Who is Robert Sproule of Innisfil? The Lennox Connection

 I recently became engrossed in the Sproule families of Innisfil, Simcoe, Ontario and this began when Larry McKay brought up the subject in a recent Sproule Genealogy Group post. I always knew that Robert Sproule of Innisfil  who married Jane Lennox, definitely did not belong on the tree of James Sproule of the Holm and Rebecca Scott, but I had no idea where they did belong. Larry’s post led me to a very important clue, one that has been just sitting there, one that everyone knew about and yet no one had picked it up!

Robert Sproule was born on 11 June 1821 in Ireland. He had married Jane Lennox in Innisfil, Simcoe, Ontario, in about 1851. Larry McKay had looked up this family and he pointed out that Jane Lennox seemed to be related to another Lennox, John, who was also in Innisfil.

The two families are almost together on the same page in the 1861 census. It seemed that John Lennox had married a Margaret Sproule, and they were now living very close to Robert Sproule's family. Larry also said that the the Lennoxs came from Londonderry. This got my attention immediately.

The Sproule families in Ireland are located in only a few areas in the early 1800s. In Londonderry, they are in just one area, and therefore this was now a clue as to where our Innisfil Sproules might also have come from. If the Lennoxs came from Clondermot, Londonderry, then possibly so did the Simcoe Sproules.

So I looked up these Lennoxs of Innisfil, and this led to a lovely little book on the Lennox family called "Our Family History". In this we learn that between 1790 and 1802 near the little town of Kilrea, Londonderry, lived a John Lennox. His son, also called John Lennox, left Kilrea in 1828 and went to Innisfil, Simcoe, Ontario.The book also told me that four of the children of John Lennox had married Sproules. So not just two, but four Sproule / Lennox marriages in Innisfil.

The placename Kilrea rang a bell, but not, I thought, for Sproules. It’s not near Donegal/ Tyrone, and it’s not near Clondermot. Where was it? Kilrea is right on the eastern edge of Londonderry, well away from the usual Sproule country. Could this be an Antrim Sproule family, I thought?

I chased down some information on Kilrea. The Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, published in 1837, tells us that the population of the whole parish of Kilrea is 4262, and the town is small, with  just 973 people. But the real bombshell came when I found the 1831 census of Londonderry on the site of Bill Macafee. It had a census of Londonderry in 1831 and Kilrea was on this census. It had rang a bell, and it was for a Sproule!  It was Noble Sproule.

Now Noble Sproule I knew well. Many years ago Clare Lawler Kilgallen, from the County Tyrone Ireland Genealogy Facebook page, and I worked together on chasing down Noble Sproule. Clare gathered some information that he had been born in Kilrea, Londonderry  but other information suggested Castlederg. And here he was. Here was Noble Sproule definitely living in Kilrea, Londonderry, in 1831.

And guess where Noble Sproule and his large family ended up? Yes, you’ve got it, they also, like the Lennoxs, went from the small town of Kilrea in Londonderry, to Innisfil, Simcoe, Ontario.

So great excitement! There are 4 people in this John Lennox family who are are married to Sproules. Surely some, if not all, of these Sproules must come from their former neighbours in Kilrea, now also living in Innisfil, the Noble Sproule family!

But sadly... no. 

 Our Family History by Donald Dean Parker, Sr, published by the author, the Lennox information.

1831 Census of Londonderry, Bill Macafee site

The Family of James Sproule of the Holm and Rebecca Scott of Ballyare

The Simco Sproules - Not Grennan Sproules