Robert Sproule of Jamaica and Jane Thomas Sproule

Where did the name Mary Ann Thomas come from? We thought that Mary Ann Thomas was the name of the wife of Robert Sproule of Jamaica, but where did this name come from? It actually came from that gentleman in Australia – and me!  I knew that Robert Sproule of St George had a son, also called Robert, who was born in 1842 and that the mother of that son was named, ‘Mary Ann’ on the baptism record. So when my Australian informant had said the name, Mary Ann Thomas, I just assumed that this was the name of Robert Sproule’s wife. But it wasn’t, as I had just found out. The wife of Robert Sproule of St George in Jamaica, and of Mulvin in Tyrone, was Mary Ann Schouberg – not Mary Ann Thomas.

My Australian informant had given me a lot of information about his ancestor, Jane Thomas Sproule. She was married in Melbourne, Australia, and her father was on the marriage cert held by the family, his name Robert Sproule, Planter, of Jamaica. Jane Thomas Sproule was said to 20 years old, so she was born in 1835. The wedding had taken place there in the house of Mr Sproule in Melbourne in 1855.  

So far I had not seen a document to verify this Melbourne wedding, so it was important to establish this before searching for Jane Thomas Sproule further. Robyn Ritchie was able to help me there, by doing a search in Australia and she found the marriage cert. The marriage definitely took place. Thanks so much Robyn for this.

Wedding of James Ward and Jane Thomas Sproule 1855

Here is the proof, Jane Thomas Sproule definitely married James Ward on 8 Jan 1855, and the wedding was held at Mr Sproule’s house.

Back to Jamaica for another try to find Jane Thomas Sproule. I had tried before without any luck. I looked again for a Jane Sproule, any Jane Sproule, in the Slave Registers on Ancestry.com or the Church of England Baptism records on Familysearch.org. There were none except for the daughter of James Sproule in Stokes Hall. No luck at all on Jane Sproule.

How about the name Jane Thomas? I hadn’t tried that. Robert Sproule was not married to Mary Ann Thomas, so perhaps the daughter Jane had been baptised with nonly her mother's name, Jane Thomas.

I searched the Church of England Baptism records on Familysearch.org and there was only one Jane Thomas who was baptised around this time, and she was a perfect fit! There in the district of St. George, Jamaica in 1837, was the baptism of a Jane Thomas, who had been born in 1835. This is the right year, it is the right parish.

Name Jane Thomas
Baptism Date 9 Apr 1837
Baptism Place District of Saint George, Portland, Jamaica
Baptism Place (Original) St. George, Jamaica
Birth Date 1835

No parents are named at all in the register, which was not uncommon in that year, as this was the year after slavery had ended. The implication is still that this baby is not the child of a married couple.

From Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, Familysearch.org

The place named in the birth register for baby Jane Thomas is Low Layton, a plantation in St. George. If we look at the plantation record for Lowlayton in the Legacies of British Slavery site, we find a very familiar name – George McLeish as a manager in 1832.

From Legacies of British Slavery

He was managing this plantation from 1832 on. George McLeish was also the agent and attorney who registered the Orange Vale estate that year where we know that Robert Sproule was living at this time. I believe George McLeish and Robert Sproule are likely to have been in the same company. So we have a direct line from Jane Thomas in Lowlayton born in 1835, to Robert Sproule living in Orange Vale at the same time. This child Jane Thomas is very likely to be his daughter by Mary Ann Thomas, not definitely, but very likely.

Was there a Mary Ann Thomas in the slave registers? Yes, loads of them! 

From Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers,
Ancestry.com

However, as you can see there, there was only one Mary Ann Thomas in St George, and she was owned by John Meek in 1820. We can see her in the Slave Register for that year. Her name was actually Patience, registered as Mary Ann Thomas and she was 4 years old in 1820. 

From Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers,
Ancestry.com

John Meek, who ‘owned’ Mary Ann Thomas, was actually another one of those Attorney / agents who was an executor of the former owner of this estate. The estate was called Caen Wood. Caen Wood, Lowlayton and Orange Vale were all registered to the same person each year of registration. That is, the same name of an Attorney / agent registers these 3 plantations each year. E.g. John Meek registered them all in 1820, and in 1829 it was William Lambe III who registered them all. The same attorney was looking after all these estates – they were all connected.

 However, there the trail ends. I was not able to find this Mary Ann Thomas after 1820. So I could not connect her to either the baby Jane Thomas or to Robert Sproule.  So Robert Sproule could possibly have acquired this Mary Ann Thomas as his ‘lady friend’ and they had the child named Jane Thomas born in 1835. Only possibly – I could find no proof of this at all. And there are other Mary Ann Thomas' in other parishes.

However, I do believe that the child, Jane Thomas, baptised in Lowlayton in 1837, and born in 1835, is very likely to be the Jane Thomas Sproule who was married in Australia. She is close enough to our Robert Sproule in Orange Vale for me to believe that he was indeed the father of Jane Thomas Sproule in Australia and that a Mary Ann Thomas is her mother.

The big question that remains now is, did Robert Sproule actually travel from Orange Vale in St. George to Melbourne in 1855, and then return to Ireland?

Next Post 

Previous Posts in this Story

Robert Sproule and Marianne Schoburgh

The Intriguing Robert Sproule of Jamaica

References:

Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers, 1813-1834 Ancestry.com

Jamaica, Church of England parish register transcripts; 1664-1880, Familysearch.org

Centre for the Study of Legacies of British Slavery