I was looking for clues to the missing sons of Cornet Andrew. Could Cornet Andrew have an eldest son who was not one of the 5 brothers mentioned in the 1731 deeds? Is it possible that there was an earlier deed in which this Eldest Son who was also a farmer took over his portion? This often happened in these families at that time. The father effectively retired and handed over the largest part of his estate to the eldest son, the primary heir. If this had happened in Cornet Andrew's family, then this estate of the eldest son would of course be richer, or more extensive, that than the Grennan or Curraghamulkin lands that the other sons took over. If it existed, where could this land be?
Robert of Aughee
The first person in
the frame for this was Robert Sproule of Aughee or Aghee. Robert of Aughee was
born in abt 1802 and was a couple of generations away from the sons of Cornet
Andrew, but there were a couple of reasons why his Aughee line looked promising
to me.
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| Parish of Dromore showing Aghee / Aughee |
Firstly, of course,
was the name Robert. I had always felt that this was likely to be the name of
one of the missing Cornet Andrew’s sons, and the name Robert could have passed
down in this Aughee Sproule family.
But the main reason
was the land. I had seen an astounding figure in the lists of Freehold land for Robert Sproule of Aughee.
Most land in Ireland was leasehold, leased from large, affluent landlord
estates. Some folk owned a small bit of freehold, but this was for a very
specific reason. At that time, you had to own a piece of freehold land in order
to get a vote, so the bigger farmers
purchased outright a small piece of land, sometimes as little as 1 acre, for
that purpose. Not many people owned freehold land of any size.
In the Register of
Landowners for 1876, Robert Sproule of Aughee had 826 acres of Freehold. He
was, by far, the biggest landowner of
all the Sproules. He had to be the
descendant of a missing Cornet Andrew son! For a couple of years, I was convinced
of this. How could he not be with all
that freehold land, and probably lots more leasehold land besides?
It’s Not Robert of Aughee!
Of course, there were
some odd things from the beginning that really didn’t add up. In the Tithe
Applotment, Robert Sproule of Aughee only had 16 acres of leasehold land.
Even in Ireland, this is tiny! Where was all
this freehold land that Robert of Aughee owned? There was no trace of it.
Well, the answer came in
the recent trawl through the Registry of Deeds on Familysearch.org. In a series of deeds starting in 1840, Robert Sproule of Aughee was buying up land
from the Curraghamulkin and Cooel Sproules, and probably from other folk as
well. I have no idea where he was getting the money from, that is a mystery for another
day, but Robert of Aughee had acquired a great deal of land after 1840. For now anyway, he was out of my list of suspects for being a direct descendant
of our missing eldest son.
Other Sproule
Possibilities in Tyrone
I followed the land to find the missing eldest son, and he was not there in Tyrone. I could find no other
Sproule family there that would fit my profile for the eldest son of Cornet
Andrew. There was no big landowner, or affluent Sproule who would fit the time
period - no other possibilities.
Into Fermanagh
Could there be an eldest son in Fermanagh? When you are actually physically standing there on that land, there in the Grennan / Curraghamulkin part of Dromore, you can actually look down the valley and see the rich green land that is Fermanagh. It is a natural spin over place for our Cornet Andrew’s family – for his sons and for his grandsons. But could there be this large farmer there who would fit the eldest son profile?
Fermanagh is a hive of early Sproules. There are lovely records of Sproules there from the mid 1700s onward. There are definitely grandchildren of Cornet Andrew there and some that have not yet been identified - more in later posts. However, I did not find any evidence of the profile I had created for the eldest son. He wasn't in Fermanagh.
My Conclusion on the Missing Sons
The two missing sons of Cornet Andrew were certainly alive in 1719. In the two deeds we have of 1731, there is no mention of these missing sons.
The theory that there could be an eldest son who was not mentioned because he had already taken over his portion - I found no evidence of this at all. I do not believe that there was an earlier transfer of a big chunk of Cornet Andrew's lands.
So this would mean that the eldest son had already died by 1731 or that Andrew Sproule of Grennan, mentioned in the 1731 deed, was in fact the eldest son.
If Andrew were the eldest, then the two missing sons are in between the Andrew and the 5th child, Joseph. So they are somewhere in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th position in the family, and both are born before about 1705.
Could they still be alive, then, in 1731? Yes, they could. The two sons could be alive if:
- They were not farmers, they were in a profession. This family is full of doctors and lawyers. Either or both of them could have been professionals. We have a couple of possible names here.
- They had gone overseas, to America or Canada
- They had, for some reason, received money from Cornet Andrew rather than land.
References:
- 1876 Record of the Freehold land - Landowners of OneAcre or More in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland 1876, Edited, formatted and submitted by Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia
Deed April 1840 Oliver of Cooel selling Cooel land to Robert of Aughee, 1840 12 35 23 Registry of Deeds,Familysearch.org
Deed May 1842 Oliver of Cooel is mortgaging 40 acres to Robert Sproule of Aughee, 1842 14 50 25 Registry of Deeds,Familysearch.org
Deed 2 May 1845 Robert Sproule of Aughee & Oliver Sproule of Curraghamulkin had bought 40 acres of Cooel from Oliver of Cooel. Now Oliver of Curraghamulkin is selling his part to Robert of Aughee. 1845 7 241 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org
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