Friday 6 May 2022

The Family of Thomas Sproule of Caugherty / Caherty

 THOMAS SPROULE of Caugherty / Caherty, Ballyclug, County Antrim was the son of JOHN SPROULE of Caherty who died in 1824 and his wife Martha. ( See The Parents of Lendrick Sproule of Caugherty, Ballyclug. Thomas was born in Caugherty about 1796 and he died there on 29 Aug 1871, aged 75. His son John was present at his death. (Irishgenealogy.ie)

Thomas married ROSE WATTS. She was born about 1806 in Antrim. She died on 21 May 1879 in Lower Broughshane Ballymena, Antrim at the home of her daughter Rose. (Rose's name appears on the death cert of her son Robert, on Ancestry.com)

Thomas Sproule of Caherty and Rose Watts had the following children:

BENJAMIN SPROULE (SPROWLE) was born about 1829 in Caherty, Ballyclug, Antrim and he married MATILDA CATHCART, daughter of Alexander Cathcart  and a Miss Hood of Lower Broughshane, Ballymena, on 11 Jun 1859 in Ballymena. (Benjamin's sister  Ann Eliza Sproule married the brother of Matilda Cathcart, Alexander Jun) Matilda Cathcart was born in 1831 in Lower Broughshane. The family moved first to Indiana, then Toronto, and finally settled in Flint, Geneses County, Michigan.  They had 8 children, Robert, Mary, Matilda, Anna, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Nathaniel and John.  Benjamin died on 18 Oct 1896, in Flint, and Matilda died there on 30 Aug 1898.

 ANN ELIZA SPROULE was born about 1830 in Caherty, Ballyclug, Antrim. She died in Victoria, Australia in 1885. Ann Eliza married Alexander Cathcart, son of Alexander Cathcart and Miss Hood of Lower Broughshane on 28 Aug 1857 in Ballymena, Antrim. (Irishgenealogy.ie)  Alexander was the brother of Matilda Cathcart who married Benjamin Sproule, Ann Eliza's brother.  Alexander was born about 1830 and he died on 10 Jul 1906 in Victoria, Australia. They had 3 children all born in Ireland before they left to live in Victoria, Australia – Ann, Mary Isabella and Alexander Cathcart.

ROBERT SPROULE was born about 1832 in Caherty, Ballyclug. Robert Sproule was a miner and he died in a mining accident on 08 Jan 1867 in Victoria, Australia. He married Maria Walsh on 26 Oct 1863 at Bendigo, Victoria. She was born about 1843 in Ireland. She died in 1877 in Victoria, Australia. Robert and Maria had only one child, a son, John Thomas Carroll Sproule.

ROSE SPROULE was born in 1836 in Caherty, Antrim. Rose married JEREMIAH SMYTH, a farmer from Kinbally, son of  James Smyth, on 18 Oct 1878. (Irishgenealogy.ie) Rose died on 08 Aug 1908, aged 72,  in Kinbally, Skerry, Antrim, Jeremiah (Jeremey) was present at her death.  (Irishgenealogy.ie) Jeremiah died on 12 Aug 1911 in Kinbally, aged 85. They had a daughter Eliza Jane living with them in the 1901 census, and she was still there with Jeremiah in the 1911 census. However, I can't find her birth record, so I am unsure if she is Rose's daughter, or if Eliza is a daughter from Jeremiah's previous marriage.

SARAH JANE SPROULE was born about 1842 in Caherty, Ballyclug, Ireland. She died on 23 Aug 1901 in Aghnadore, Racavan, Antrim. She married ALEXANDER JOHNSTON, a carpenter, on 10 Apr 1862 in Broughshane, Racavan, Antrim. He was born in 1836 and he died on 16 Mar 1891 in Gilmore St, Ballymena (Aged 55). Sarah Jane and Alexander had at least 10 children, Thomas, Jane, James, Rose, Matilda, Alexander, Francis, Agnes, Sarah, and William.

MARGARET JANE SPROULE was born in Apr 1844 in Caherty  Antrim, Ireland. She married Alexander Kenny on 17 Jul 1867 in Broughshane 1st Presbyterian Church, Ballymena. Alexander Kenny was born on 24 May 1842 in Ballymena, Antrim. (From Naturalization Records,  New York, U.S., State and Federal, Ancestry.com)  The family emigrated to New York in 1894, and they lived in Manhattan. (On Naturalization and Census records) I have not found a definite death record for Margaret Jane Sproule, but we know that she is present with Alexander on the 1905 Census record in Manhattan, and Alexander is recorded as a widower in the 1910 census.  Alexander  died on 09 May 1915. Margaret and Alexander Kenny had at least 8 children, all born in Ballymena, their birth dates are on his Naturalization application, Alexander, Louisa, Margaret, Matilda, Thomas, William, Mamie and Robert.

MATILDA SPROULE was born about 1850 in Caherty, Ballyclug Parish, County Antrim,  Ireland. She married Matthew Montgomery, a Carpenter, son of John Montgomery, on 25 Dec 1868 in Antrim. He was born in Ballymena, Antrim, Ireland (the Montgomerys were recorded as having no children the 1911 census). 


There are no further children that have been confirmed as children of Thomas Sproule of Caugherty and Rose Watts.

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