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

 

The Intriguing Robert Sproule of Jamaica

 What a difference 7 years makes. This record wasn’t there in the Church Records of Jamaica on Familysearch.org when I was researching Jamaica in 2012/2013. Now I was looking again in 2020, and here it was. The mystery of Mary Anne Schouberg, for that is the spelling in Jamaica, was solved.  Unfortunately, as is often the case, the solution not only solved the mystery but it also generated a lot of questions, and this time they were really, really, challenging.

The questions all centred round the mysterious and intriguing Robert Sproule of Jamaica. Indeed, was there 'a' Robert Sproule of Jamaica, just one, or were there two Robert Sproules of Jamaica? Or were there two Robert Sproules, but only one Robert Sproule was real and the other Robert Sproule was an imposter? And if the second Robert Sproule was an imposter – who was he? Those were the kind of questions I was facing, definitely challenging. It took a lot to sort this out, with detective work, timelines and a  ‘murder wall’ – the whole scene!

But first I have to build the story up for you. This Robert Sproule in Jamaica lived in the parish of St George. We know who he is. He is another Tullymoan Sproule, the son of Robert Sproule who was born on the Tullymoan farm some time round the 1770s. Robert, the father, was a brother of James Sproule of Stokes Hall, Jamaica, and later Mellmount.

Robert Sproule the father was, I believe, a businessman rather than a farmer, and our Robert Sproule of St George appears to have followed in his father’s footsteps. We gather this from an investigation of his history in Jamaica.

Parishes in Jamaica in the early 1800s 

Robert first appears in the parish of St. George on the 28^th Jun 1829, when he registered himself as an owner of one slave. The parish of St George is to the north west of St Thomas in the East, where his uncle James Sproule was living in his plantation at Stokes Hall.

Robert in St George, 1832, from
Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers, 1813-1834 Ancestry.com

In 1832, Robert again registered slaves, but only 3.[1] This immediately tells us that Robert is not a planter like his uncle James – he’s not a plantation manager or owner. He could possibly, then, be an agent or a merchant of some kind. 

We never find out for certain where exactly in St George Robert Sproule is living – no town or plantation is every mentioned, with one exception. This was in 1838, when, according to the Jamaican Almanac of that year, Robert Sproule registered the plantation of Orange Vale, St George, with 124 apprentices.[2] ‘Apprentices’ were former slaves, set free in the emancipation in 1834. This year of 1838 is the only year that Robert is associated with this plantation in the records, and if we look at the history of Orange Vale, we get a hint as to what business Robert is in.

From Centre for the Study of Legacies of British Slavery

This Orange Vale plantation was registered by managers from 1823 to 1826. 'Managers' would have actually run the plantation and occasionally register it when the owner was off-island. After this it was registered by an agent, who was an attorney, one George McLeish, until the end of slavery. Now the agent wouldn’t have actually run the plantation, that would still be the manager, the agent represented the Owner's interests. Occasionally, the agent may have lived there. I think it is very likely that Robert Sproule was in the same company as George McLeish and that they were agents and attorneys. He only registered Orange Vale himself for this one year.

We also know that Robert Sproule registered for the militia and that he was also later a magistrate in St. George.

I had discovered all of this in early 2013 and that was when I received a rather astounding email from a gentleman in Australia. This email seemed to concern this same Robert Sproule. The Australian gentleman had seen my blog, which at that time had mentioned Jamaica, but not yet the story of James Sproule of Mellmount.

He said that his ancestor, a Jane Thomas Sproule, was married in Melbourne in 1855. Jane Thomas Sproule was married;

"…at the house of Mr Sproule, according to the ceremonies of the church of Scotland. Jane stayed in Australia & had at least 5 children including Charles Mansfield, in 1864. I don't know if Jane's mother (Mary Ann Thomas) ever came to Australia. Jane's father, is identified as a Planter from Jamaica – Robert Sproule.”

 I remember my first reaction to this – it can’t be true. Robert Sproule, a Planter from Jamaica, was in Australia in 1855? Nobody could go all that way from Jamaica to Melbourne and then back to Jamaica again, especially in those days. Could he really have done that, could Robert Sproule have gone from Jamaica to Australia? Why on earth would he do that?

I had to check for proof of this, so I went back to my Australian gentlemen and asked if he had any details or documents. He had indeed! Unfortunately, he did not send this, but he told me;

“I have a Victorian marriage cert. from 1855 which is for Jane Thomas Sproule (who must have been about age 20), marrying James Ward. Her father is identified as Robert Sproule, PLANTER, from Jamaica. Her mother, Mary Ann Thomas. I also have a birth cert. for Charles Mansfield Ward, 1864, born to Jane Sproule ( birthplace, Jamaica, West Indies) age 29, & James Ward.”

Now that all sounded very legitimate and it was enough detail for me to do some checking in Jamaica. My informant did not know, as I hadn’t yet published the story, that I was by now very familiar with these Sproules and their relationships with slave ladies in Jamaica. There was a strong possibility that Jane Thomas Sproule, the daughter who was born about 1835, was not the daughter of Robert Sproule’s wife, Mary Ann Thomas, but was the child of some slave lady.

I went hunting first for a child named Jane born to any Robert Sproule in Jamaica. I looked in the Familysearch.org where there is a super collection in the Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts - these contains baptisms. This database would also include slave baptisms. There was no child baptised named Jane Sproule daugher of a Robert Sproule - absolutely none.  

I had already found one child born to a Robert Sproule in that same database, and even after a search at that time, I could find no more.* This was the baptism of the son of our Robert Sproule. He was also called Robert Sproule, and he was born on 20 Nov 1842 in Orange Vale. His father was named as Robert Sproule, and his mother was, Mary Ann, wife of Robert Sproule.  

The baptism of the son of Robert Sproule,
Jamaica Births and Baptisms, 1752-1920, Familysearch.org

This is definitely our Robert Sproule and he seems to be actually living in Orange Vale at that time. This son later became Robert Sproule of Mulvin. It is also notable that Robert describes himself here in this birth record as a ‘Planter’, just as the Robert Sproule in Australia did.

No sign of a daughter of Robert Sproule named Jane Thomas Sproule. I checked the will of our Robert Sproule written after he returned to  Ireland, dated 27th of June 1860, to see if he mentioned a daughter Jane  – there was no Jane there at all.[3]

Now I went to search the slave records on Ancestry. 

There was only one Jane Sproule registered as a slave in the whole of Jamaica, and she is Jane, the daughter of James Sproule of Stokes Hall. No other Jane Sproul is registered as a slave.

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

Of course, if Jane Thomas Sproule was born in 1835, as the informant said, she would not have been born a slave, as this was after emancipation. 

At this point I went back to my Australian gentleman telling him that I could not find Jane Thomas Sproule, but that Robert Sproule appeared to be the only planter in Jamaica. I also said that in my view the liklihood was that Jane Thomas Sproule was almost certainly the child of a former slave and that Mary Ann Thomas, his wife, was unlikely to have been her mother.
And that’s where I left it in 2013.

But Mary Ann Thomas wasn’t the wife of Robert Sproule at all, was she? No, she wasn’t. For in May 2020, when I went back to the Jamaican records,  I found out that the wife of Robert Sproule of Jamaica and later of Mulvin was none other than our aforementioned Mary Ann Schouberg.

In the Parish of St. George in 1836, we have, 

"Robert Sproule and Mary Ann Schouberg, both of this Parish, were married by Licence on the 18th day of June in the year 1836" [4]

Robert Sproule of Jamaica and Mulvin had married Mary Ann Schouberg - not Mary Ann Thomas. Robert and Mary Ann Schouberg had one child  in Jamaica, and they had a further 6 children in Ireland. These children were baptised in the 1st Strabane Presbyterian Church. Robert mentions only 3 children in his will of 1862 - Robert, Andrew S. and Margaret Matilda. Andrew S. is Andrew Schouberg Sproule.

Now you see the questions that we have. Who was that lady who got married in Melbourne, Australia, in 1855, the Jane Thomas Sproule? Who was the man who said he was her father, Robert Sproule, Planter, from Jamaica? Could he be our Robert Sproule of Jamaica? What if he wasn't?

What we really need now is more evidence. We need to find Jane Thomas Sproule in Jamaica. If she is anywhere near our Robert Sproule, that will tell us a lot. If not...

Next Post 

Robert Sproule and Jane Thomas Sproule

Previous Posts in this Story

Robert Sproule and Marianne Schoburgh

References:

[1] Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers, 1813-1834 Ancestry.com https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/1129/

[2] 1838 Jamaica Almanac in Jamaican Family Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/AL38Geor.htm

[3] The will of Robert Sproule of Mulvin, formerly Jamaica is in PRONI Will Calendars

[4] Jamaica Births and Baptisms, 1752-1920, Familysearch.org

The map of the parishes above is from https://goodnewsjamaica.com/2019/09/13/the-history-of-the-jamaican-parishes/

* There actually is one other Robert Sproule there in St Thomas in the East, with a wife Ann. He is not relevant to this story.  I'll address this Robert in a later post.

 

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. 

Sorting the Mullaghabane Sproules

Sorting the early Mullaghabane Sproules is tricky! I'm still not happy with it. This table will give you an idea of some of the complications. Here are all of the births from Mullaghabane in the 1830s and 1940s recorded in the Dromore Church Records: [1]

Baptism Date	Birth Date
24 April 1838	7 April 1838	James	James Sproul and Mary Jane Sproule	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
18 Dec 1838	18 Nov 1838	Sarah	James Sproule and Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
27 Mar 1840	24 Mar 1840	Elizabeth	James Sproull Senior and Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
13 Sep 1840	15 Aug 1840	Elizabeth	James Sproull & Marianne Sproull	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
5 July 1842	12 July 1842	Charles	James Sproull & Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
19 Feb 1843	16 Jan 1843	John	James Sproull & Mary Sproull	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
14 May 1845	6 May 1845	William	James Sproule & Mary Sproule	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore

 There is a superfluity of ‘James Sproules’ there! There are also a lot wives named Mary, just to make life a tad more complicated.

Looking to the land doesn’t really help, at the moment anyway. In the Tithe Applotment of 1834, the same time period as the births above, we find only two families of Sproules in Mullaghabane.[2]

Mullaghabane Tithe Applotment 1834
James Sproule	Mullaghabane	9 acres
Sarah Sproule	Mullaghabane	11 acres

Who is Sarah??? And there is only one James there, where are all my other James’ and the wife Marys? 

This Tithe does show, however, just how small the plots of land that the Mullaghabane Sproules are living on at this time - just 9 acres and 11 acres. It is possible that when John Sproule of Grennan was alive, they may have possessed more land in Mullagabane, they may have had a bigger area. John Sproule leased quite a bit, but he was constantly mortgaging it out, so he may have lost it.

James Sproule and Ann Blayney

Right, let's begin. We can identify James Sproule and Ann Blayney straight away. On the 2nd February 1838 we have the wedding of James and Ann in Dromore Church;

“James Sproule son of Armour Sproule and Ann Sproule alias Given and Anne Blaney daughter of Ambrose Blaney and Elizabeth Blaney alias Smith of Dullaghan,  Parish of Dromore, Witnesses William Smith and Alexander Anthony” [3]

So this James is the son of Armour Sproule and Ann Given. Ann Blayney is the daughter of Ambrose Blayney of Dullagahan and his wife Elizabeth Smith. Ambrose was the son of Chadwallader Blayney and Mary Sproule of Grennan, daughter of John Sproule. We know from the Marriage Settlement deed of this couple that Chadwallader’s father was also called Ambrose Blayney and that he lived in Oughterard, Dromore. 

We can actually go further back with this Blayney family of Oughterard, thanks again to Jamie Reid. Jamie found a deed for the marriage of John Blayney, the brother of this Ambrose, to Mary Osborne. The marriage took place in 1757 and in the marriage settlement we learn that Ambrose’s father was, yes, you’ve guessed it, Chadwallader Blayney.[5] So right back to the early 1700s, this Blayney family were living there in Oughterard, Dromore, and those two names, Ambrose and Chadwallader, alternated with each generation.

So that is one of our James Sproules of Mullaghabane identified, he is the son of Armour and Ann Given - we will call him James1. 

James1 Sproule and Ann Blayney had two daughters and a son recorded in those Dromore Church Records;

18 Dec 1838	18 Nov 1838	Sarah	James Sproule and Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
27 Mar 1840	24 Mar 1840	Elizabeth	James Sproull Senior and Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
5 July 1842	12 July 1842	Charles	James Sproull & Ann Blayney	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore

No more children after 1842, which makes sense. Remember that Armour Sproule has gone to Canada in 1816, so James1, his son, is working his land. John Sproule, Armour’s eldest child, has also gone to Canada and he is living in Prescott, Ontario with his wife Mary Ann Barton.

Therefore James1 is the James Sproule in the Tithe Applotment of 1834, living on 9 acres. James1 must also be the one who died in 1842 – a will for a James Sproule of Mullaghabane recorded in Prerogative Wills. So this 9 acre plot that James1 is occupying used to be Armour Sproule’s land.

Who, then, is the other James Sproule living in Mullaghabane in the Dromore birth records? Well, we learn more about him from the wedding of the daughter of Armour Sproule, she was Mary Jane Sproule.  

James Sproule and Mary Jane Sproule

Mary Jane married on 1 June 1837 to James Sproule of Mullaghabane;

“Married James Sproule son of James Sproule and Fanny, alias Harper, of Mullabane Parish of Dromore to Mary Jane Daughter of Armor Sproul and Nancy alias Given of Mullabane Parish of Dromore. Witnesses John Allen and Matthew Guy” [3]

 This is a Mullaghbane Sproule – Mullaghbane Sproule marriage! We have the second James Sproule of Mullaghabane marrying the daughter of Armour Sproule. This James Sproule, who we will call James3,  is the son of another James Sproule of Mullaghbane, James2, and his wife Fanny Harper.  Are you with me so far?

So James2 of Mullaghbane and Armour Sproule are in the same generation, and they had been living side-by-side in Mullaghbane. This would suggest that they were, in fact, brothers – possibly both sons of John Sproule of Grennan. We have no proof of this, however.

So James2 Sproule of Mullaghabane is married to Fanny Harper. We only know of one child of this couple so far, and that is James3 Sproule who married Mary Jane, the daughter of Armour Sproule. Again, we can see the children of James3 and Mary Jane in the Dromore Church Records;

24 April 1838	7 April 1838	James	James Sproul and Mary Jane Sproule	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
13 Sep 1840	15 Aug 1840	Elizabeth	James Sproull & Marianne Sproull	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
19 Feb 1843	16 Jan 1843	John	James Sproull & Mary Sproull	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore
14 May 1845	6 May 1845	William	James Sproule & Mary Sproule	Mullaghbane, Parish of Dromore

Despite the slight variations in the wife’s name there, and I take full responsibility as the one who transcribed these, they are definitely the children of James3 and Mary Jane Sproule. The family moved to Darlington, Durham West, Ontario, Canada, and we can see them listed in the 1861 Census of Darlington – the names match perfectly.

1861 Census of Canada, Durham, Canada West, Ancestry.com

You can see at the bottom, by the way, a 75 year old, lady called Ann Sproule. This has to be Mary Jane’s mother, Ann Given again. She was 'a visitor' with her son John in the 1851 census.

We have sorted the two James Sproules in the Dromore Church Records, and added a third, the James Sproule who married Fanny Harper. That is all very tidy. Now it starts to get messy!

Sarah Sproule of Mullaghabane

If you look at the Tithe Applotment above, we have a Sarah Sproule, and she is on the land that is not Armour Sproule land. This is the land of James2 and Fanny Harper – and their son James3 who later married Mary Jane Sproule. Where did the Sarah come from?

We have one more document to help, a bit anyway! In about 1835 there was a Presbyterian Census, and we have the record from this for the Dromore Presbyterian Church – thanks again to Jamie Reid. 

In Mullaghabane in the 1835 Census we have;

1. James Sproule of Mullaghbane (Dromore), Presbyterian. Sister: Anne Sproule; Brother: William Sproule 
2. Sarah Sproule of Mullaghbane (Dromore), Presbyterian.  Sister-in-law: Nancy Sproule; daughter-in-law: Mary Jane Sproule

 I have actually tied myself in knots trying to sort this out, very many times. Apart from anything else, the dates just don't match up! Let's look at the year 1835 which is about the year when the Census was taken.

In 1835 we know that;

✔ Armour and his son John are gone off to Canada with their families
✔ James3 and Mary Jane Sproule are not yet married, they married in 1837. Therefore, the ‘daughter-in-law’ Mary Jane Sproule in the census, should not be her. 
✔ James1 and Ann Blayney are also not yet married, they married in 1838. 

Mullaghabane House 1

So in House 1 we have a James Sproule in the Census, and he must be the unmarried James1 Sproule,the son of Armour Sproule, who later married Ann Blayney. He’s the one who died in 1842. He is in House 1. He is with living there with his brother William and his sister Ann. We now have two more children of Armour Sproule. All good here.

Mullaghabane House 2

This one is the puzzle. In the this home we should have James Sproule and Fanny Harper, or we should have some of their children. We actually have a Sarah Sproule, with her sister-in-law, and her daughter-in-law – no men.

It isn't a case of all the men being off working somewhere. In the Tithe Applotment of 1834, this Sarah Sproule is the person named on this land, she has the lease. Since she has a daughter-in-law we can assume that Sarah was not a Sproule. Sarah Sproule is a widow. Who's widow is she? This census is taken in 1835 so I don't believe that Sarah is the widow of a son of James2 and Fanny Harper - and Sarah also has a daughter-in-law. So Sarah is most likely to be the 2nd wife of James2 Sproule who married Fanny Harper - I think. 

But that is where we have problems. Mary Jane Sproule, the daughter-in-law should, then, be the wife of James3, the son of James2 and Fanny Harper. A second wife, like Sarah, would still refer to her as the 'daughter-in-law'. This would mean that her husband, James3, is off working somewhere. That fits well enough.

But, you see, that doesn't make any sense, as James3 Sproule and Mary Jane Sproule are not married yet - they did not get married until 1 June 1837! So was this part of the Census done later? I don't know. The date of 1835 looks right in other families. 

But I must stop going round in circles and leave it there - any suggestions most welcome!

 So that's the James Sproules of Mullaghbane mostly sorted, though puzzles still remain. 

References;

[1] From Dromore Church Records in PRONI, transcribed by Kate Tammemagi

[2] Tithe Applotment Book for Dromore PRONI FIN/5/A/114B

[3] Dromore Church Record from Jo McCoy - thank Jo.

[4] Marriage Settlement Chadwallader Blayney and Mary Sproule 478 553 311812 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org, transcribed by Kate Tammemagi

[5] 220 356 145078 Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org, Osburn to Blayney (Oughterard) Dated 6 Jul 1757 From Jamie Reid

Other Posts in this Series;

1. Armour Curry Lowery Sproule

2. Armar Lowry-Corry and the Mullaghabane Sproule  

3.  John Sproule of Grennan and the Mullaghabane Sproule

4. How did Armour Curry Lowery Sproule get his Name? 

5. The Letter to Mrs Hugh Keys, Sarah Sproule of Mullaghabane

6. Ann Given, wife of Armour Sproule of Mullaghabane