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Name: SPARKS, Herbert James

Birth Date: 8 Nov 1891 Durban
Death Date: 15 Oct 1937 Nakuru, peritonitis
First Date: 1922
Last Date: 1937
Profession: Seventh Day Adventist missionary, hotelier
Area: 'Sweetwaters' Turi, 1935 Island View Lake Hotel Naivasha
Married: 1. 1916 Alice Ellen Baron d. 1918 Durban, blackwater fever; 2. In Durban 4 Sep 1919 Anna Edith Winship b. 1893 Kimberley, d. 1958 Durban; 3. Elsie Inez Hollon
Children: 1. Dora Ellen (Vercoe) (18.11.1917 Kenya-2000) 2. Muriel (Merle) Anna (1920-2000); Joan Dulcie (1921); Eileen (Tippett) (1924)
Book Reference: KAD, Red 25, Hut, Red 22, Nicholls, Carnelley, Ken Greathead, Gazette
General Information:
We started from Kisii before daylight one morning and made our way to Kanyandoto and Kanyankala where we cut across to the Migori and Kuja Rivers. When we got to Kanyankala we came to an S.D.A. Mission house which appeared to be nothing more than a large store which was full of buffalo hides and trade goods. Preaching of the Gospel was conspicuous by its absence. Cascallon would see an old Jeluo native asleep in the shade of a tree. He would approach him and put his hand on his head. If he still slept he gave him a kick on the backside and say, "Son, you are saved and you can thank the Lord it is me who has saved you, if it was one of the others you would be condemned to terrible torture when you died". With this the convert would be roped in to carry a load on the next safari. Sparks was a keen trader and a good shot. We had no difficulty in getting two good tuskers and we returned to Kamagambo where they had a Mission, via Kadem and Suna. Cascallon was a Canadian and Sparks a South African. Cascallon tried to ape the Cockney accent and Sparks the American, so it gave one a bit of a headache when they were both talking at the same time. Sparks would talk Luo like a native ...........' (more p. 41) ....... after WW1 he gave up being a Missionary when he found the trade in buffalo hides and ostrich feathers came to an end, and started the Lake View Hotel at Naivasha. Sparks died about 5 years ago [c. 1948] and I think his wife returned to SA. In charge of porters with the 4th KAR at the action at Kisii in Sept. 1914 but disappeared.
https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DJAN
Earlier, in 1911, a European hunter named H. J. Sparks pitched his tent at Rapedhi. Herbert James Sparks was a Seventh-day Adventist trader dealing in hides and skins. Born in South Africa in 1891, he moved to British East Africa to pursue his trade. He immediately connected with Carscallen at Gendia, becoming a close confidante. He was interested in buffalo and elephant skins together with ostrich feathers, so he moved to Kanyadoto where he pitched a tent and began to apply his trade. By then, the area was teeming with wildlife which preferred to live around a drinking pond there. The pond lent the area the name “Dak Tenge” (Wild Beasts’ Pond), a name that is still used to this day. It was his sharing of game meat with the locals that attracted many people to him. Sparks then called in the people every day, and on Sabbath, he started to teach them about the Bible. Some laughed when those who heeded his call knelt in prayer, associating it with a curse of exposing one’s behind (“gumo”) to another One of the early converts, Mariko Otieno assisted in the work at Kanyadoto.
Sparks remained at Kanyadoto for a year, then left the area to further pursue his business. By this time, he had constructed a church and had raised a congregation at Kanyadoto. Sparks remained in Kenya until his death in 1937.
Herbert James Sparks, through Kanyadoto Chief Ouko Obong’, employed Josia Obor, Cleopa Olang’, and Barnaba Okeyo at the Mission Center with Mariko Otieno as the evangelist in charge of the work. From here, teachers were sent to other regions like Kwabwai and Kanyamwa. Barnaba Okeyo and Jakobo Olwa were sent to teach at Nyanchwa in Kisii.
In 1913, B. L. Morse (locally known as Bw. Amos), who was in charge of the education work, and J. D. Baker differed with Sparks over the teachers’ pay. H. J. Sparks left in a huff.
The first church at Kanyadoto was built in 1911 by Herbert Sparks. It was a big grass-thatched gable structure where services were conducted twice a day. In the morning, people received porridge, and afternoon services were conducted after eating lunch. Tragedy struck one Sabbath around October 1920 as Barnaba Okeyo conducted the services. It started raining, and wind blew furiously, threatening to tear the fragile church apart. Daniel Orwa from Mori – who liked imitating the missionaries’ accent using the local dialect – insisted that nothing would happen as God was with them. Unfortunately, the building collapsed, trapping worshipers who wailed in pain and shock. Falling timber rafters had hit Rebecca Oimba (“Omware”) and her baby, killing both immediately.