Thursday 31 March 2022

The Mystery Picture - R. Sproule Shop

I found a new tool on Google Chrome yesterday, and today I decided to give it a try on ‘The Mystery Picture’. I was quite stunned at how well it worked!

The Mystery Picture had come from my brother David. It was a lovely old photo, R. Sproule and his family, standing outside his shop. But we had no clue as to who this was or where it was. The pic was of a shop of R. Sproule and it could have been anywhere - in Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland or anywhere.

So when I found this tool on Chrome called ‘Google Lens’, the first thing I thought of was The Mystery Picture. I dug the photograph out. I put the pic of R. Sproule, his shop and his family, up on a page on the blog. I published the page with just the pic on it. Then I right clicked the pic, and I asked Google Lens to ‘Find Image Source’.

Boom! Up it popped!

There it was. Robert Sproule, his wife Ellen Henry and his children. Google Lens had taken me to a site I had never seen before - https://whowewere.net. I can’t really find any information about the site itself, but what it contains is gold dust!

From https://whowewere.net/p3.htm

Here we had our picture and some basic information on our Robert Sproule and his wife Ellen Henry.  The reference told us that it came from an interview of a Hugh Sproule done by Leslie Gayle Sproule in 1977. It was brief notes from the interview, and it was more than enough information to locate the couple. This 'whowewere.net' site that records snippets of interviews is a super idea!

Hugh Sproule had given the interviewer some basic information. Hugh was born in Belfast in 1897. I found his birth, 21 Nov 1897, in 29 Leadbetter Street, Belfast, father Robert Sproule, Sadler, and mother Ellen Henry. This was definitely our Mystery Pic family. He was Robert Sproule, Sadler, outside his shop.

I found Robert’s marriage registration on Irishgenealogy.ie -  Robert Sproule and Ellen Henry were married on 12 July 1892 in Ballymena. Robert was the son of Hugh Sproule, a farmer, and Ellen was the daughter of Edward Henry.

Now that address where their son Hugh had been born rang a huge bell with me – Leadbetter Street, Belfast. I had come across that very, very recently. A quick search of my own database and I found Leadbetter Street on a record of a soldier. Just a few weeks ago I had been trawling the Military Records on Findmypast and one of them was of a Robert Sproule, who had been in the Boer War in South Africa. Robert gave the address of his next of kin, also called Robert Sproule, as 29 Leadbetter Street, Belfast.


Imperial Yeomanry, Soldiers' Documents, South African War 1899-1902 Findmypast.ie

I also had the birth date of  Robert the Soldier, he was born on 11 Sep 1880. When I checked his birth registration, he was born in Ballylig, a townland in Skerry, County Antrim, to one Robert Sproule, Saddler! So our Robert the Saddler had been married before. His first wife was Mary Jane McIlroy.

Robert and Mary Jane had been married on 11 Sep 1877 in Ballymena.

The marriage of Robert Sproule and Mary Jane McIlroy, Irishgenealogy.ie

And then, as these stories often do, things got very, very sad. I found a gravestone in The Old Churchyard, Ballymena, that  had been placed there by Robert the Soldier, and his inscription gave the sad tale of his mother Mary Jane McIlroy, and her other three children.

From Findagrave.com

"In loving memory of my loving mother, Mary Jane Sproule; who departed this life January 11th 1890. A boy's best friend is his mother.
Also my dear sister and brother
Mary Jane Sproule born April 10th 1886, died March 12th 1888.
Joseph Sproule, born Nov 30th 1882, died April 6th 1889.
Elizabeth McCurdy Sproule, born Nov. 5th 1878, died Aug. 20th 1891.
Also my dear father Robert Sproule who died in Belfast Feby. 25th 1906 and is buried in the Shankill Road Cemetery.
Robert Sproule"

Robert the Soldier is the only survivor of this first family. All the others, his mother Mary and her three children, Mary Jane, Elizabeth and Joseph, had died of the same disease, Tuberculosis, between March 1888 and August 1891. 

The father, Robert Sproule the Saddler, had lived in Ballylig until these tragedies, and had his Sadler business there. But when his family was wiped out, Robert obviously left Ballylig.

He was living in Ballymena when he married Ellen Henry in 1892, and they had their first child, another Mary Jane, in 1893 in Ballymoney Street, Ballymena. Their second child, another Joseph, was born in Market Street, Magherafelt. Robert and Ellen were moving around.

But when Hugh was born in 1897, the family was settled in 29 Leadbetter St. Belfast. 

From Irishgenealogy.ie
Robert had a lovely new shop which we see in our picture. We see 4 children that must be Mary Jane, Joseph, Hugh and baby Ellen, born in 1899.

Robert Sproule, his wife Ellen Henry, and children Mary Jane, Joseph, Hugh and baby Ellen. Pic taken 1900 at 29, Leadbetter St. Belfast. 

One last piece of information. Robert the Soldier, the son of Robert Sproule and Mary Jane McIlroy, had two sons. The second son had a very distinctive name that tells us exactly which family our Robert the Saddler comes from.

His son was Lendrick Joseph Sproule, born July 1910 in Borden, Hampshire, England. Lendrick Sproule is the name of the gentleman from Caherty, Ballyclug, Antrim who lived to be 111 years old – born in 1785 and died on 5 Dec 1896. Our Robert the Sadler has to fit in Lendrick’s family tree.



The Family of Robert Sproule


ROBERT SPROULE THE SADDLER was born in 1850 in Ballymena, Antrim, Ireland. He was the son of Hugh Sproule. He died on 25 Feb 1906 in Belfast, Antrim, Ireland. He married (1) MARY JANE MCILROY, daughter of Robert McIlroy, on 10 Sep 1877 in Ballymena, Antrim, Ireland. She was born in 1851 in Ballylig, Skerry, Antrim, Ireland. She died on 11 Jan 1890 in Ballylig, Skerry, Antrim, Ireland (All deaths from TB). He married (2) ELLEN HENRY, daughter of James Henry and Sarah McCauley, on 12 Jul 1892 in Ballymena, Antrim, Ireland. She was born in 1871. She died on 10 Jul 1905 in Old Lodge Rd, Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Robert Sproule the Saddler and Mary Jane McIlroy had the following children:

i. ELIZABETH MCCURDY SPROULE was born on 05 Nov 1878 in Ballylig, Skerry, Antrim, Ireland. She died on 20 Aug 1891. 
ii. ROBERT SPROULE was born on 11 Sep 1880 in Ballylig, Skerry, Antrim, Ireland (Soldier). He died in Oct 1950 in Woolwich, London, England. He married LILY ELIZABETH NAISH, daughter of Joseph George Naish, on 08 Jun 1908 in Ash, St Peter, Surrey, England. She was born in Oct 1883 in Deptford, Surrey, England. She died in Dec 1943 in Greenwich, London, England.
iii. JOSEPH SPROULE was born on 30 Nov 1882 in Ballylig, Skerry, Antrim, Ireland. He died on 06 Apr 1889 in Ballylig, Skerry, Antrim, Ireland. 
iv. MARY JANE SPROULE was born on 10 Apr 1886 in Ballylig, Skerry, Antrim, Ireland. She died on 12 Mar 1888 in Ballylig, Skerry, Antrim, Ireland.

Robert Sproule the Saddler and Ellen Henry had the following children:

v. MARY JANE JEANNIE SPROULE was born on 14 Apr 1893 in Ballymoney Street, Ballymena.
vi. JOSEPH SPROULE was born on 13 Nov 1895 in Market Street, Magherafelt. He died on 17 Nov 1976 in Redford, Wayne, Michigan, USA. He married CATHERINE CAMERON GIBSON.
vii. HUGH SPROULE was born on 21 Nov 1897 in 29 Leadbetter St, Belfast. He died on 12 Jul 1981 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, USA. He married Ethel Annie Elliston on 04 Sep 1923. 
viii. ELLEN SPROULE was born on 13 Oct 1899 in 29 Leadbetter St, Belfast.
ix. WILLIAM EDWARD SPROULE was born on 09 Jul 1901 in Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland. He died in Apr 1975 in Lambeth, Greater London, England.

For more on this Antrim Sproule Family:

Thursday 3 March 2022

William Sproule the Soldier - Two Williams or One?

“Hello, Kate. I came across a William SPROULE from the Castlederg area who was born circa March 1836. British Army Service Records (from Findmypast.co.uk retrieved 25 Sep. 2013)”

This is how it began in 2013. Now I think I have at last placed our William Sproule, soldier.

The message had come from Clare Lawler Kilgallen who is one of the good people who send me Sproule information. Clare had found a British Army Service Record on Findmypast, and it had a great deal more information about William Sproule the Soldier:

  • First name(s): William
  • Last name: SPROULE
  • Parish of birth: Carmon [Termonanamongan]
  • Town of birth: Castle Derg
  • County of birth: Tyrone
  • Now residing in the Parish of St. Micheals in or near the Town of Lichfield in the County of Stafford
  • Age at attestation: 39 years
  • Staff Sergeant Married with five children
  • Previously served 21 years in the 54th Regiment 
  • Attestation soldier number: 9926
  • Attestation Date: 11 March 1876

From this information we know that William Sproule was born in about 1837, in the parish of Carmon. Now this was our first problem, as there is no parish of Carmon! But we do know Termonamongan well, and it is a parish which is indeed near to Castlederg.

Clare Lawler Kilgallen had more information for me. This came from the National Archives in the UK, reference WO97.It was an earlier military record for William, an earlier ‘Attestation’ when he was just 17. This tells us that William was: 

  • Born in the parish of Carmon [Termonanamongan], near the Town of Gortnagross, in the County of Tyrone
  • Aged 17 years 6 months
  • Trade/calling: servant
  • Enlisted at Cookstown on 26 November 1853

According to this he was born round June 1836. Can we find any Sproule families in that area to which William the Soldier might belong? Yes, loads of them! In  the mid 1850s the vaste majority of Sproules in the whole of Ireland lived in that very area, they lived in a 15 mile radius of Castlederg. And Sproules are plentiful in the Termonamongan to Castlederg area, including a Sproule family in Gortnagross. William is also a very popular Sproule name of that time. There were too many possibilities as to who William might be, and as yet, there were no definite leads.

So William the Soldier from Carmon was parked for quite a while.

Then I saw another William Sproule, also a soldier, who had military details that, after a bit of research, began to look very familiar.

This was on a gravestone, not in the Castlederg area, nor indeed was it in Tyrone at all. This gravestone is in County Down, in the graveyard of Saintfield Church of Ireland, County Down. The transcription of the gravestone of this second William, had:

“In loving memory of William Sproule, late Quater Master Sergant 4th Batt, R I R, and formerly 2nd Dorset Regiment, who died 1st July 1894, aged 57 years, also his daughter Annie Chambers Kelly, who departed this life 25th January 1951, Inscribed by her loving son and daughters, William Sproule 01/07/1894, 57 years, NT 78-00. Born 1837”[1]

This William of County Down was also a soldier and, like our William the Soldier of Carmon, he was born in 1837. But this William was not in the 54th Regiment like our William the Soldier of Carmon. He was in the ‘4th R I R’, and the ‘Dorset Regiment’.

He had a daughter Annie Chambers Kelly mentioned on the gravestone. Perhaps ‘Chambers’ was her mother’s name. Sure enough, in Irishgenealogy.ie I found the record of the marriage of William Sproule, soldier, and Jane Chambers;

1 Mar 1865 William Sproule full age, Sergeant 54th Regt, Ballymena, father Samuel Sproule Farmer, Jane Chambers Spinster, of Ballymena, father James Chambers, Shoe Maker

And there it was, Sergeant 54th Regt! This was beginning to get very exciting! Our 2nd William Sproule, Soldier in County Down, was also from the 54th Regiment, as was our William the Soldier of Carmon.

William the Soldier of County Down, was ‘formerly in the 2nd Dorset Regiment’, did that fit?

A quick search of the 54th Regiment revealed that in 1881 the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot was amalgamated with another Regiment to form the Dorset Regiment. Not only that, but the 54th Regiment was stationed in Ireland in the 1850s when our young William Sproule of Carmon had signed up![2]

From a post by Matt McNamara on
The Curragh History Facebook Page
So William the soldier of Carmon and William the Soldier of County Down might well be the same person. They are the same age, and they are in the same regiment.

Do we have any more clues?

In his attestation of 1876, the first William, William the Soldier of Carmon, was married with 5 children. How many children did the 2nd William the Soldier have in that same year, 1876?

We have the births of the children of William Sproule and his wife Jane Chambers  in Irishgenealogy.ie, they had:

  1. William Sproule born 20 Feb 1866 in Ballymena
  2. Annie Chambers Sproule born 1868 in Farnham, England (Not in Irishgenealogy.ie)[3]
  3. William Gausset Sproule, born 16 Sep 1869 in Mount St, Ballymena, Antrim
  4. James Chambers Sproule, born 17 Dec 1872 in Mount St, Ballymena, Antrim
  5. Martha Jane Sproule, born 7 Mar 1874 in Mount St, Ballymena, Antrim
  6. Mary Sproule, born 5 Jul 1875, Ballymena, Antrim, Ireland

So in 1876, William of County Down had 6, not 5, children. But, of course, he had 2 sons called William! The first little William must have passed away. 

First son William, Irishgenealogy.ie

Second son William, Irishgenealogy.ie

So William the soldier of Carmon and William the soldier of County Down both had 5 children in 1876. The records all match - this has to be one and the same person.

William Sproule was born in May/June 1837, he signed up for the army on 26 Nov 1853 in Cookstown when he was 17, and he had a successful career in the army.  He lived in Mount St in Ballymena, where he died 1 July 1894. William Sproule is  buried in Saintfield Church of Ireland, County Down. 

William was born near Castlederg, near the ‘town of Gortnagross’. There is no town of Gortnagross, but there is a townland of Gortnagross.  

We also know from his wedding registration that William Sproule's father’s name was Samuel Sproule, and that he was a farmer.

And this brings us right to the door of the Sproule family of Gortnagross. In 1837, when our William Sproule the Soldier was born, we find Samuel Sproule of Gortnagross, the farmer.

But as always, there are problems!

References:

[1] Gravestone inscription from Northern Irish Gravestone Inscriptions, Ulster Historical Foundation
[2] Information on the Dorsetshire Regiment and the 54th Regiment from '54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot' on the site of the National Army Museum; Curragh History Facebook Page, post by Matt McNamara; 'The Dorsetshire Regiment' on the site of the National Army Museum

[3] Record of the birth of Annie Chambers Sproule,  England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 Ancestry.com, 

Name Annie Chambers Sproule 
Registration Date 1868
Quarter of the Year Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration Place Farnham, Surrey, England


Wednesday 2 March 2022

James Sproule, Grocer, Dromore

This little deed intrigued me.  It was dated 7 Nov 1859 and it was between James Sproule of Dromore, Merchant, and John Stewart of Drumsheil, Tyrone. [1]

Deed from Registry of Deeds, Familysearh.org

Now, in any other place, or in any other family, ‘James Sproule, Merchant’ would not be a strange thing. But here, in this part of Tyrone, it definitely was. The Sproules around Dromore are farmers, lawyers, doctors – but not merchants. This was the first that I had come across. We learn in Griffiths Valuation that James lived in number 1 Main St., Dromore. So he lives in the town of Dromore, not on a farm.[2]

James Sproule in Main St., town of Dromore, Griffiths Valuation

I don’t know who this James Sproule, Merchant, was, but in this deed of 1859, he was selling part of a dwelling house in the town of Dromore, and two acres of land adjoining James Gilmore’s farm.

James Sproule's land next to James Gilmore's in Griffiths
That sale was in 1859. 9 years later we learn just one snippet more about this family. Now we find two tiny little entries about a William Sproule, also of the town of Dromore in an Irish Law Journal. William Sproule is a Grocer, and if he is the same family as James Sproule the Merchant, then the sale in 1859 did not help the family’s financial problems.
The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal, Volume 2, 1868
In 1869, we find William Sproule, Grocer of the town of Dromore, in jail in Omagh! The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal tells us that he went to Jail on 25th Nov 1868 and the same volume tells us that he has filed a petition for a hearing to be held on January 5th 1869. [3]

The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal, Volume 2, 1868
Presumably our William Sproule, Grocer, is to remain in Jail until then! 
I'd love to know if anyone knows this Sproule Grocer family of Dromore.

References:

[1] Deed dated 7 Nov 1859 between James Sproule of Dromore, Merchant And John Stewart of Drumsheil, Tyrone, 1859 42 244, Registry of Deeds, Dublin, Familysearch.org
[2] Griffiths Valuation, Dromore, and the Town of Dromore, Askaboutireland.ie