Martin Van Buren ["Van"] Sparks, son of Sam and Sarah (Deal) Sparks, was born on March 4, 1837, in Winston County, Mississippi, on the day that Martin Van Buren was inaugrated as the eighth President of the United States, and was named for the president. He was just a small boy when his parents moved to Fountain Hill in Ashley County, Arkansas. There, he grew to manhood, and in 1859 he was a teacher in the Fountain Hill Academy.
Van Sparks served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. He entered into service at Camp Terry in Capt. Hillary Ryan's Company of Allen's Regiment Texas Infantry. This company subsequently became Company D, 17th Regiment Texas Infantry. His incomplete military record on file in the National Archives shows that on August 6, 1863, he "resigned office of 3rd Sgt.; pay due him as Sgt., April 30 to Aug. 6, 1862." From April 17 to May 28, 1864, he was in the C.S.A. General Hospital, Shreveport, Louisiana. He was discharged as a sergeant on April 30, 1865.
A grandson of Martin Van Buren Sparks recalls that in reminiscing as an old man, his grandfather said that his greatest concern during his army life had been for the safety of his younger brother, Tom Sparks, who served in the same military unit - - Company D, 17th Regiment Texas Infantry. This regiment served in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.Sometime near the end of the Civil War, Van Sparks was married to Susan ["Susie"] Leonora Bull. She had been born on September 26, 1842, in Yazoo County, Mississippi, and was a daughter of Ambrose and Sarah (Maxwell) Bull. (See Item D, 2, above.) Van and Susie started housekeeping in the village of San Saba, Texas, where Van taught school for one year. Their first child was born there in 1866. They returned to Lampasas County shortly thereafter, and it was there that Susie died on March 22, 1870, of typhoid fever. She left Van with three small children.
On October 6, 1875, Van was married (2nd) to Mary Elizabeth ["Betty"] Newton in Lampasas County. She had been born in 1839 in Walker County, Texas. She and Van had one child. Van died on December 12, 1914, in Lampasas County, and Betty died on April 11, 1926, in MeCulloch County, Texas. They were buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Lampasas County.