Near to Ballymena, County Antrim, there is one more townland, Crumkill or Cromkill, which has Sproule families. Is it possible that these Cromkill Sproules are in the same family as Lendrick Sproule of Caugherty / Caherty?
As we can see from
the map, the three townlands are certainly close to each other, so a relationship
between these Sproules is possible, even likely.
In Cromkill in
Griffiths Valuation of the mid 1850s we find two Sproule households. One is Samuel
Sproule, and he is a farmer, but his holding is tiny, just 3 acres.
The second is Jane
Sproule, and she simply has a house.
 |
| Griffiths Valuation, Cromkill, Ask About Ireland |
Samuel Sproule of Cromkill
Samuel Sproule died on
17 June 1871 and we learn from his death record that he is married, and that he is 72 years old.
So Samuel Sproule of Crumkill was born about 1799ish, and he is the same
generation as our 3 brothers in Caherty. If you look at his death record you
will see that an Elizabeth McClelland was present at his death. Often this
person will be a close relative and therefore I thought she might be a
daughter.
 |
| Samuel Sproule of Cromkill, Irishgenealogy.ie |
I hunted
Irishgenalogy.ie for the death of the wife of Samuel Sproule of Cromkill. There
it was in 1872, she was called Mary, ‘farmer’s wife’ and she died just over a
year after Samuel, on 23 Dec 1872. This time, a William John McClelland was
present at the death.
 |
| Mary Sproule of Cromkill, Irish Genealogy.ie |
Surely this must mean
that Elizabeth McClelland, who was with Samuel Sproule at his death, is the daughter of
Samuel and Mary Sproule. Elizabeth’s husband must be this William John
McClelland who was with Mary at her death? I would have said that this was a certainty - I would have been totally wrong!
In the marriage record of this couple on Irishgenealogy.ie there was no Elizabeth Sproule there at all! William McClelland of Cromkill/Crumkill had married Elizabeth Bartholomew, also of Crumkill in 1864, and Eliza was a spinster then.
 |
| The McClelland wedding, Irishgenealgy.ie |
In addition, when
Samuel Sproule died, his small bit of land went to this same William John McClelland.
What this tells us is
that Samuel Sproule of Cromkill and his wife Mary had no children, or if they
did have children, none of them lived in the area or maybe they had no children in
Ireland.
This means that we
have no way of connecting Samuel Sproule of Cromkill to the family of Sproules
of Caugherty at this point in time. He might be, or he might not be, related.
The chances are higher,
however, that Samuel is related to his neighbour, Jane Sproule of Cromkill. Can we learn
anything by looking at her?
Jane Sproule of Cromkill
Jane Sproule is living in a house with no land in Crumkill in Griffiths Valuation. We find Jane Sproule of Crumkill's death in Irishgenealogy.ie. She died on 26 Dec 1875, and on this record we learn that Jane is a widow and that she is a weaver. Like Samuel Sproule above, it is not a Sproule who is present at her death, but a lady called Elizabeth Dempster.
 |
| Jane Sproule, Cromkill, Widow, Irishgenealogy.ie |
The widow Jane Sproule
of Crumkill was 73 years old at the time of her death, so she was born around
1802. Again, Jane is that same generation as Samuel above, and as the Caugherty
Sproule brothers.
I could not find any
record of the death of Jane Sproule’s husband – no other male Sproule death in
Crumkill. But I did find a very interesting record indeed!
The last record that I found of Sproules in Crumkill was the one that finally brought some certainty. It was a marriage record, which I thought at first gave us the name of the husband of the Widow Jane Sproule. The record was of a marriage on 7 Nov 1848 when a Jane Sproule of Cromkill married a William Reilly, Weaver. Her father was named as John Sproule of Cromkill, Weaver. I was thrilled – this had to be the daughter of my widow Jane Sproule, and I had found her husband, John Sproule the Weaver!
 |
| Jane Sproule of Crumkill's wedding Irishgenealogy.ie |
It took a while to
focus one important detail on the record. We can see the age of the happy
couple. Jane Sproule was 47 years old at the time of her wedding! The wedding
was in 1848. Jane Sproule of the Wedding was born about 1801 – so she wasn’t a
daughter of these Cromkill Spoules! She was another sibling.
Jane Sproule who
married William Reilly had to be a sister of either, or both, Samuel Sproule
and the husband of the Widow Jane Sproule.
And John Sproule the
Weaver of Crumkill was their father. This John Sproule the Weaver is the same
generation as John Sproule of Caugherty, father of Lendrick. Two John Sproules in the same generation are definitely not brothers!
The Cromkill Sproules
So the bottom line is:
- The Cromkill Sproules are not siblings of Lendrick, Thomas and John Sproule of Caugherty. This is assuming that Samuel Sproule is a brother of the husband of Jane Sproule the Widow, a fairly good assumption.
- The Cromkill Sproules are not first cousins of the Caugherty brothers, for their fathers are both called John Sproule.
If they are related,
and we don’t have evidence that they are, it is much further back in the
generations.
Important Footnote:
I found another member of the Cromkill family, a son of one of the two households. Unfortunately, I don't know which house that he belongs to.
His name is Robert John Sproule and I found him in the Military Records in Findmypast.ie. Robert gave his birth year as 1829, and says he is from the Parish of Connor, near the town of Ballymena. Crumkill is the only Connor townland which had Sproules at that time, so Robert John Sproule is a Crumkill Sproule.
Robert had a very distinguished career during his 21 years of service in the Royal Regiment of Artillery - he was Corporal, Sergeant and finished as Master Gunner 1st Class. He served in Gibraltar and the Crimea.
Robert John Sproule said he would live in Ballymena at his discharge on 12 Oct 1875, and he gave his trade as Weaver.
He is definitely one of the Cromkill Sproules.
Information on the other family, the Sproules of Caherty/Caugherty:
1. The Mystery Picture - R. Sproule Shop
2. Robert Sproule the Saddler – the Lendrick Connection
3. The Family of Hugh Sproule of Ballycreggy and Bridge St Ballymena, and Mary Ann
No comments:
Post a Comment