Surgeon Robert Sproull d. 1747, the Gravestone in the House

It was one of those weird coincidences in the life of genealogy that sometimes become almost disturbing. In the last few days I have been researching Robert Sproules from the early 1700s, trying to pin down our Grennan Sproules. One of the Robert Sproules on my list was Robert of Dungannon who died in 1747, and once more I took Robert out, reviewed him, and yet again, I dismissed him.

Then literally 2 hours later an email came in, from my friend Kathleen Caldwell. Within a short time, Robert Sproull of Dungannon was back out again, and this time he was being added to my own tree! Nothing to do with Grennan Sproules, however, (another digression)  but we were back to our Edwards Tree and the many Sproule /Edwards relationships!

Kathleen had sent me a printed version of Bishop John Grainger's Edwards Tree with updates compiled by Frank Collins dated Oct 2012. The joy of this was that it was a Microsoft Word document, and it was searchable. I looked for my Sproules, and immediately found a new one that I hadn’t spotted before. It was a lady Sproull, buried buried a little deeper in the Edwards Family Tree.

We knew that Martha Edwards of Kilcroagh had married Robert Sproule of Golan in about 1730. Martha had a sister Mary Edwards of Kilcroagh. Mary married Robert Stewart on 9 Sep 1726. They had a daughter, Martha Stewart, in abt 1732. Martha Stewart married a man named William Holmes in 1750. Their grandson was a man named William Holmes of Barnhill, Stewartstown, Tyrone.

William Holmes (1796-1858) was an eminent barrister who became the Sessional Crown Solicitor for the county of Tyrone. He was a QC, and Thom’s Directory tells us that he also had a practice in 18 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin. The Edwards tree now told me that William Holmes esq  had married a Sproule, a lady called Frances Sproull. Now there aren’t that many Sproule ladies with the name Frances, and most of them that I know of are from Fermanagh.

But this lady wasn’t, and I located her straight away because she was already in my database. She was right there with William Holmes esq in a deed dated 1853 that I had looked at on Familysearch.org.  

She was Frances Carelton Holmes, otherwise Sproull, wife of William Holmes of Barnhill, Tyrone. There were many names in this 1835 deed and they were Sproulls and Carletons from Antrim and Carrickfergus, so I believed that Frances was an Antrim Sproule. There were a few Sproule families in Antrim as far back as the Hearth Money Rolls. I had parked the Antrim Sproules for now, but with this marriage in Tyrone, it was time to try to find out more Frances Carleton Sproull.

This was the note I had made in from the 1853 deed:

8 Jan 1853 lists Antrim, Belfast Sproules & family – William Henry Sproull attorney of Belfast and Eleanor, Mary & Eliza plus Davidson relatives – also William Holmes in Barnhill, Tyrone & Frances Carlton Holmes, otherwise Sproull his wife.

I had another Carleton Sproull in my database, Henry Carleton Sproull. He was much more recent – he got married in Calcutta in 1894, but he then lived in Tyrone. His father was William Henry Sproull of Scotch Quarter, Carrickfergus and William Henry was the son of William Sproull and Eleanor Carleton. William Henry Sproull and Eleanor Sproull were named on my 1853 deed, so I knew straight away that we had the right Carleton.

William Sproull lived in Dungannon before going to Carrickfergus – and now I knew for certain who this family was.

William Sproull was the son of my old friend Robert Sproull, surgeon, from Dungannon who died in 1745 – the one I keep taking out and dismissing!

I had first come across Robert in one of my very early visits to PRONI many years ago. In PRONI reference 2578/2,  I had found a collection of snippets from newspapers, and one was a very interesting story of a Sproull. I was so inexperienced then, that I did not even record the date on the newspaper but it was in the 1900s. The text revealed that a tomb stone had been discovered in a private house Dungannon – yes a whole tomb stone! It was in a house in Scotch Yard, Dungannon. The tombstone was entact, and the writing on it had on it the following names:

Now I always knew that Surgeon Sproull was not one of our Tyrone/Donegal Sproules. He appears in another document in PRONI T2578/1 – and/2, as the head of a large Sproull family. These are the Antrim Sproulls known by their dominant character Wilson Sproull of Antrim. They lived in Antrim town and Carrickfergus.

I knew from this that Surgeon Sproull had moved to Dungannan from Carrickfergus,  and he had lived there with his wife raising a large family, which was now to be added to my tree. The family moved back to Antrim some time after the death of Robert senior.

The tree in PRONI is like one of our Elder Trees, but much bigger and much more detailed. Sadly, I didn’t record it, but it is now top of my ‘Next PRONI Visit’ document!

So now, thanks to this lovely find on the EdwardsTree, we have a link to this family of Surgeon Sproull of Dungannon, with the marriage of his granddaughter Frances Carelton Sproull to William Holmes esq, descendant of Mary Edwards of Kilcroagh in 1822.

UPDATE

It would appear that there was a misprint in this original newspaper article. Mrs Rebecca Temple was, in fact, Mrs Rebecca Semple. This came to light thanks to Robyn Ritchie who was carrying out an extensive trawl for Sproules in early newspapers. This was one of the little gems that Robyn found:

"JAMES SEMPLE, has opened the Shop which was formerly kept by Mr Robert Sproul in Dungannon ..."

Robyn wondered if the name Temple on Surgeon Robert Spoull's gravestone could have been a mistake. Could it have been 'Semple' - was there a connection? A quick search of the Indexes to Wills, Probate Administration, Marriage Bonds and Licences, revealed a marriage:

James Sample (Semple) - Rebecca Sproul, 1748.

Well spotted Robyn, and thank you!

Thanks again Kathleen Caldwell for the Edwards Tree.

 

1835 Deed - 1853 7 86 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org