The man known as Joseph Sproule of the Rosses was a Grennan Sproule. He was born around the mid 1750s in the townland which is now called Greenan, Dromore, County Tyrone. Joseph was the son of Charles Sproule who lived in the area that Jack Elder had called ‘Upper Grennan’, and he appears on Elder’s Tree.
When I first saw this name ‘Joseph Sproule of the Rosses’, I was a bit stunned. I was very familiar with the Rosses. It is quite a unique area, and it is not at all a likely place to find a Sproule. There seemed to be no logical reason why Joseph would end up there. However, in the year 2014, the keys that would unlock this puzzle of Joseph Sproule of the Rosses were handed to me on a plate, and some further helped research teased out the story.
So before I begin our tale, I woud
like to thank Patrick Boner, a historian in Burtonport in the Rosses, for his
own comprehensive information on that area. Patrick also put me in touch with Sproule
family researchers, particularly Sue Gress, Angela Kirk and also David Slattery. I found that the descendants
of Joseph Sproule of the Rosses have been amaziningly active in their research
and recording of their family trees over the years, and I have been blessed that they have
shared this information with me. I would also like to thank Ryan Sproule for
sending me the wonderful work of his uncle, Fred Sproule, who was a descendant
of the brother of Joseph of the Rosses and who’s information on this family is
vital.
Now to begin our story of Joseph Sproule of the Rosses I am going to quote from a family tree document given to me by Sue Gress in 2014. In this family tree, there are a couple of lines about our Joseph. These are the words that have been passed down through the ages by the descendants of Joseph Sproule;
“Joe, half brother to the first George of Crillan, lived at Feddins. He fell in love with a Miss Boggs, daughter of contractor for Lubrid Buildings (Lubrid is near Crillan and there is a church and Vaughans Charter School still there)”
I knew immediately from these few words had to be true. Prior to this, we did not know that this Joseph Sproule had gone to live in Feddans, County Fermanagh, but it made so much sense. Joseph Sproule of our story, ‘Joe’ above, was living in Feddans, and this fits perfectly
with what we know of this ‘Upper Grennan’ family.
Charles Sproule of Upper Grennan had a large family from his two wives, according to Elder. In 1778, we find Charles Sproule in a deed, leasing land for his sons to settle in Fermanagh – in Crillan and in Feddans.[1] We know that one son of Charles of Upper Grennan, George Sproule, settled in Crillan. In the last few months, I realised that his older half-brother Robert had settled in the neighbouring townland of Feddans.[2] So Sue's family document stating that Joe lived for a while in Feddans is perfectly consistant with this, and has to be true.
There is one big disparity between the family document and
Elder’s tree, one that is very interesting for Grennan researchers. The family
document states that Joe was ‘half-brother’ of George of Crillan. That would
suggest that George was the son of the second wife Ann Wallace and that Joe was
the son of the first wife, Miss Rogers. Elder says that Joseph is a full
brother of George, and that they are both
sons of the second wife, Ann Wallace.
My instinct is always to believe Elder. However, in this
case I actually have my doubts if he is correct. The family document tells us that Joseph was
living in Feddans. Feddans was the home of the older brother Robert, the son of
the first wife, Miss Rogers. So Joe would be living in the ‘Feddans’ side of
this family, so to speak, the first wife
side. So I am not sure which of these two authorities is correct. I am going to leave that thought with you.
Elder told us that Joseph married Mary Boggs, and this
family document gives us the clue as to how the couple could have met. It tells
us that Mary Boggs was the daughter of the contractor for ‘Lubrid’ buildings, and further it
mentions the church and Vaughan Charter School. This reference to the church is
not, I believe, accidental.
The Sproule brothers in Feddans and Crillan were living on land
leased from the Vaughan Charity. The charity was established on the death of
its benefactor, Colonel George Vaughan, on 5 April 1763. George Vaughan was a native
of Buncrana, he was Governor of County Donegal and a landowner in Fermanagh and
Donegal. The Colonel left all of his
Fermanagh lands in a trust, most of which was to be set aside as for use as a Charitable
Charter School.[3]
During the 1770s building began on the site of the school in Tubrid, near to Crillan and Feddans. The first building to be erected was Tubrid Church of Ireland church, the parish of Drumkeeran churc. It was actually built as a Chapel for the Vaughan Charter school. The church was built between 1774-1776 and it is still there today.[4]
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| Tubrid Church, Drumkeeran Parish |
Next came the Vaughan Charter school itself, a boarding school for poorer folk, which was completed in 1780. Catherine Sproule, sister of the Grennan Sproule brothers, was Matron at the school.
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| Vaughan Charter School built 1780, demolished 1955 [3] |
So all of this is consistant with those couple of lines from Sue's family document. It tells us that the building contractor of Tubrid buildings had a daughter, Mary Boggs, and at some stage Mary Boggs met Joseph Sproule of Upper Grennan who was living in Feddans at that time. We dont' know when they were married, or when exactly they went to the wilds of the Rosses. But those couple of lines give us the vital clue as to why, exactly, they went there.
Other Posts in this Series;
References:
[1] The 1778 deeds are recorded in Reports from the Commissionsers, Ireland 1813 -1814, Vol 5, Houses of Parliament, Great Britain. The information on the deeds can be seen here - Finding the Family of Robert Sproule of Upper Grennan
[2] Finding the Family of Robert Sproule of Upper Grennan
[3] The Vaughan Charity 1763-1934 by Claire Jackson and Michael Jackson, in Clogher Record, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1986), pp. 171-180 (10 pages) Published by: Clogher Historical Society
[4] Tubrid Church of Ireland Church, Parish of Drumkeeran, Co Fermanagh, by John Campbell, 8 Nov 2010
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