In search of the Builder of the Albert and Jenny Sholes house

Determining the builder of a 1910 house is not an easy task and honestly, I have struck out often in my attempts. Building permits were not yet a thing at that time. But in the case of the Sholes house in Cornelius, a bit of luck followed by a bit of research allowed me to determine the builder of not only the Sholes house but also the two houses next to it that were built at the same time by Albert Sholes.

Just to share the process with you all, here is the story of my digging.

The realtor Tim Shannon loaned me a collection of files compiled by the last owner, Mark Dakins, about the home. In those papers I found a page of handwritten notes that Mark had jotted down from a conversation with previous owners, either Joe or Kathy Redwine. On the page it said: The wood on the back of the bottom drawer in the master bedroom closet says: LM Spaerks, Cornelius, Oregon. I know from my time around old houses that it is relatively common to find the name of the builder on the back of a drawer or on the floor under a cabinet, if removed.

So I searched area census records of the time for a Mr. Spaerks but failed to find anything. I thought it likely that the name may be misspelled or misread, so next I decided to try Sparks instead and found people of that name living in Forest Grove during this time period. A person’s occupation is listed on the census, and one seemed promising: a carpenter on the 1910 census by the name of Levi Mathias “Lee” Sparks.

Encouraged that I was now on the right trail, I faintly recalled a post in the Historic Forest Grove group from last summer that included an obituary for a Sparks. I searched in that group and found the post. It read: “Here’s a set of clips from this week, 1964. It starts with the notice of the passing of Lee Sparks, whose name you may not know, but if you live in a Forest Grove home that was built ca. 1900s to 1930s, there’s a good bet he built it.”

The obituary for Mr. Sparks said that he started in construction in 1896 and had built about one hundred homes in the area. Other buildings he constructed include the St. Francis Catholic Church in Roy, the Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Forest Grove, the Visitation School in Verboort, McCormick Hall, and the President’s house on the Pacific University campus.

Next I searched past copies of the area newspapers and found exactly what I needed to confirm that Mr. Lee Sparks was indeed the builder of the Sholes house, and not only that but as I suspected he was also the builder of the other two houses that Albert Sholes had built next to his own at the same time: one for his adopted son Frank Sholes and another for a rental. I have attached the newspaper articles that support the research and some photos of other projects that Mr. Sparks built in the area.

We may be the only ones who know who built these houses, as I have not found this information in any historical registry for the Sholes house. It is a rare and joyful day when everything falls into place!