Robert Sproule and Marianne Schoburgh

I knew this couple were important as soon as I first saw them. To be honest, I don’t remember when that was, but it was a few years ago. They were in the wonderful County Tyrone website, on a page of baptisms from the 1st Strabane Presbyterian Church, transcribed by Jim Crabtree. There were only 3 children here on this page, although more children emerged over the years; 

Date of birth	Childs Name	Father’s Name	Mother’s Name	Residence	Date of Baptism
5 April 1845	James	Robt. Sproule	Marianne Schobourg	Strabane	15 June 1845
20 July 1847	Andw. Schoburgh	Robt. Sproule	Marianne Schoburgh	Strabane	15 Aug 1847
1 July 1849	Saml. Angus	Robt. Sproule	Marianne Schoburgh	Strabane	17 Sept 1849

1st Strabane Presbyterian Baptisms 1840-51 in County Tyrone Genealogy [1]

I felt this family were important, and this was for two main reasons. Firstly, Robert Sproule and Marianne Schoburgh were living in Strabane in the 1840s, so they had to be related to one of the many Sproule families in the area. The other important point was, of course, that name, ‘Marianne Schoburgh’. Schoburghs weren’t floating freely round Strabane at that time, or, indeed at any other time. In fact, there were no Schoburghs in Ireland at all, that I could find anyway. Where could our Robert Sproule have found her? 

Knowing the Sproules, the answer to that question could be anywhere in the world. At that time I was working on too many other stories and doing too much research to divert on to a worldwide hunt, so I decided to let the hare sit, to do nothing, and just wait in the hope that I would come across a connection to this couple in my travels.

I never forgot them. When I was working on other families, I would take out Robert Sproule and Marianne Schoburg to see if they would fit. For example, they were in the same church in Strabane as the Mellmount Sproules – could they fit there? No, the Mellmounts were all accounted for.[2]  Much later I was working on the Evish Sproules, also in that church – perhaps one of them? No fit there either. [3]

A very promising lead came when I was working on James Sproule of Newtonstewart, son of Thomas Spreull of Golan. In 1801 Charles Sproule, son of James of Newtonstewart, bought a house in Strabane and I knew that Charles had a son Robert. But this fizzled out too.[4]

The day finally came when I realised that Robert Sproule and Marianne Schoburg were not not going to come to me at all, I was going to have to go out there and find them!

Now, where to start? Robert Sproule has to have left Ireland, he has to have gone somewhere, stayed there for a while and then come back. Perhaps Robert was a soldier, so perhaps England, or perhaps India? But that name Schoburg has to be German or something like that. Why would Robert Sproule go to Germany? Germany is a bit unlikely.

Canada, America and Australia were the obvious places, all high on the probability list.  Lots of Sproules went there, and lots of Germans went there too. But very few Sproules came back. So I didn’t start there, I went somewhere else. 

There was another potential location that would be very quick to check and it would fit the bill perfectly – Jamaica. Sproules went there and either or they died there, or they came back, . It would be very quick to establish if there were any Schoburgs there or not.

Some 7 years before this, when researching my own family, the Tullymoan Sproules, I had been totally immersed in the Sproules of Jamaica . The first of these that I know of was Andrew Sproule of Annotto Bay, who died there in 1801.[5] He was a very affluent man who had been an agent and a merchant. Andrew sent money home for his first cousin, James Sproule, to come out to Jamaica. James was only a young man when he left the Tullymoan Farm, but he also manged to make his fortune in Jamaica, this time in sugar plantations. James came back and set his family up in Mellmount House, on the edge of Strabane. Unfortunately, he returned to Jamaica to tidy up his affairs in 1840 and died there in a shipwreck. [2]

There were a couple of other Sproules that I had found in those early searches. One was indeed a Robert Sproule, and he too came from the same Tullymoan family, a nephew of James of Mellmount. He was actually married to a Mary Ann, but this one was called Mary Ann Thomas, not Schoburg. This Robert is a bit of a mysterious character, more on him later.

Back to our current mission. Were there Schoburgs in Jamaica?

Yes, indeed, there were two Schoburgs. One was a plantation owner and a magistrate called Anders Jansen Schouberg. The other was, I believe, his son, J P Schouberg. So I was wrong about the German name then,  the name 'Schouberg' is not German at all. With the 'Anders' and the 'Jansen', this name must be Scandinavian.

But there was actually one more Schouberg, who we assume to be the daughter of Anders Jansen Schouberg.

She was called Mary Ann Schouberg.

Next Post on This Story:

The Intriguing Robert Sproule of Jamaica

 References:

[1] 1st Strabane Presbyterian Baptisms 1840-51 in Countytyrone.com

[2]The story of the Mellmount Sproules - Kate Tammemagi

[3] More on the Evish Sproules

[4] In May 1801 Charles Sproule of Newtonstewart bought the house, land and garden of Drumbrallagh, near the Tower in Strabane. PRONI Ref: D1062/4/A/46

[5] I haven't yet told this story of Andrew Sproule of Annotto Bay, Jamaica, but it will follow in the near future.