Sunday's Obituary - Sister Mary Jean Durbin

This obituary was published in the Immaculate Conception Church Parish Monthly in February 1935 in Celina, Ohio. While most of the magazine contains devotional readings, the first few pages contained quite a bit of information on births, deaths, and marriages in the parish.

   The Rev. Pastor received word January 28th of the death of Sister Mary Jean Durbin. She departed this life January

24th, 1935, having reached the age of 26 years. She was a Dominican Sister of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Grand Rapids, Michigan and made her profession in the year 1931.
  Sister Mary Jean Durbin was the daughter of Mr. Thomas Durbin and Mary nee Puthoff and was born at Celina October 4, 1908.

   Although the family moved to Michigan several years ago, they are nevertheless well remembered by the members of the Immaculate Conception Parish.
   The Pastor extends his sympathy to the bereaved family and with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Durbin kindly asks the members of the parish to remember the departed in their prayers.
  

Sunday's Obituary - Daniel Sparks

Daniel Sparks was the brother of my great-grandmother Arianna Sparks and was from Queen Anne's County, Maryland. I wasn't having much luck finding any information on Daniel when I ran across this snippet of news published in the Baltimore Sun on May 30, 1915. I knew that their sister Martha Sparks was married to Robert Councill.

With the clue that he was living in Seattle, I was able to locate a couple of death notices published in the Seattle Daily Times on Feb. 24 and Feb. 26, 1937. I knew that Daniel was born around 1860, so this fits that he was 76 years of age in early 1937. With this new information, I hope to be able to verify that this is the correct Daniel and find some details on his life in Seattle.

SPARKS -- Feb. 24, 1937: Daniel Sparks; beloved husband of Lee Ella. Services Thursday, 2 p.m. at Johnson & Hamilton's. Friends invited.

Sparks, Daniel-- Route 9, Box 735, 76. February 24.

From FindAGrave, Daniel Sparks is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle, King County, Washington.