Sorting the Mullaghabane Sproules

Sorting the early Mullaghabane Sproules is tricky! I'm still not happy with it. This table will give you an idea of some of the complications. Here are all of the births from Mullaghabane in the 1830s and 1940s recorded in the Dromore Church Records: [1]

Baptism Date	Birth Date
24 April 1838	7 April 1838	James	James Sproul and Mary Jane Sproule	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
18 Dec 1838	18 Nov 1838	Sarah	James Sproule and Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
27 Mar 1840	24 Mar 1840	Elizabeth	James Sproull Senior and Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
13 Sep 1840	15 Aug 1840	Elizabeth	James Sproull & Marianne Sproull	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
5 July 1842	12 July 1842	Charles	James Sproull & Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
19 Feb 1843	16 Jan 1843	John	James Sproull & Mary Sproull	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
14 May 1845	6 May 1845	William	James Sproule & Mary Sproule	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore

 There is a superfluity of ‘James Sproules’ there! There are also a lot wives named Mary, just to make life a tad more complicated.

Looking to the land doesn’t really help, at the moment anyway. In the Tithe Applotment of 1834, the same time period as the births above, we find only two families of Sproules in Mullaghabane.[2]

Mullaghabane Tithe Applotment 1834
James Sproule	Mullaghabane	9 acres
Sarah Sproule	Mullaghabane	11 acres

Who is Sarah??? And there is only one James there, where are all my other James’ and the wife Marys? 

This Tithe does show, however, just how small the plots of land that the Mullaghabane Sproules are living on at this time - just 9 acres and 11 acres. It is possible that when John Sproule of Grennan was alive, they may have possessed more land in Mullagabane, they may have had a bigger area. John Sproule leased quite a bit, but he was constantly mortgaging it out, so he may have lost it.

James Sproule and Ann Blayney

Right, let's begin. We can identify James Sproule and Ann Blayney straight away. On the 2nd February 1838 we have the wedding of James and Ann in Dromore Church;

“James Sproule son of Armour Sproule and Ann Sproule alias Given and Anne Blaney daughter of Ambrose Blaney and Elizabeth Blaney alias Smith of Dullaghan,  Parish of Dromore, Witnesses William Smith and Alexander Anthony” [3]

So this James is the son of Armour Sproule and Ann Given. Ann Blayney is the daughter of Ambrose Blayney of Dullagahan and his wife Elizabeth Smith. Ambrose was the son of Chadwallader Blayney and Mary Sproule of Grennan, daughter of John Sproule. We know from the Marriage Settlement deed of this couple that Chadwallader’s father was also called Ambrose Blayney and that he lived in Oughterard, Dromore. 

We can actually go further back with this Blayney family of Oughterard, thanks again to Jamie Reid. Jamie found a deed for the marriage of John Blayney, the brother of this Ambrose, to Mary Osborne. The marriage took place in 1757 and in the marriage settlement we learn that Ambrose’s father was, yes, you’ve guessed it, Chadwallader Blayney.[5] So right back to the early 1700s, this Blayney family were living there in Oughterard, Dromore, and those two names, Ambrose and Chadwallader, alternated with each generation.

So that is one of our James Sproules of Mullaghabane identified, he is the son of Armour and Ann Given - we will call him James1. 

James1 Sproule and Ann Blayney had two daughters and a son recorded in those Dromore Church Records;

18 Dec 1838	18 Nov 1838	Sarah	James Sproule and Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
27 Mar 1840	24 Mar 1840	Elizabeth	James Sproull Senior and Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
5 July 1842	12 July 1842	Charles	James Sproull & Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore

No more children after 1842, which makes sense. Remember that Armour Sproule has gone to Canada in 1816, so James1, his son, is working his land. John Sproule, Armour’s eldest child, has also gone to Canada and he is living in Prescott, Ontario with his wife Mary Ann Barton.

Therefore James1 is the James Sproule in the Tithe Applotment of 1834, living on 9 acres. James1 must also be the one who died in 1842 – a will for a James Sproule of Mullaghabane recorded in Prerogative Wills. So this 9 acre plot that James1 is occupying used to be Armour Sproule’s land.

Who, then, is the other James Sproule living in Mullaghabane in the Dromore birth records? Well, we learn more about him from the wedding of the daughter of Armour Sproule, she was Mary Jane Sproule.  

James Sproule and Mary Jane Sproule

Mary Jane married on 1 June 1837 to James Sproule of Mullaghabane;

“Married James Sproule son of James Sproule and Fanny, alias Harper, of Mullabane Parish of Dromore to Mary Jane Daughter of Armor Sproul and Nancy alias Given of Mullabane Parish of Dromore. Witnesses John Allen and Matthew Guy” [3]

 This is a Mullaghbane Sproule – Mullaghbane Sproule marriage! We have the second James Sproule of Mullaghabane marrying the daughter of Armour Sproule. This James Sproule, who we will call James3,  is the son of another James Sproule of Mullaghbane, James2, and his wife Fanny Harper.  Are you with me so far?

So James2 of Mullaghbane and Armour Sproule are in the same generation, and they had been living side-by-side in Mullaghbane. This would suggest that they were, in fact, brothers – possibly both sons of John Sproule of Grennan. We have no proof of this, however.

So James2 Sproule of Mullaghabane is married to Fanny Harper. We only know of one child of this couple so far, and that is James3 Sproule who married Mary Jane, the daughter of Armour Sproule. Again, we can see the children of James3 and Mary Jane in the Dromore Church Records;

24 April 1838	7 April 1838	James	James Sproul and Mary Jane Sproule	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
13 Sep 1840	15 Aug 1840	Elizabeth	James Sproull & Marianne Sproull	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
19 Feb 1843	16 Jan 1843	John	James Sproull & Mary Sproull	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
14 May 1845	6 May 1845	William	James Sproule & Mary Sproule	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore

Despite the slight variations in the wife’s name there, and I take full responsibility as the one who transcribed these, they are definitely the children of James3 and Mary Jane Sproule. The family moved to Darlington, Durham West, Ontario, Canada, and we can see them listed in the 1861 Census of Darlington – the names match perfectly.

1861 Census of Canada, Durham, Canada West, Ancestry.com

You can see at the bottom, by the way, a 75 year old, lady called Ann Sproule. This has to be Mary Jane’s mother, Ann Given again. She was 'a visitor' with her son John in the 1851 census.

We have sorted the two James Sproules in the Dromore Church Records, and added a third, the James Sproule who married Fanny Harper. That is all very tidy. Now it starts to get messy!

Sarah Sproule of Mullaghabane

If you look at the Tithe Applotment above, we have a Sarah Sproule, and she is on the land that is not Armour Sproule land. This is the land of James2 and Fanny Harper – and their son James3 who later married Mary Jane Sproule. Where did the Sarah come from?

We have one more document to help, a bit anyway! In about 1835 there was a Presbyterian Census, and we have the record from this for the Dromore Presbyterian Church – thanks again to Jamie Reid. 

In Mullaghabane in the 1835 Census we have;

1. James Sproule of Mullaghbane (Dromore), Presbyterian. Sister: Anne Sproule; Brother: William Sproule 
2. Sarah Sproule of Mullaghbane (Dromore), Presbyterian.  Sister-in-law: Nancy Sproule; daughter-in-law: Mary Jane Sproule

 I have actually tied myself in knots trying to sort this out, very many times. Apart from anything else, the dates just don't match up! Let's look at the year 1835 which is about the year when the Census was taken.

In 1835 we know that;

✔ Armour and his son John are gone off to Canada with their families
✔ James3 and Mary Jane Sproule are not yet married, they married in 1837. Therefore, the ‘daughter-in-law’ Mary Jane Sproule in the census, should not be her. 
✔ James1 and Ann Blayney are also not yet married, they married in 1838. 

Mullaghabane House 1

So in House 1 we have a James Sproule in the Census, and he must be the unmarried James1 Sproule,the son of Armour Sproule, who later married Ann Blayney. He’s the one who died in 1842. He is in House 1. He is with living there with his brother William and his sister Ann. We now have two more children of Armour Sproule. All good here.

Mullaghabane House 2

This one is the puzzle. In the this home we should have James Sproule and Fanny Harper, or we should have some of their children. We actually have a Sarah Sproule, with her sister-in-law, and her daughter-in-law – no men.

It isn't a case of all the men being off working somewhere. In the Tithe Applotment of 1834, this Sarah Sproule is the person named on this land, she has the lease. Since she has a daughter-in-law we can assume that Sarah was not a Sproule. Sarah Sproule is a widow. Who's widow is she? This census is taken in 1835 so I don't believe that Sarah is the widow of a son of James2 and Fanny Harper - and Sarah also has a daughter-in-law. So Sarah is most likely to be the 2nd wife of James2 Sproule who married Fanny Harper - I think. 

But that is where we have problems. Mary Jane Sproule, the daughter-in-law should, then, be the wife of James3, the son of James2 and Fanny Harper. A second wife, like Sarah, would still refer to her as the 'daughter-in-law'. This would mean that her husband, James3, is off working somewhere. That fits well enough.

But, you see, that doesn't make any sense, as James3 Sproule and Mary Jane Sproule are not married yet - they did not get married until 1 June 1837! So was this part of the Census done later? I don't know. The date of 1835 looks right in other families. 

But I must stop going round in circles and leave it there - any suggestions most welcome!

 So that's the James Sproules of Mullaghbane mostly sorted, though puzzles still remain. 

References;

[1] From Dromore Church Records in PRONI, transcribed by Kate Tammemagi

[2] Tithe Applotment Book for Dromore PRONI FIN/5/A/114B

[3] Dromore Church Record from Jo McCoy - thank Jo.

[4] Marriage Settlement Chadwallader Blayney and Mary Sproule 478 553 311812 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org, transcribed by Kate Tammemagi

[5] 220 356 145078 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org, Osburn to Blayney (Oughterard) Dated 6 Jul 1757 From Jamie Reid

Other Posts in this Series;

1. Armour Curry Lowery Sproule

2. Armar Lowry-Corry and the Mullaghabane Sproule  

3.  John Sproule of Grennan and the Mullaghabane Sproule

4. How did Armour Curry Lowery Sproule get his Name? 

5. The Letter to Mrs Hugh Keys, Sarah Sproule of Mullaghabane

6. Ann Given, wife of Armour Sproule of Mullaghabane