The Sons of Cornet Andrew – their Ages from the Deeds

 What do We Know?

What do we know for certain about the sons of Cornet Andrew Spruell? What are the actual facts that we learn in the 1719 deed and the two deeds in Nov 1731? (See below for Deeds)

From the 1719 Deed, we learnt:

1.       Cornet Andrew Spruell has 7 sons.

2.       These sons are all alive in 1719. Can we be certain that they are all alive? Yes, fairly certain. If we think of a conversation, Cornet Andrew may refer to his 5^th, 6^th and 7^th sons even if one of the seven has previously died. But this is a legal document. If one of the sons were dead at the time, then at a later stage a usurper could come and claim to be a missing son based on this deed. Legally, Cornet Andrew would have left himself exposed. The sons must all have been alive. But they don’t all have to have been in Ireland, of course.

3.       We learn the names of the 3 youngest sons and the 1719 deed gives us their order. Joseph is the 5^th son. Charles is the 6^th son and Oliver is the youngest, he is the 7^th son.

 

From the 1731 Deeds we learnt quite a lot about the ages of these sons:

Andrew, James, Joseph and Charles Sproule were all born before 1710. The two 1731 deeds are in the names of 4 of the sons, that is 4 of the sons are named as parties to one or other of the deeds. These are Andrew, James, Joseph and Charles. It is these four sons who legally now take over these lands in these leases. That tells us that in 1731 these four sons have all reached the age of majority, they are all over 21 years old.

Oliver, the youngest son, is only named as a ‘life’ on one lease, he is not a party to these leases. This suggests that in 1731, Oliver Sproule may not have reached his majority. Oliver is named as a life with Joseph Sproule who took over the Curraghamulkin Lands, which might mean that it was intended that Oliver would take over some of the Curraghamulkin lands when he is older – this bit is speculation.

We know that this is the order of the boys, Andrew, James, Joseph, Charles and Oliver. Andrew is the oldest boy named in these deeds.

The Missing Sons are also born before 1710 We know from the 1719 deed that the 2 missing sons are older than Joseph. (Joseph was named as the 5^th son).

So we know for sure that the 2 missing sons were also born before 1710. Cornet Andrew had 6 sons before 1710. This would suggest that the older boy / boys could well have been born before  1700.

We do not know where the missing boys fit in the first 4 sons, whether they are first, second etc.

We do know that the likelihood is that they were all alive in 1719, but the missing sons are not referred to in any way in the 1731 deeds. We don’t know where they are, or whether they are alive or not.

They could be somewhere else in Ireland, they may have died or they may be overseas.

There are possibilities – but nothing definite - to follow on this.

 

References:

• 1719 Deed - 41 289 25944 Registryof Deeds, Familysearch.org
• 1731 Deed 1 - 99 81 68007 Registryof Deeds, Familysearch.org
• 1731 Deed 2 - 94 533 67557 Registry ofDeeds Familysearch.org

The Sons of Cornet Andrew Spruell

 Although there have been a lot of us working on the sons of Cornet Andrew Spruell over many generations, there is a lot we still don’t know. Some progress is being made with more information that is emerging. However, as this happens, the picture becomes naturally becomes more and complicated.Although there have been a lot of us working on the sons of Cornet Andrew Spruell over many generations, there is a lot we still don’t know. Some progress is being made with more information that is emerging. However, as this happens, the picture becomes naturally becomes more and complicated.

Have we all the Pieces? 

We thought, for example, that we had some of the pieces of the jigsaw of Cornet Andrew’s family, and that these pieces had been identified by the great Sproule researchers of the past and by ourselves, and the task now was to continue the work of fitting them together. Then we get lovely transcriptions of old records, for example the super records from Fermanagh,  and we find that we only had a fraction of the jigsaw pieces – there were stacks more! We need to get any relevant new pieces onto the table so that we can consider them as we continue to work on this.

Are the Assumptions Correct?

Another thing that has been happening lately in our research of the sons of Cornet Andrew is that we look at some of the basic facts, those assumptions that have gone unchallenged for a very long time, and we say – that cannot be right! The more we do of this, this challenging of assumptions, the better chance we have at making progress.

Just recently a fellow Sproule researcher, Jamie Reid, ripped to shreds one of my own beautifully developed pieces of research about this family, and left it in tatters on the cutting room floor. He did it with a masterful piecing together of many different clues – a super job that, even through my tears, it really blew me away admiration! I’ll go into that at a later stage – or hopefully Jamie himself will.

Now we want to keep that going so that we can make some more progress.

So to endeavour to begin this I am going to do two things over the next few posts before we move forward:

1.       Firstly, I want to pin down and identify clearly what we actually do know about the sons of Cornet Andrew. What are the actual facts? Let us summarise exactly what we know from those documents where the 5 sons of Cornet Andrew are identified and named. What have we learnt about them from 1719 deed and the 1731 deeds?

2.       What do we know, if anything, about the two unnamed sons of Cornet Andrew? The deeds named 5 boys, but we know that there were 7 sons.

3.       Before we move forward, are there any other pieces of this jigsaw that should be looked at and put on our table? I will name a few that have to be taken into consideration, and they are not in the picture at all up to now.

Part 2 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA, the Timeline

 We had discovered a mutation, BY105178, in the DNA of 4 of our Sproule DNA project members. Other project members did not have this mutation. The 4 who had the BY105178 mutation were:

1. Fred Jun.
2. Ben
3. George
4. Tommy

One of the folk who carried this mutation, Fred Jun, was descended from Charles Sproule of Upper Grennan. So at at some stage along that family line from Fred Jun back through his ancestors,  a male Sproule child had been born with a slight difference in his DNA, this BY105178 mutation. This child in turn passed this on to his own children. But when was that, when was this child born into this family? Fred Sproule was born on 28 May 1926, in Monaghan, Ireland, and we know that Fred was born with this mutation. That tells us straight away that the BY105178 mutation definitely arose in Ireland.

Now, if we look at another of the folk with this mutation, Ben, we can learn more. Ben’s family tree goes back to Nova Scotia, Canada in the mid 1700s, to a couple, Robert and Sarah Sproule. I always check these trees, and there seemed to be a dodgy assumption right there in this one. Robert and Sarah Sproule, living in Annapolis, Nova Scotia, were supposed to have been married in Middlesex County, Massachusetts! How can anyone possibly make the assumption that this is the same couple, that Robert and Sarah Sproule in Massachusetts are the same people as Robert and Sarah Sproule in Nova Scotia? But Robert and Sarah, bless their little cotton socks, were wise enough to call one of their children Elliot. We would find an Elliot Sproule wherever he went.

So Robert Sproule and Sarah Whitcomb were definitely married on 15 November 1745 in Massachusetts. Robert had been born in Ireland, so he must have been born around 1710ish. Robert Sproule of Nova Scotia was born with the BY105178 mutation. Now Robert was not the originator of the mutation, since he had left Ireland, and the mutation continued in Ireland. So Robert's father had to have had this mutation too. So now we know two things about this mutation:

1.       The mutation arose in Ireland

2.       It arose in Ireland before 1700 

Now, let’s look at the family of of Fred. If we go back from Fred Jun. to before the year 1700, we arrive at Cornet Andrew Spreull himself - 

We now have identified a mutation that will link a person to the family of Cornet Andrew Spreull who died in the 1730s.

If you have this mutation in your DNA, you are definitely a descendant of Cornet Andrew, or like Ben, you are a descendant of a very close relative - from his brother or perhaps one generation before Cornet Andrew. If you do not have this mutation, you are definitely not a descendant of Cornet Andrew or his immediate family.

For this reason, I have called this mutation,  the Cornet Andrew Mutation.

We know from a deed in 1719 that Cornet Andrew had at least 7 sons. We know 4 of these sons very well, they include:

• Andrew, James and Charles Sproule, who inherited the Grennan Lands
• Joseph Sproule, who inherited the Curraghamulkin land

Now we have a tool, the Cornet Andrew Mutation, to identify these Cornet Andrew descendants.

This is where life got very exciting - for when I looked at Tommy, another one of the four people who carried the Cornet Andrew Mutation, we were able to achieve so much more.

Part 1 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA

Part 3 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA, Using the Mutation

Who is Joseph Sproule of Castletown?

I have been intrigued by Joseph Sproule of Castletown for a long time. It's not just that he is one of those isolated Sproules that you can't fit in - there are loads of those. It's because he is obviously connected to a Sproule family that he can't really belong to. I'll explain.

I have just two pieces of information on this Joseph Sproule. One is a nice record of his death in the Strabane Morning Post in 1832:

“After a lingering illness, on Thursday last, Mr Joseph Sproule, of Castletown, deservedly regretted by his numerous acquaintance.”

May 15, 1832 p. 291 Strabane Morning Post

A newspaper entry at that time tells us that Joseph is a man of some means. I know the townland of Castletown, it is on the outskirts of Strabane, and there were a few Sproules living there at one time or another in the 1700s and early 1800s. For example, Jane, the widow of Robert Sproule the Nabob, lived there until her death in 1828. She was the daughter of John Sproull the Apothecary, and a couple of his other daughters also lived in Castletown at different times. But there was no Joseph Sproule in that family. 

Castletown, Co. Tyrone, from Townlands.ie

It is the second record for this Joseph of Castletown that is quite strange. It is from a newspaper of June 16, 1829 where Freeholders are listed, and there is our Joseph Sproull of Castletown, and he is registering a freehold in ‘Grannan’.

From Strabane Morning Post June 16, 1829

Now this is odd for two reasons. Firstly, we know the 'Grennan' Sproules very well, thanks to John Inch and Jack Elder. There is no Joseph anywhere in the Grennan Sproule families - none that we know of anyway.

Secondly, the Grennan land was leased, not freehold. It was leased by Cornet Andrew Spreull, and he left his Grennan land to his three sons, Andrew, James and Charles. Prior to 1853, there was very little freehold land in Grennan.

So this unknown Joseph Sproule of Castletown does not appear to be a Grennan Sproule, and yet he owns one of the only two pieces of freehold land in Grennan in 1829. Who is he?

Maybe we can get a clue by looking at that Grennan freehold land. Usually, this works well – follow the land.  In 1829 we see that one piece of freehold is owned by Charles Sproule of Grennan. Now if we look in Griffiths Valuation, we find that Charles of Grennan still owns that freehold land and it is 54 acres.   This helps us locate the only other bit of freehold land prior to 1853. It is a small 12 acre plot within that family of Grennan Sproules that Jack Elder in his family trees called ‘Another Grennan’ family. We  have pretty good records of this family in the late 1700s early 1800s – and there is no Joseph here.

I tried several times over the years to trace this Joseph Sproule of Castletown, without any luck.  But then in my recent trawl through the Sproule Deeds there was the answer, and, as is so often the case, the answer lay in the land. It was not the Grennan land that revealed the answer, it was the Castletown land.

It was in a deed dated 11 Oct 1832.  One Robert Sproule of Clover Hill, farmer, was selling the lease of a farm and land in Castletown in the parish of Urney, consisting of 70 acres. The deed tells us that this Castletown land was lately in the possession of Joseph Sproule, now deceased. Now we know a Joseph Sproule who was recently deceased in 1832,  it is our Joseph Sproule of Castletown who died in 10 May1832.

So now Robert Sproule of Clover Hill is selling the Castletown land that was formerly Joseph Sproule’s land, and now Joseph Sproule is dead.  Robert Sproule of Clover Hill is the eldest son of Joseph Sproule of Clover Hill, who is the eldest son of John ‘Jack Roe’ of Curraghamulkin. There is only one Joseph Sproule in the family of Robert of Clover Hill that this could possibly be. Robert Sproule is selling his father’s land in Castletown, the land of Joseph Sproule of Clover Hill, a Curraghamulkin Sproule. So now we know, Joseph Sproule of Castletown and Joseph Sproule of Clover Hill are one and the same.

This was quite normal in those days. It was the custom within these Plantation families that the father retires at some point, and he moves to a retirement house. A lot of these Sproule families did this. So Joseph Sproule of Clover Hill retired to Castletown. He would not have been farming the land, I’m sure. A sub-tenant would do that, or perhaps a family member.  Joseph was living out his retirement whilst his son Robert of Clover Hill, who later became Robert Sproule of Kirlish, took over his inheritance.

Joseph Sproule of Clover Hill was our Joseph Sproule who died on 10 May 1832,  

“After a lingering illness,…deservedly regretted by his numerous acquaintance.”

And why did Joseph Sproule, a Curraghamulkin Sproule, own that wee bit of Grennan freehold? Well we know, of course, that Cornet Andrew Spreull, who acquired the Grennan land, was the great grandfather of this Joseph of Clover Hill. However, Cornet Andrew left Grennan to other sons, not this family. Why did Joseph of Clover Hill own Grennan land, and why is it freehold? Actually, I have no idea. 

Deed where the Castletown land is sold 

11 Oct 1832 between Robert Sproule of Clover Hill farmer on the one part and Major John Semple of Strabane on the other part whereby Robert Sproule for the consideration there mentioned did make over to John Semple the farm land in Castletown lately in the possession of Joseph Sproule deceased containing 70 acres of land in the parish of Urney during the residue and remainder of the 21 years remaining on the lease witnessed by Samuel Colhoun of Strabane and Robert Mease of Strabane

Deed no. 888 424 587924 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org, Transcribed by Kate Tammemagi

John ‘Jack Roe’ Sproule of Curraghamulkin, Part 1 - The Context

 John ‘Jack Roe’ Sprouleof Curraghamulkin is the name that Jack Elder put on his tree for this man. He was the son of Joseph Sproule of Curraghamulkin, who was the 5^th son of Cornet Andrew Spreull.

How do we know this?

Well, we have a deed dated March 10 1719 in which Cornet Andrew Spreull acquires large pieces of land in Dromore, County Tyrone, and also in Curraghamulkin. This deed also tells us that Cornet Andrew has 6 sons, and that the 5^th son is Joseph.

On Nov 10 1731, a deed confirms that the Curraghamulkin land is now owned by son Joseph Sproule. We do not know if Cornet Andrew is now dead, and that is why his sons are acquiring the land at this time. In those days it was the custom for a land owner to retire, and to hand the land over to his heirs. So Cornet Andrew might be dead in 1731, or he might not.

We do know at this point that Joseph has the Curraghamulkin land, over 700 acres, and that his son John Sproule went on to inherit this.

The name of this man is interesting – John ‘Jack Roe’ Sproule of Curraghamulkin, as Elder tells us. That is not the name that I found in the deeds.

More on this later.

Part 2 - John ‘Jack Roe’ Sproule of Curraghamulkin, Pieces of the Jigsaw

The Ancestors of The Nabob – the Golan Sproules

There are many Sproules, Leckys, Crocketts and others out there who are, like me, descended from the Tyrone family that Jack Elder called ‘The Nabob Sproules’.  It is not really a very good name for this family tree for many reasons, and in this post I am going to have the temerity to launch a new, updated name for our line of Sproules!

The Origin of the Name

'Nabob' was a term used at the time for someone who worked for the East India Company and became very wealthy -  usually by corrupt means. Our Nabob, Robert Sproule, was born in 1746 and he was a surgeon with the East India Company. There is no hint that he was corrupt in any way, but he did indeed return from India with a vast fortune, and this earned him the nickname 'the Nabob' Sproule.

Robert the Nabob was an interesting character, but he really should not have had a family tree named after him - as he had no descendants! Well actually, he did have one daughter, Rebecca Jane, but the poor lass died in 1810 at twenty years old, without issue.  

Our tree got its name from the fame of Robert the Nabob, as he was by far the best known member of his generation.  In the late 1800s, when Elder was trying to identify the origins of this line of Sproules, Robert the Nabob was still being talked about in the neighbourhood. The Nabob’s older brother had been long forgotten and he is incorrectly named on Elder's tree as ‘James’. Ironically, it was he who was the father of many Sproule families -  the Bridgehill Sproules, the Inchaney Sproules and the most prolific line of all,  the Ohio Sproules. ( I learnt this through the will of Robert the Nabob himself - more on him in later posts.)

Grennan vs the Nabob Tree

Elder knew that this line of Sproules was important as it was a different line from the others that he had already identified. But he was stuck at this generation of the Nabob – it was his big genealogical roadblock. The family trees that Elder had successfully completed had all led loosely back to the Sproules of Grennan and Curraghamulkin.  These families were all descendants of one man, Cornet Andrew Spreull who was born in Tyrone between 1670 and 1680.  Elder seemed to know that the Nabob family tree would not lead there, but he could not get past the Nabob’s generation.

The Ancestors of The Nabob

The ancestors of the Nabob were indeed different from the other lines, they were the Golan Sproules. I found this out through a tortuous tracing of deeds and inheritances, which I wrote about in a previous post. The father of the Nabob's generation was Samuel, son of  Thomas Spreull of Golan. (Abt 1680 to 1761)¹

We even know the father of Thomas Spreull of Golan, as he is named in deed dated 1733 – Samuel Spreull of Golan.²  The Golan lands are to the south and east of Castlederg, and it is obvious from Samuel of Golan’s name that the Golan Sproules were on this land from at least 1680. An area of their land carries their name to this day - Golan Sproul.

Thomas Spreull of Golan

Thomas  Spreull of Golan was an affluent man who had extensive lands in Golan, Drumnabeigh, and Altamullan, County Tyrone. He owned corn mills, a bleach green and was also a distiller. He was a friend of the local gentry, the Edwards of  Castlegore, and his son married into this family. Thomas’ eldest son, Robert, married Martha Edwards daughter of Robert Edwards of Kilcroagh. Thomas' son died young in 1740 and it was his grandson, Oliver, who was heir to the Golan land and mills.³  Oliver’s son Andrew built the house at Spamount, and he was father to the Spamount Sproules.

The Nabob was another grandson of Thomas Spreull of Golan. His father was  Samuel and he is named on a later deed as Samuel of Coolnacruniagh (Coolnacrunaght). It is Samuel's children who are are at the top of Elder's 'Nabob Sproules' family tree. Elder actually did reasonably well naming these children, though we get a much more accurate picture from the Will of Robert Sproule the Nabob. The Nabob’s only brother was actually called Thomas, and he inherited the Coolnacrunaght land. He set up the home at the farm called Bridgehill and it is he who is the father of the Bridgehill Sproules and the Ohio Sproules.

Thomas of Golan and Cornet Andrew

Thomas Spreull of Golan first appears on a deed  dated 1719, where he is the witness for  Cornet Andrew Spreull  who is buying the Grennan land.⁴ Thomas of Golan also went to Omagh to register these deeds. The two were obviously close, but  I have not yet established the relationship between Cornet Andrew and Thomas Spreull of Golan. It is possible that they were brothers, or that Cornet Andrew was an uncle of Thomas Spreull of Golan, as he seems to be older.

Three Lines of Sproules

This now identifies three distinct lines of Sproules in County Tyrone:

1. The Golan Sproules
2. The Grennan Sproules 
3. Tullymoan Sproules

 As far back as 1680 they are three quite separate lines.

The name ‘the Nabob Sproules’ now fades into history, and I can give an updated version of this family tree with its new name, the THE GOLAN SPROULES.

___________________________________________________

References:

¹ Finding the father of the Nabob - The Big Breakthrough on the Sproule Family Tree

² Deed dated 5^th Nov 1733 between Hugh Edwards of Castlegore to Thomas Spruell of Golan Reg of Deeds,  44 481 52279

³ Deed dated 5th Nov 1764 Edward Loftus of Dublin and Oliver Sprowle of Golan giving Oliver the Golan lands which he already has possession. Reg of Deeds 235  609 155913. Thomas of Golan’s will was proved in 1761.

⁴ Deed dated between Thomas Edwards of Castlegore & Cornet Andrew Spreull  for the lands of Dressog, Dernaser and Grennan in the Parish of Dromore.  Witnessed by Thomas Spreull of Drumnabeigh. Reg of Deeds 41 289 25944.