Thomas Sparrow was born in Maryland in about 1674. A merchant in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Sparrow was charged with high treason in 1705 and accused of piracy. Seemingly out of a desire to escape charges, Sparrow headed south and established himself in Bath, North Carolina by 1706. Here Sparrow resumed his mercantile business. He died in Beaufort County, North Carolina in May 1717. After Sparrow's death, Phillip Landers, who was either enslaved to or an indentured servant for Sparrow, produced a manumission certificate claiming that Sparrow had freed Landers prior to his death. However, the court later dismissed the manumission certificate as a forgery and Landers remained in a state of servitude.