The Ancestors of The Nabob – the Golan Sproules

There are many Sproules, Leckys, Crocketts and others out there who are, like me, descended from the Tyrone family that Jack Elder called ‘The Nabob Sproules’.  It is not really a very good name for this family tree for many reasons, and in this post I am going to have the temerity to launch a new, updated name for our line of Sproules!

The Origin of the Name

'Nabob' was a term used at the time for someone who worked for the East India Company and became very wealthy -  usually by corrupt means. Our Nabob, Robert Sproule, was born in 1746 and he was a surgeon with the East India Company. There is no hint that he was corrupt in any way, but he did indeed return from India with a vast fortune, and this earned him the nickname 'the Nabob' Sproule.

Robert the Nabob was an interesting character, but he really should not have had a family tree named after him - as he had no descendants! Well actually, he did have one daughter, Rebecca Jane, but the poor lass died in 1810 at twenty years old, without issue.  

Our tree got its name from the fame of Robert the Nabob, as he was by far the best known member of his generation.  In the late 1800s, when Elder was trying to identify the origins of this line of Sproules, Robert the Nabob was still being talked about in the neighbourhood. The Nabob’s older brother had been long forgotten and he is incorrectly named on Elder's tree as ‘James’. Ironically, it was he who was the father of many Sproule families -  the Bridgehill Sproules, the Inchaney Sproules and the most prolific line of all,  the Ohio Sproules. ( I learnt this through the will of Robert the Nabob himself - more on him in later posts.)

Grennan vs the Nabob Tree

Elder knew that this line of Sproules was important as it was a different line from the others that he had already identified. But he was stuck at this generation of the Nabob – it was his big genealogical roadblock. The family trees that Elder had successfully completed had all led loosely back to the Sproules of Grennan and Curraghamulkin.  These families were all descendants of one man, Cornet Andrew Spreull who was born in Tyrone between 1670 and 1680.  Elder seemed to know that the Nabob family tree would not lead there, but he could not get past the Nabob’s generation.

The Ancestors of The Nabob

The ancestors of the Nabob were indeed different from the other lines, they were the Golan Sproules. I found this out through a tortuous tracing of deeds and inheritances, which I wrote about in a previous post. The father of the Nabob's generation was Samuel, son of  Thomas Spreull of Golan. (Abt 1680 to 1761)¹

We even know the father of Thomas Spreull of Golan, as he is named in deed dated 1733 – Samuel Spreull of Golan.²  The Golan lands are to the south and east of Castlederg, and it is obvious from Samuel of Golan’s name that the Golan Sproules were on this land from at least 1680. An area of their land carries their name to this day - Golan Sproul.

Thomas Spreull of Golan

Thomas  Spreull of Golan was an affluent man who had extensive lands in Golan, Drumnabeigh, and Altamullan, County Tyrone. He owned corn mills, a bleach green and was also a distiller. He was a friend of the local gentry, the Edwards of  Castlegore, and his son married into this family. Thomas’ eldest son, Robert, married Martha Edwards daughter of Robert Edwards of Kilcroagh. Thomas' son died young in 1740 and it was his grandson, Oliver, who was heir to the Golan land and mills.³  Oliver’s son Andrew built the house at Spamount, and he was father to the Spamount Sproules.

The Nabob was another grandson of Thomas Spreull of Golan. His father was  Samuel and he is named on a later deed as Samuel of Coolnacruniagh (Coolnacrunaght). It is Samuel's children who are are at the top of Elder's 'Nabob Sproules' family tree. Elder actually did reasonably well naming these children, though we get a much more accurate picture from the Will of Robert Sproule the Nabob. The Nabob’s only brother was actually called Thomas, and he inherited the Coolnacrunaght land. He set up the home at the farm called Bridgehill and it is he who is the father of the Bridgehill Sproules and the Ohio Sproules.

Thomas of Golan and Cornet Andrew

Thomas Spreull of Golan first appears on a deed  dated 1719, where he is the witness for  Cornet Andrew Spreull  who is buying the Grennan land.⁴ Thomas of Golan also went to Omagh to register these deeds. The two were obviously close, but  I have not yet established the relationship between Cornet Andrew and Thomas Spreull of Golan. It is possible that they were brothers, or that Cornet Andrew was an uncle of Thomas Spreull of Golan, as he seems to be older.

Three Lines of Sproules

This now identifies three distinct lines of Sproules in County Tyrone:

1. The Golan Sproules
2. The Grennan Sproules 
3. Tullymoan Sproules

 As far back as 1680 they are three quite separate lines.

The name ‘the Nabob Sproules’ now fades into history, and I can give an updated version of this family tree with its new name, the THE GOLAN SPROULES.

___________________________________________________

References:

¹ Finding the father of the Nabob - The Big Breakthrough on the Sproule Family Tree

² Deed dated 5^th Nov 1733 between Hugh Edwards of Castlegore to Thomas Spruell of Golan Reg of Deeds,  44 481 52279

³ Deed dated 5th Nov 1764 Edward Loftus of Dublin and Oliver Sprowle of Golan giving Oliver the Golan lands which he already has possession. Reg of Deeds 235  609 155913. Thomas of Golan’s will was proved in 1761.

⁴ Deed dated between Thomas Edwards of Castlegore & Cornet Andrew Spreull  for the lands of Dressog, Dernaser and Grennan in the Parish of Dromore.  Witnessed by Thomas Spreull of Drumnabeigh. Reg of Deeds 41 289 25944.

The Lost Sproule Boys

I had a blog block. It wasn't a roadblock, of the genealogy type, where I came to a dead end. My block was a conflict. It was the inability to resolve conflicting information about one generation of the family.  It stopped this blog dead.  Somehow it became very important that I resolve this before moving on. And now at last I have the missing piece of evidence, that will allow me to complete this stepping stone and move on to the next.

The Conflict

I had gathered evidence of six children in the family of my great, great grandfather, Andrew Sproule of Tullymoan. Four of those six children had died in the 1830s as young adults, and I written of this in a previous blog post.¹

However, Jack Elder, in his hand-written tree of this family drawn up in the 1890s, had recorded eight children, not six. Elder had said that there were two older boys. The eldest, Andrew, had died young in Jamaica, and the second, Samuel, had also died young but this time in Bombay.²

Jamaica 1820

I trust Elder enough to know that there was a good chance he was right. Also, it would make sense for these boys to go overseas as they had Uncles in both Jamaica and Bombay at that time. Andrew and Samuel would have been born round 1800, and, presumably, would have been in their early twenties when they left home. I hunted for any trace of my two Sproule boys - in India, Jamaica, England and Ireland.

There is an awful lot of information on-line now, including the recently added East India records. I still could not find them, no records and no deaths of either Andrew or Samuel, sons of Andrew Sproule of Tullymoan.

The Block

I needed to put up this family on my blog to complete this generation and to move on to the next. It somehow seemed irreverent to put up Andrew and Rebecca’s family without the two oldest boys, but I wasn’t going to put the names up there if I could not validate Elder’s information. What if Elder was wrong and they didn't exist at all? Or, worse still, perhaps they belonged to a completely different family. And equally, I couldn’t just skip them, and move on to other generation's trees. I know it's only a blog, but somehow putting the entire family group up together had become very important.

The Letter From America

This week, through the magic of genealogy web contacts, I got a wonderful present. It was a series of letters written between 1800 and 1840 from Sproules in Tyrone to the family of Robert Sproule of Ohio. Members of the Bridgehill Sproules wrote the letters from their home just south of Castlederg, County Tyrone, to their cousins in America, and the Tullymoan Sproules are also cousins of both families.

In a letter written on 28^th March 1827, Robert Sproule of Bridgehill gives his Uncle in America news of the Tullymoan Sproules:

“The Tullymoan family have been in low spirits of late, having heard of the death of Andy, the eldest son. He died in November last at his Uncles in Jamaica. Sam, the next, is preparing for a surgeon by his uncle who has lately returned from India and is living in the neighbourhood of London with his wife and one child, a girl”

Elder was quite correct, the two oldest boys did, indeed, exist!

This was proof positive of Andrew, the eldest son of Andrew Sproule of Tullymoan. Andy died in November 1826 at the home of his uncle James Sproule in the Rosemount Plantation in Jamaica. Sam, the second son, was alive at the time this letter was written in 1827 and he was studying to be a surgeon with his Uncle Samuel Sproule in Cheltenham in England.³ But just one year later, when his Uncle Samuel was writing his will, young Sam, son of Andrew of Tullymoan, was no more.

The Family of Andrew and Rebecca of Tullymoan

The family is complete at last! But this also now proves that Andrew and Rebecca, the parents of this generation, had indeed  suffered great tragedy in their lives. In 1826 they had 8 healthy adult children, and twelve years later, there were only two remaining alive.  Of the six who had died as young adults, only one had lived to marry and have children. William John, who became a Doctor in Dunfanaghy, managed to father two babies before his death in 1838. Happily, one of these, Andrew of Fernhill, lived to have many children and a descendant was in touch just this week!

Of the two children who lived to rear families:

1.       Jane Sproule, the eldest girl, was born in 1802 and lived to 1864. She married another Sproule,  Andrew Sproule of Glenfin, and they bought the Broomfield house, in Donegal,  from her Uncle Robert Sproule. The Broomfield Sproules had at least four children:

·         Andrew Sproule of St Louis who married Florinda Jane Spoule d. 1865

·         Samuel Sproule who died in St Louis 1866

·         Elizabeth Sproule

·         Rebecca Sproule

·         Charlotte Sproule

2.       James Sproule of Tullymoan, my great grandfather, married Mary McGlinchy. He was the youngest child of the family, born in 1816, but with the death of the other three boys, James inherited the Tullymoan farm. James and Mary had nine children, and his descendants are there to this day.⁴ 

Now I can move on!


The completed Family Tree - Andrew Sproule and Rebecca MacKay of Tullymoan.

References:

¹ Other Children in this family -  The Mystery of the Children

² Elder’s Tree of The Nabob Sproules
³ The story of Uncle Samuel - Samuel Sproule of the Medical Board in Bombay

⁴ James Sproule and Mary McGlinchy    The Family Tree, Matriarch of Tullymoan

Thanks to Tim Hayes for providing the Spoule of Ohio Letters.