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’.
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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| From Irishgenealogy.ie |
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| 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.
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