Writer, Editor, Educator, Unitarian Minister. After graduating from Harvard, Sparks worked as teacher and editor before becoming minister of the First Independent Church in Baltimore in 1819. While serving as minister, he continued writing and editing, including founding the Unitarian Miscellany and Christian Monitor in 1821. From 1821 until 1823 he served as Chaplain for the U.S. House of Representatives. Retiring from the ministry in 1823, Sparks returned to Boston, where he bought and edited The North American Review, founded The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge, and published books on George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. He became McLean Professor of History at Harvard in 1839 and served as President of Harvard between 1849 and 1853. (bio by: NatalieMaynor)  Family links:  Spouses:  Francis Ann Allen Sparks (____ – 1835)  Maria Crowninshield Silsbee Sparks (1808 – 1887)*  Children:  Maria Crowinsheild Sparks (1842 – 1842)*  Lizzie Wadsworth Sparks Pickering (1849 – 1906)* *Calculated relationship