Biography
Sparks was born on March 31, 1871, in Anoka, Minnesota, the son of Henry Sparks. He graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Minnesota in Saint Paul and moved to Los Angeles in 1894 to engage in the real-estate business; he was married to Edith McGinty of that city the same year. They had one son, Richard.
Sparks entered the office of the County Clerk as deputy in charge of the marriage-license division in December 1912 and there was given the nickname "Cupid." He was ousted as deputy in 1920 after L.E. Lampton was elected clerk, but he retained his interest in matrimony. Having received "thousands of letters from lonely men and women asking for his assistance in securing mates," he said, he and his wife "study the letters, and from the descriptions given we match up the requirements as best we can, and then I put the husband-seekers and wife-seekers in touch with each other by letter. Hundreds of marriages have resulted." He said he would continue the practice after his election to the City Council in 1921 but "out of office hours."
In 1923, on the occasion of his 29th wedding anniversary, he noted that he had issued more than 200,000 marriage licenses and gave this advice to husbands:
Self-preservation and protection is the first law for husbands, and to have a happy married life, such as I have had, remember the anniversaries with gifts for the wives. They expect it. If husbands do this and storm clouds arise, and the matrimonial lute shows signs of piping some sour notes, the wives recall that their husbands, alone and unaided, did remember the anniversaries, and the difficulties melt away.
Between 1923 and 1925 Sparks returned to the real-estate business and also purchased the Los Angeles Chronicle, a newspaper for city employees. He became a county employee again in December 1931 as assistant chief real-estate appraiser in the County Assessor's Office.
A Presbyterian, he was a member of the Elks, Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World, Masons and Union League. He was a Republican.
He was living at 2646 South Normandie Avenue when he died on March 25, 1932. He was buried in Rosedale Cemetery.
Read more about this topic: Robert Stewart Sparks
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