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Charles Isaac Sparks

Politician. Republican. Born: December 20, 1872, Ontario, Iowa. Died: April 30,1937, Goodland, Kansas. Served in U.S. House of Representatives, 6th District: March 4, 1929, to March 3, 1933.

A two-term Republican congressman from Goodland, Charles Sparks was born on a farm near Ontario, Boone County, Iowa, on December 20, 1872. He was educated in the rural schools and at Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa, and was graduated from the law department of the State University of Iowa at Iowa City in 1896. Admitted to the bar that same year, Sparks commenced practice in Boone, Iowa, served as county attorney of Boone County from 1899-1902, and was chairman of the Republican county committee in 1898. Sparks moved to Goodland, Sherman County, Kansas, in 1907 where he continued in the practice of law and public service: city attorney, the Goodland School Board, and judge of the thirty-fourth judicial district of Kansas (1915-1929). Elected as a Republican to the Seventy-first Congress in 1928, Sparks was reelected once (served, March 4, 1929-March 3, 1933). Congressman Sparks was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1933 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against Harold Louderback, judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. After an unsuccessful bid for reelection in 1932, Sparks resumed the practice of law in Goodland until his death there on April 30, 1937.

Entry: Sparks, Charles Isaac

Author: Kansas Historical Society

Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.

Date Created: June 2011

Date Modified: May 2012

The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.