New England merchant and politician.

Traded in partnership with Benjamin Colman of Boston and, after his marriage, with his father-in-law Sir William Pepperrell of Kittery, Maine. Member of Massachusetts General Court and, later, of Governor’s Council (resigned 1773). Led opposition to Albany Plan of Union (1754). Went bankrupt (1758) but remained politically active. Moderate Whig; most of his sons, however, became Loyalists.

Son of Rev. John and Priscilla Sparhawk of Bristol, Rhode Island. His father died in 1718, and he grew up in the household of his stepfather Jonathan Waldo, a wealthy Boston merchant. Married Elizabeth Pepperrell (1742); several children.