 1819, he was ordained pastor of the Unitarian church in Baltimore. In addition to his parochial duties he undertook the editorship of a sectarian periodical, The United Miscellany and Chris- ‘tian Monitor. He aiso, for a while, edited The North American Review. One of the important works of his life was the collection and editing of the correspondence of George Washington. He traveled to, Europe and searched the archives in London and Paris for further particulars. He left unfinished an ambitious work on The History of the American Revolution. The University of Harvard made him an LL.D. in 1843. Among his published works were: Letters on the Ministry, Ritual, and Doctrines of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 1820; The Life of John Ledyard, 1828; Phe Life of Gouverneur Morris, 1832; The Writings of George Washington, 1834-38.