A Family Legacy of Public Service, from Texas Roots to a Missouri Home
June 2, 2026, 2:58 p.m.
Elizabeth Sparks-Holmes points to family history, including Thomas Chilton's public service, as part of the background that shaped her respect for civic duty.
Most people are familiar with the public service of Elizabeth’s father, Hal Sparks. Far fewer realize just how deeply that commitment to public life runs through her family history. That legacy reaches back generations to Elizabeth’s third-great-grandfather, Thomas Chilton, who represented Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives during the 20th, 21st, and 23rd Congresses.
It continued through his distinguished grandson, Horace Chilton, the first native Texan to sit in the United States Congress, who was appointed to the United States Senate in 1891 and later elected to the Senate in 1894. Elizabeth has studied their lives extensively, with the help of dedicated family historians, and she is both humbled and inspired by the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of those who came before her.
Elizabeth has always had a strong interest in family history, but she was especially surprised to learn of Thomas Chilton’s remarkable connection to Davy Crockett and his autobiography. She had no idea that, while serving together in the United States House of Representatives, Crockett and Chilton lived in the same Washington, D.C. boarding house, became closely connected, and that Chilton helped Crockett prepare his famous life story for publication. For Elizabeth, discoveries like these have made history feel not distant or abstract, but personal, meaningful, and alive.
The connection between Missouri and Texas also holds a special place in Elizabeth’s heart. As a native Texan who has made Missouri her home, she has come to appreciate the many ways these two states have shaped one another—the contributions Missourians have made to Texas, and the contributions Texans have brought to Missouri. That shared history deepens her gratitude for both places.
It is with great pride, humility, and a sense of responsibility that Elizabeth seeks to carry on her family’s tradition of public service here in Missouri—a state where she has built her family, served her community, and made her home for the past 34 years. For Elizabeth, public service is not simply a chapter in her family’s past; it is a calling she is honored to continue in the beautiful Show-Me State.