Jamie Reid had sent me this 1742 deed, which he had transcribed – thank you Jaime. (See below for the transcribed deed) It is the first one in which we find Joseph Sproule of Curraghamulkin after he took possession of the Curraghamulkin land in 1731.
It is dated 13 Feb 1746 and it is between Joseph Sproule of Curraghamulkin and a lady called Ann Godfrey of Castletown in Co. Tyrone. Joseph is leasing land from Ann Godfrey in a place called Dunwest, County Tyrone. Now I know that Joseph had sons so it was possible that he was buying land for one of the sons in this Dunwest place, so it was worth chasing.
But first I had to find it, and I no idea
where Dunwest was.
One entry was from the 1840 Topographical
Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis, where he is describing Longfield West or
Lower Langfield. The section on Dunwest says:
“In Dunwest
are extensive beds of coal in 3 strata, all easy of access but though at every
flood, large masses are detached by the river Poe and carried down the stream,
no attempt has yet been made to work them; coal of very good quality is also
found in other parts of the parish.”
This confirms that Dunwest is in West Longfield, but the description meant nothing to me.
I couldn’t find
the river Poe from that Topogrphical Dictionary entry at all. I contacted one
of my good friends in that area, family historian Sheena McClure, and she had
great insight into where this place could be from that description. She told me that the river Poe is now
called Fairy Water and;
“The most westerly part of the Fairy Water but still
in West Langfield is Drumgallan and on the old 1830s map shows quite a few
buildings and wooded areas at the western part of this townland, but no label
of Dunwest that I can see.”
Drumgallan, that
was great news! Joseph Sproule of Curraghamulkin was leasing land in Drumgallan
in 1742, and I had two unidentified Sproule records for Drumgallan!
One was the
record of a death in Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes. It
records a Thomas Sproule, Drumgallan, who died in 1808. According to Inch/Elder, Joseph of
Curraghamulkin did indeed have a son called Thomas.
We have a second
record of Drumgallan, another Thomas Sproule. This time Thomas appears in a
list of subs for the Topographical Dictionary for 1837, and he is ‘Thomas
Sproule esq. Drumgallan, Castlederg, Co. Tyrone. This is
obviously a son of Thomas Sproule of Drumgallan who died in 1808. We also know that he is an ‘esq.’ telling us he is from
an affluent family which again would fit with our Joseph of Curraghamulkin. Have
we located the son of Joseph Sproule of Curraghamulkin, namely Thomas Sproule
of Drumgallan?
Now life got a bit complicated when I saw the
second description of ‘Dunwest’ on the very the same page in the cotyrone.com site which describes a completely different location!
It is an advertisement for the sale of land in Dunwest which was placed in 1809,
and it describes the location of this piece of Dunwest land quite precisely;
“The lands are situated
within 1 mile of Drumquin, 6 of Omagh, 7 of Newtown-Stewart, 9 Fintona, 6 of
Dromore, and 8 of Lowtherstown.”
This is definitely nowhere near Drumgallan! Two different locations, both in Longfield – where was my Dunwest?
After spending a lot of time trying to
figure this out and going demented, I went to my friends on County Tyrone Ireland
Genealogy group on Facebook and they came to the rescue! I explained the evidence of Dunwest being in
two different places both in Longfield. None of them knew or had heard of
Dunwest. We discussed things, explored various possibilities, but I wasn’t
happy that we had solved this. Then a short time later one of the group
involved in the discussion, Marie
Maguire, added another comment to my
post;
‘Kate as I was driving along the Drumlegagh Road just
outside of Omagh today I saw a minor road to the left called Dunwish Road.
Could Dunwish townland be what you're looking for?’
God bless you Marie Maguire, Mary McCollum and the other folk on
there who worked on this, problem solved! No, Dunwish was not the place I was
looking for, but it eliminated the second place, the place in the advertisement
that described Dunwest as 1 mile from
Drumquin. That wasn’t Dunwest, that was Dunwish.
So the Dunwest of the deed must be the one that has been integrated into Drumgallan, the ‘Dunwaist’ of the Tithe Applotment.
So now we have placed another person on
our tree. Joseph Sproule of Curraghamukin leased land in Dunwest, which was in or near Drumgallan. Joseph had a son Thomas Sproule of
Drumgallan who died in 1808. Thomas had a son also called Thomas Sproule of
Drumgallan. What happened to him? Another question to be answered.
1746 Deed Joseph Sproull of Curraghamulkin leasing
land in Dunwest,
149 134 99169 1746 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org Transcribed by Jaime Reid
Godfrey to Spruell, red’d 13th June 1751
Indenture of lease 13th Feb. 1746
between Ann Godfrey of Castletown in Co. Tyrone widow on the 1st
part, and Joseph Sproull of Carrickamulkan in the said co. gent. on the other
part. Whereby Ann Godfrey did demise grant let to farm let unto Joseph Sproull
all that town or peell [?] of land commonly called Dunwest situate in co.
Tyrone with all houses buildings and improvements erected and made thereon
together with all woods and underwoods growing lying or being thereon with a
liberty for the sd Joseph Sproull his heirs ex admons & assigns (during the
sd term) to cut down fellraise sell and dispose of the same and every part
thereof without impeachment of waste (all other royalties excepted) to hold
unto the sd Joseph Sproull his h e a & a the sd demised premises from the 1st
day of November then last past for and during the term of twenty one years at
the yearly rent of forty-seven pounds for the first ten years and for the
remaining eleven years the yearly rent of forty-nine pounds with sixpence a
pound receivers fees in case sd yearly rent should not be pd before the end of
three calendar months after the days appointed in the said indenture for
payment of the sd rents.
Executed in presence of Rev. Wm Hamilton of
Strabane in co. Tyrone and Simon Rousse of Strabane afsd gent, and this mem
duly executed by sd Joseph Sproull in presence of sd Simon Rousse and of Edward
Morris of Strabane afsd, 27th May 1751. Signed, Joseph Spruell.
Dunwest in County Tyrone Genealogy
Subs for A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837
Tithe Applotment Book for West Longfield 1826, PRONI Fin_5_A_204A/B
Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes, 1595-1858 in Familysearch.org
Thanks for the geographic sleuthing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the geographic sleuthing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the geographic sleuthing!
ReplyDelete