Document with Information on Magheracrigan and Curraghamulkin Sons

 One of my most pleasurable experiences was rooting through old cardboard boxes in PRONI, the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, in Belfast. One of these was the box of  documents of James Sproule Crockett & Ors Solicitors, and it had some good information, including this one on the Magheracrigan and Curraghamulkin Sproules.

At that time you were not permitted to copy documents, so I have here my notes.

 In the box of deeds LR1/1605/1 of James Sproule Crockett & Ors, County Tyrone, Record Number NI 165, Box 1605.

This is document is dated 30 May 1835 and in it Andrew Sproule of Crigan (Magheracrigan)  in Ardstraw is handing over land land that had been left in the will of Andrew of Curraghamulkin to  Andrew Sproule junior, his son. It records the death of other sons, though no dates.

Andrew Sproule late of Grannan (this is Andrew of Curraghamulkin) deceased did by his last will and testament bearing the date 27 July 1797 bequeatherd the lands of …. Therein mentioned described as then in the possession of a Alexander King,  12 acres unto his son Joseph Sproul during the said Joseph Sproul and his wife Elizabeth’s lives and after their decease to the sons of said Joseph Sproul namely James and Andrew and in the case that the said persons should die without issue then the said lands to go to his two sons Charles Sproule and Andrew Sproul. And the said Andrew Sproul did further also by this said will bequeath unto his son James Sproule that part of the lands of Screen then in possession of the Widdow Hall  and now in the possession of Benjamen and Robert Hall and if James should die without issue the said lands were to go to his sons Charles and Andrew. Andrew of Crigan is now passing these lands to his son Andrew.

 So in this document we learn:

• Andrew Sproule of Curraghamulkin was also referred to as Andrew Sproule of Grennan
• Andrew of Curraghamulkin had a son Joseph , who is now dead in 1835
• Son Joseph had two sons James and Andrew who are now both dead with without issue
• Andrew of Curraghamulkin also had two sons Charles and Andrew Sproule (Andrew of Magheracrigan) We assume Charles is also now dead, though it doesn’t state that.
• Andrew of Curraghamulkin also had a son James, who is also dead without issue.
• Andrew Sproule of Curraghamulkin is passing all of the land left by these deaths to his son Andrew.

Note - John Sproule Crockett, the Solictor, was the son of John Clare Crockett and Martha Sproule of the Holm

The Marriage Settlement of Chadwallader Blayney and Mary Sproule 1792

 This is the marriage settlement of Chadwallader (Cadwallader) Blayney, son of Ambrose Blayney of Oughterard and then Dullaghan,  and Mary Sproule, daughter of John Sproule of Grennan 11 Ap 1792

 

478 553 311812 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org, transcribed by Kate Tammemagi

A memorial of a deed or articles of marriage dated 11 Ap 1792 between Ambrose Blaney of Oughterard in the Parish of Dromore Co Tyrone, farmer in the first part, John Sproule of Grennan in the said parish in the second part, also in the second part Chadwalader Blayney eldest son of the said Ambrose Blayney of the 3^rd part Mary Sproule, eldest daughter of the said John Sproule of the fourth part. Whereby for the consideration therein mentioned namely the said marriage it is agreed in case the said Mary Sproule should survive survive the said intended husband Chadwallader Blayney having issue then it shall and may be lawful for the said Mary Sproule to take and receive the tenants, leases and profits of all that part of the lands of Bodony situated in the parish of Dromore in the occupation of the said Chad. Blayney this understood to consist of about 40 acres of arable and green pasture with the bog … belonging and after her decease then to the heirs of Chad Blayney by her begotten. It was further agreed in case the said Mary Sproule should die within the space of 12 months from the date thereof without issue 50% of her fortune should be returned. 

And the said Ambrose Blanyey did by the said deed did grant make over unto his son the said Chad Blayney for the consideration therein mentioned all that part of the said lands of Bodoney all his title rights interest therein. And the said John Sproule in the said deed did grant and make over one yearly rent charge of thirteen pounds and thirteen shillings issuable and payable from out of the lands of Dullaghan in the Parish of Dromore to be payable until the sum of one hundred pounds sterling be paid the said Chad Blayney for the marriage portion of the said Mary Sproule. In case the said Mary Sproule should survive the said Chad. Blayney after the expiration of Cormac McNulty and Owen McNulty’s lease then she is only to receive the yearly sum of 10 pounds sterling during her life.

Witnessed James Buchanan of Omagh Gent, Charles Thompson and Charles Caldwell both of the parish of Dromore

James Buchanan and Charles Caldwell did the registration of the deed.

Identifying Sproule Families in Ireland - Learning from the Y-DNA

Thanks to all of the members of the Sproule DNA project, and to Joe Sprowl who manages this, we have managed begin identifying different Sproule families. In this post, I will look at some of the Irish Sproule Lines

Two Separate Sproule Families

The first finding was that there are different  Sproule families in Ireland – that was expected. It used to be thought that they all came from one family who arrived in Donegal in 1622. However, the 1665 Hearth Money Rolls suggested that there were different Sproule families who arrived at different times. We have found so far in the Sproule DNA project two specific mutations that identify two of these families.

One mutation in the Y-DNA is unique to the Sproules who came from Scotland in 1622, from Renfrewshire. They dispersed throughout Donegal and Tyrone. There are descendants of these Sproules in America, Canada, Australia and the West Indes. We have called this mutation The Cowden Mutation. If you have the Cowden Mutation in your DNA no matter where you are in the world, it tells us firstly that your family came from Ireland, and secondly that you are a descendant of these Cowden Sproules.

A second family, who do not carry the Cowden Sproule mutation, but who have their own unique mutation, is the Clondermot Sproules. I believe they arrived from Scotland much earlier than the Cowden Sproules, and they settled in an area of Clondermot that is now round New Buildings. This family did not come from Cowden, Renfrewshire, but we do not as yet know where they originated.

The Cowden Sproules

We have some further information on some of the Sproule lines in Donegal and Tyrone. Of course,  the more folk that come forward with their Y-DNA, the more we will learn.

The Mutation	The Family	Known families with this Mutation
The Cornet Andrew mutation BY105178 This mutation arose round the birth of Cornet Andrew Spreull, or his father. He died in about 1733 in Grennan, Dromore. This family has the Cowden mutation, but does not have the Tullymoan or Kilclean mutations.	This family are descendants of Cornet Andrew Spreull or his father. The descendants lived in  Dromore, East Longfield and Longfield West, Tyrone	1.    Robert Sproule m. Sara Whitcomb, 15 Nov 1745 at Marlborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts 2.    James Sproul d. 12 May 1863 m. Elizabeth, Lennox & Addington Co., Ontario, Canada 3.    William Sproule b. abt 1818 m. Mary Whelan, Beauharnois County, Canada East (Quebec), Canada
The Kilclean Mutation FGC60995 The Kilclean mutation arose before 1720 in Ireland. Kilcleans have the Cowden mutation, but do not have the Tullymoan or Cornet Andrew mutations.	Discovered in the family of James Sproule of Kilclean b. abt 1808 who married m. Rebecca Baxter. The family went to live in the Parish of Simonds, St. John County, New Brunswick, Canada. This family were all Stone Masons, and in Ireland the eldest son was always William.	1.    Thomas Sproul m. Sarah Rea  12 Nov 1761 New Castle County, Delaware 2.    Robert Sprowl b. 1782 m. Mary, Chester Co. Pennsylvania
The Tullymoan Mutation R-FT107246 The Tullymoan family have this mutation and they have the Cowden mutation, but do not have the Cornet Andrew or Kilclean mutations. We do not as yet know when the Tullymoan mutation arose in this family.	The Sproule family of Tullymoan, Urney, of which I am one. The family have lived on this farm from the early 1600s until today.	1.    Sligo Sproules, of Billa, Ballysadare. 2.    Robert Sproul b. c1737 died c 1800 (m) Mary Henry, Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland
The Carncorran /Castlebane Sproules There is no mutation here. This family only has the Cowden mutation – no other mutations. They descend directly  from the same line as Cornet Andrew, but from earlier than him, before that mutation was formed. The Killen Sproules below are similar, and it is likely that they come from the same ancestor in the mid 1600s.	The family of Robert Sproule of Carncorran, Ardstraw, Tyrone d. 16 Dec 1844 who married Matilda Irwin. This family are closely related to the Castlebane Sproules and probably the Carrickadartans Sproules
The Killen Sproules There is no mutation here. This family only has the Cowden mutation – no other mutations. They descend from an earlier line and are close to the Carncorran Sproules in the about the mid 1600s	The family of Alexander Sproule of Edenasop, Termonamongan, Tyrone b. abt 1796 m. Jane

 

The Clondermot Sproules

The Mutation	The Family	Known families with this Mutation
The Clondermot Mutation R-FT157516 The Clondermot Sproules do not have any of the other mutations. They came to Ireland from Scotland before the Cowden Sproules and were well established in Gortin and Tully Upper by the 1660s. We do not know where exactly they came from as yet.	John Sproule 1771–1861 m. Sarah Orr – went on to live in Nova Scotia	1.    William Sproul b. 1827 Baltimore, Maryland, m. Ellen Baublitz 2.    The Evish Sproules, of Camus, Tyrone – unconfirmed by mutation 3.    The Glenfin /Ballybofey Sproules – unconfirmed by mutation (The second two here are identified as Clondermot Sproules by different means)

 

 

Part 3 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA, Using the Mutation

 The Cornet Andrew Mutation, BY105178, had been found in four members of the Sproule DNA Project. Two of those members helped us pin down the time that this mutation had occurred, and this was round the birth of Cornet Andrew Spreull in Tyrone, or very close to that time.

Tommy was another project member who had this Cornet Andrew Mutation.  Like many other people, he had been searching for his roots, and he had invested in Y-DNA testing – and thank goodness he did! Without Tommy and all of the other Sproule DNA project members, we could never have identified something like the Cornet Andrew mutation, or, indeed, the other Sproule family mutations that we have found.

Tommy’s ancestor was a man called James Sproule who lived in Addington, in Canada. James was born in 1788 and in the 1851 Census he is a farmer. Now looking for a James Sproule, who was born in Ireland at that time… well let’s just say that the words ‘needles’ and ‘haystacks’ leap to mind! That name occurs in almost every Sproule family.

But now we know that this James Sproule of Addington had the Cornet Andrew mutation, and we know that he is a close relative or descendant of Cornet Andrew Spreull himself.

We are looking in two areas. The sons of Cornet Andrew were left land in two deeds both dated 10 March 1719. In one deed, Cornet Andrew leaves the townland of Grennan to 3 of his sons, Andrew, James and Charles. The name James occurs everywhere in these three Grennan families - there are loads of them!  A few years ago some of us Sproule researchers worked together at trying to sort them out and it took a while! However, an awful lot of work has been done on the Grennan Sproules, and most, if not all of the James Sproules there  have been identified and accounted for.

The second place to look is the Curraghamulkin Sproules. In the second deed of 1719, Cornet Andrew left the the Curraghamulkin land to his son Joseph. The Curraghamulkin Sproules are  a much better bet to find our James Sproule. They have large families, and many of them ended up in Canada. There are definite gaps in these families.

So let’s look at the family of James Sproule of Addington to see if we can get any clues. In the 1851 census, James is living with, or next to, his son, Joseph. Joseph was born in Ireland in about 1827. This is looking good for the Curraghamulkins – the name Joseph is definitely a Curraghamulkin name.

James has another son, also called James, who is living in Frontenac, and he is an innkeeper. So this family had money. Son James was born in Ireland in 1813.  There seems to be one more son identified, William, and there is a Robert mentioned, but I didn’t find any proof of him. So we have Joseph, James and William, and possibly a Robert. Nothing greatly distinctive there, other than the Joseph.

However, when we look at the children of two of the sons, there is something quite dramatic – well for a Sproule it was dramatic.

Two  of the sons of James Sproule of Addington had named a son Frederick Henry Sproule. This may not seem strange names to the rest of you, but to Sproules at this time, both of these names, Frederick and Henry, were almost unheard of!

Frederick is rare enough, but the name Henry is very striking. There are no Henrys at all in the any of the Grennan Sproule families – none. In my own family tree, which includes all of these families, plus the Tullymoan and the Golan Sproules, there are only 6 Henry Sproules. It really occurs in only 2 families on my tree. The name Henry occurs in the Glenfin Sproules, and in the Curraghamulkin Sproules. So Curraghamulkin get a vote again for our James Sproule of Addington.

But that wasn’t the dramatic thing – it was the two names together, Frederick Henry. For I recognised that name straight away. John Sproule of Ardvarney West, who went with his family to live in Canada, had a son called Henry Frederick Sproule born on 08 Sep 1816.

John Sproule of Ardvarney West is a Curraghamulkin Sproule, the son of John ‘Jack Roe’ Sproule of Curraghamulkin. Furthermore, John  ‘Jack Roe’ Sproule of Curraghamulkin married twice, as we now know, and he had a son Henry – the first Henry in any of these families. The name Henry almost certainly came in to the family with his second wife, Elizabeth Edwards.

Henry, the son of John of Curraghamulkin, was unmarried and had no children. We can speculate that this Henry was, in fact, a Henry Frederick, or a Frederick Henry, and that his nephew and /or great nephews were named for him.

Now we know that our James of Addington is right in there in the family of John ‘Jack Roe’ Sproule. That is fairly definite. Can we get further? Only a bit.

John Sproule of Addington was born in 1788. Based on his age, he is almost certainly the son of one of the three older sons of John ‘Jack Roe’ Sproule.

And there, in my database was the perfect James! I had him. James Sproule of Curraghamulkin, son of Andrew Sproule of Curraghamulkin who died in 1799. Andrew of Curraghamulkin definitely had a son James, no birth date but the time is right, and we don't know what happened to him.

But this was wrong. When I double checked my data for this James, I found him in my notes of a PRONI document dated 30 May 1835, and this James had died in Ireland before 1835. Sad - it was so perfect.

But from all of this, what we can be definite about is that Tommy’s James Sproule of Addington is a Curraghamulkin Sproule, and that he is in the family of John 'Jack Roe' of Curraghamulkin. We can also say that he is almost certainly the son of either Joseph Sproule of Clover Hill or Robert Sproule of Leganvy.

More research to do.

Part 1 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA

Part 2 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA, the Timeline

Part 2 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA, the Timeline

 We had discovered a mutation, BY105178, in the DNA of 4 of our Sproule DNA project members. Other project members did not have this mutation. The 4 who had the BY105178 mutation were:

1. Fred Jun.
2. Ben
3. George
4. Tommy

One of the folk who carried this mutation, Fred Jun, was descended from Charles Sproule of Upper Grennan. So at at some stage along that family line from Fred Jun back through his ancestors,  a male Sproule child had been born with a slight difference in his DNA, this BY105178 mutation. This child in turn passed this on to his own children. But when was that, when was this child born into this family? Fred Sproule was born on 28 May 1926, in Monaghan, Ireland, and we know that Fred was born with this mutation. That tells us straight away that the BY105178 mutation definitely arose in Ireland.

Now, if we look at another of the folk with this mutation, Ben, we can learn more. Ben’s family tree goes back to Nova Scotia, Canada in the mid 1700s, to a couple, Robert and Sarah Sproule. I always check these trees, and there seemed to be a dodgy assumption right there in this one. Robert and Sarah Sproule, living in Annapolis, Nova Scotia, were supposed to have been married in Middlesex County, Massachusetts! How can anyone possibly make the assumption that this is the same couple, that Robert and Sarah Sproule in Massachusetts are the same people as Robert and Sarah Sproule in Nova Scotia? But Robert and Sarah, bless their little cotton socks, were wise enough to call one of their children Elliot. We would find an Elliot Sproule wherever he went.

So Robert Sproule and Sarah Whitcomb were definitely married on 15 November 1745 in Massachusetts. Robert had been born in Ireland, so he must have been born around 1710ish. Robert Sproule of Nova Scotia was born with the BY105178 mutation. Now Robert was not the originator of the mutation, since he had left Ireland, and the mutation continued in Ireland. So Robert's father had to have had this mutation too. So now we know two things about this mutation:

1.       The mutation arose in Ireland

2.       It arose in Ireland before 1700 

Now, let’s look at the family of of Fred. If we go back from Fred Jun. to before the year 1700, we arrive at Cornet Andrew Spreull himself - 

We now have identified a mutation that will link a person to the family of Cornet Andrew Spreull who died in the 1730s.

If you have this mutation in your DNA, you are definitely a descendant of Cornet Andrew, or like Ben, you are a descendant of a very close relative - from his brother or perhaps one generation before Cornet Andrew. If you do not have this mutation, you are definitely not a descendant of Cornet Andrew or his immediate family.

For this reason, I have called this mutation,  the Cornet Andrew Mutation.

We know from a deed in 1719 that Cornet Andrew had at least 7 sons. We know 4 of these sons very well, they include:

• Andrew, James and Charles Sproule, who inherited the Grennan Lands
• Joseph Sproule, who inherited the Curraghamulkin land

Now we have a tool, the Cornet Andrew Mutation, to identify these Cornet Andrew descendants.

This is where life got very exciting - for when I looked at Tommy, another one of the four people who carried the Cornet Andrew Mutation, we were able to achieve so much more.

Part 1 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA

Part 3 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA, Using the Mutation

Part 1 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA

 Like all of us, I get a great thrill when there is a big breakthrough on my family tree. But lately, I have been getting an even bigger buzz from helping Sproules from all over the world to get closer to their breakthough. So it was with huge pleasure that I wrote this email to Tommy, a man who had searched for many, many years to find his family’s home...

This was the reason I had become involved with Joe Sprowl on the Sproule DNA Project - this was the dream. Could we find a specific piece of Sproule DNA that would allow us link a Sproule somewhere in the world to a specific family? Something like a  magic DNA diagnostic tool to help those Sproules who had no clue where their family came from. And here it was.

The Sproule DNA Project had been going for some years. The late Philip Sprowl had begun working with Sproule folk, collecting their Y-DNA, and this mantle was then taken up by Joe Sprowl. Joe does trojan work canvassing project members, analysing the data and managing the whole project.

Joe had made contact with me, and we quickly realised that we shared the same aims. Y-DNA is the male DNA, passed down from male to male, from Sproule to Sproule. But there are problems in making use of this, even with this special Y-DNA, and I had very strong feelings on the topic. I found that Joe shared the same views.

It is terrific to have this Y-DNA. However, DNA on its own is useless. We need a database to compare it to. It’s like the police having the DNA of a suspect, but then find they have no database to turn to to search for him/her. 

Only, in our case in genealogy, the situation is much worse! We have databases online, family trees. The problem is that a lot of the early information, the pre-1850 information, on many of these trees is just plain wrong.  It is like the police having a database that is full of forgeries, mistakes, or incorrect information. We needed validated exemplars of family trees to compare the DNA to.

So we worked together, Joe on the DNA side and me working on the different family trees.

And then came that special day. Joe emailed me:

“Kate we have found a mutation BY105178, it is shared by just 4 project members. The others do not have it. What does this mean? They are:

1. Fred Jun
2. Ben
3. George
4. Tommy

When I looked at that first name, Fred Jun, I knew we were in business – we had found something special. I was very familiar with Fred Jun's family tree, it is the family tree of Fred Sproule who passed away in 1998. Fred was a meticulous Sproule researcher, he loved facts and figures, and he double checked everything. His tree was totally validated. 

We had a single, specific mutation for someone who had a validated Sproule family tree - and not just any Sproule family tree. 

This is the family that Elder made famous - this is the Grennan Sproules.

(The names of our project members have been changed in this post)

Part 2 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA, the Timeline

Part 3 – The Big Breakthough in Sproule DNA, Using the Mutation

 

The Marriage of Edward Sproule of Glenvale and Ann Harpur of Aghadulla

This is the Marriage Settlement Deed, dated 22 Jul 1808

671 423 462077 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org, transcribed by Kate Tammemagi

 A memorial of a deed bearing the date 22 Jul 1808 between John Sproule of Curraghamulkin in the parish of Longfield and Edward Sproule his son on the one part, John Harpur of Aghadulla in the parish of Dromore and Ann Harpur, his daughter on the second part and Thomas Sproule of Curraghamulkin and D Coulson of Omagh in the third part. Whereas a marriage is intended to be solemnized between the said Edward Sproule and the said Ann Harpur and the said John Sproule is now seized by virtue of a lease of lives enabled forever of a part of the lands of Ardvarny in the parish of Magherakilmoney in the County of Fermanagh consisting of 26 plantation acres Now this notice that the said John Sproule for the consideration of the intended marriage and of £300 sterling to be paid by the said John Harpur to the said Edward Sproule as a marriage fortune of his daughter the said Ann Harpur he the said John Sproule for the said considerations doth transfer convey make over release and confirm that part of the lands of Ardvarny with one full half of the timber growing on the premises to have and hold as did the said John Sproule and Daniel Wilson their heirs and assigns for the several uses and purposes therein mentioned that is to say in case there shall be issue of this intended marriage so premises are to descend to such issue in such manner as the law shall – and appoints and at the time of the death of said Ann Harpur the lands shall descend to the said Edward Sproule his heirs and assigns on the payment of £200 to the said John Harpur his heirs etc.

Witnessed by William Todd  of Aghadulla gent

• John Sproule is John 'Jack Roe' Sproule of Curraghamulkin
• Thomas Sproule of Curraghamulkin and the Coulson gentleman were the trustees who would manage the 'marriage portion' in a trust. Thomas Sproule is the brother of Edward of Glenvale.
• The date of the deed is usually the actual marriage day.
• Ardvarny is in Magheraculmoney, County Fermanagh