John Sparling letters(1795–1799)

• MS 2012.2
• 12 items

John Sparling and his partner William Bolden were prosperous merchants trading in Virginia in the 1750s. Sparling lived in Norfolk for thirteen years, but was back in Liverpool, England by the end of 1764. He left John Lawrence in charge of the Norfolk office and his brother, George Sparling, in charge of the Portsmouth office (Coldham, American Migrations, p. 597). Their business concerned importing tar, turpentine and tobacco to England and exporting salt, woollen goods and hardware to America. Between 1768 and 1773 they joined a number of slave-trading partnerships, using ships constructed either in Liverpool or in North America. Sparling was Lord Mayor of Liverpool twice, 1770–71 and 1790–91.

John Sparling married Elizabeth Greenhow on August 15, 1766 (ancestry.com) of Slyne-with-Hest, Lancashire and of Stainton Hall, Westmoreland County. Miss Greenhow was probably a relation of John Greenhow (born at Staunton or Stainton, Westmoreland County).

John Sherlock was registered as an apprentice to Sparling on June 3, 1786 in Liverpool. By 1794 he was living in Baltimore.

Information about John Sparling’s business can be found in “The Virginia trade of the firm of Sparling and Bolden of Liverpool: 1788–99” (Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Vol. 116, 1964, reprint in the Rockefeller Library, HF 3505.6.S36) and Liverpool and Transatlantic Slavery (Richardson, Schwarz & Tibbles, Liverpool UP 2007). Further letters can be found in “The Letter Book of John Sparling and William Bolden, 1788–1799” (Rockefeller Library Microfilm 1370, originals in the Liverpool Public Library).

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