Irish Nicholas Sparks (b.1792) was from Darragh, County Wexford. He came "up river" 1816 to work for the founding Wrights of Hull. In 1826 he acquired Philemon Wright Jr.'s widow (Sarah Olmstead) and her nine children (he and she were to have one son and two daughters): crossed to the south shore, and for £ 95 bought the 200 acres, and log cabin thereon, from the first patentee, John Burrows Honey. His household thus became the first in the swale which Col. John By made his campsite for the building of the Rideau Canal and "Bytown", the later city of Ottawa. Sparks was the first Ottawa owner expropriated for the Crown, Col. By taking 104 acres of the canal, which Sparks regained in 1848. He then cut Sparks Street through from Bank to Biddy's Lane (Elgin Street) and gave it to the city. He became our first subdivider, albeit a generous one. He also gave land for the Methodist Chapel; St. Andrew's Church of Scotland and Anglican Christ Church; and sites for the fire station, the gaol and court house, and two market places, one of which became the City Hall (in part, to-day's Centre for the Performing Arts). To assure broad 99 foot Wellington and Rideau Street, Sparks gave 66 feet for every 33 feet given by the Crown. He served on Bytown's Abortive Council, 1827; the first Town Council 1847; and the City of Ottawa Council 1854. He died Feb. 27, 1862 and is buried in St. James Cemetery, the Alymer Road.
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