James & Mary Sparks nee ?	see Family Tree	(generation 21 R&EP James = Mary)
(Added on 3 Jan. 2008)

James Gynn was born at Warbstow Cross during 1881, the oldest son of Richard and Eliza Pearce and a grandson of James and Elizabeth Gynn. [His second Christian name as well as recording his Gynn ancestry also differentiated him from his first cousin James (son of James’ who was a year or two older.) Nothing is known as yet of his early life except that he appears to have been known locally in Warbstow as Jim. James emigrated to South Africa, at some date as yet unknown probably sometime around 1900, where he worked in the gold mines near Johannesburg. He is said to have done well there and that this enabled him to buy the property, Fern Grove at Warbstow Cross, next door to his parent’s house and smithy. James married a widow, Mary Elizabeth Sparks who had two daughters by her previous husband, David Sparks. So far his marriage has not been located in this country's records and it is thought probable that they met and married in South Africa. James and Mary Elizabeth had three daughters. Probably sometime after 1910 and before 1913 the family were hit by two tragedies, namely the discovery by James that he had a fatal lung condition and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, becoming of 'unsound mind'. One wonders whether this was brought on when she learned of James terminal illness; possibly her first husband had also been a miner and died as a result.

James then appears to have taken up his family's profession and become a blacksmith, presumably to find another career in the fresh air and which he could pursue even with his damaged lungs. James was back in England during 1913 and presumably this was the time his three children were brought to Warbstow to be looked after by their grandfather, Richard Gynn Trease and his wife Eliza. James died during 1916 at the relatively early age of 35. He is buried in South Africa but his death is recorded on his parent’s gravestone in Warbstow Churchyard.

Unfortunately a further tragedy soon affected the lives of these three girls when Eliza, their grandmother, died during November 1915, only 2½ years after their arrival in England when the oldest was not yet 9 and the youngest was only 5 years old. It is understood that sometime afterwards the three girls went to live with the Elliotts who lived at Copthorne, North Petherwin where William Elliott was carpenter and undertaker. [Mrs Elliott was a niece of Richard Gynn Trease namely Dorothy Miriam, a daughter of Richard's sister Dorothy Gynn Trease and her husband William Sandercock.] It is also understood that the sisters later lived at Castle Milford farm at Carnworthy Water near Warbstow as Farm Servants.

James and Mary Elizabeth’s three daughters were:-

• daughter Dorothy Vera was born during 1906. During 1930 Dorothy Vera, married John Martin Smith at The Wesleyan and Methodist Chapel at Marhamchurch. At the time of their marriage she was 23 years old and he about a year older. Dorothy Vera and John had only one child, a daughter, before she died during 1937.
  
  
• daughter Phyllis Bertha was born during 1908. It is known that Phyllis left North Cornwall and moved to Plymouth, Devon where it appears that she married someone with the surname Watkins and they are known to have had one child, a son. It is understood that at some date after the Second World War Phyllis and her son emigrated, possibly to Australia.
  
  
• daughter Violet May was born during 1914. During 1930 when she was about 24 years old Violet married to Frederick Creeper. Violet and Frederick had two children, both sons.