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According to the 1901 census for Maghernageeragh, Tyrone, Ireland where she is working in a pub my great granny Jemima Sproule was born in 1879 in Tyrone and was Church of Ireland. We've searched for her records in PRONI but the only record which comes up is for Derry for the daughter of a railway worker. There also does not seem to be any birth records for her sister Rebecca Jane Sproule born 1884 but her wedding certificate at the church of ireland church at Six mile cross gives their mother as being Louise Hamilton.

According to Jemima's marriage certificate and her daughter-in-law who is still living her father Robert Sproule who was a turf cutter/labourer was alive in 1910.

However, I have not had much luck at finding a wedding certificate for Robert and Louise Hamilton - or birth/baptism certificates for either of the two girls. Could this be down to the fact they are church of ireland and where would be the best place to check for these - and how would you know the parish. In 1901 Rebecca was living with her Aunt Bella Sproule in Maghernageeragh

Thursday 18th Dec 2014, 12:16PM

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  • link to the 1901 census for reference

    The household where your Jemima is listed is in Magheranageeragh townland, which is in Termonmongan civil parish. She may not have been born in the same parish so you might need to check other parishes for baptisms. I think the best place to check for earlier details, if you havn't already, is with civil records which are available for Northern Ireland counties on the GRONI Direct website (subscription required).

    Just a note re marriage certs, uless specifially noted as deceased, these dont record if a father is alive or not..

    p.s. I've never seen an Irish Church of Ireland marriage cert which included mother's name..

    Shane Wilson, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Thursday 18th Dec 2014, 12:38PM
  • GRONI has a birth for a Rebecca Sproule on 9.1.1885 registered in Castlederg. Mother?s maiden name was Bradley. You can view that for ?2 on the GRONI site using the search birth registrations option:

    https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

     

    Like Shane, I have never seen a mother?s name on an Irish marriage certificate. I suspect Louise Hamilton was one of the witnesses.

    Ahoghill Antrim

    Thursday 18th Dec 2014, 12:57PM
  • following on from that 1885 birth there's also a Martha Sproule born 20th July 1879, with Bradley as her mother's maiden name. Maybe Jemimia was a short or nick name ?

    Shane Wilson, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Thursday 18th Dec 2014, 01:12PM
  • Hi,

    My name is Mike - long story short I am related to Rebecca Jane Sproule though her husband William John Gallagher. They moved out to Australia and settled in Kyogle. I have actually met Rebecca's decendants during a recent trip back home where they still live in the Kyogle area. I was given a disc with many photos etc on it which I'd be happy to share. I'm not entirely sure of everyone but there's pictures of Rebecca and William along with their children. Get back in touch if this is of any interest to you.
    Best wishes,
    Mike

    Ps here is the information I have about Rebecca from a document I made for my dad (my grandfather was William John's younger brother) -

    William married Rebecca Jane Sproule Born: 3/3/1884 Died 7/10/1961 (her father?s name was Robert) in Glenbush, Armoy which is at the top of Northern Ireland on the 12/5/1905.
    William John Gallagher's wife Rebecca arrived with her two daughters aged 3 and 1 from Cape Town to Sydney on board the "Moravian" on 13 Dec 1909.
    They had three children;
    Jemima Elizabeth Gallagher: Born: 10/6/1908 Kelleter, Co Tyrone Northern Ireland
    Died: 20/6/1948 Kyogle, NSW
    Isobel Mary Gallagher: Born: 1908 (quite possibly another twin)
    Winifred Vera Gallagher Born approx. 1915
    Died unknown Kyogle,NSW
    William lived his life as a farmer. His daughter Jemima married Arthur James Moore (1900-1961).
    Isobella married a man by the name of John Thomas Claydon (1908-1996) and they had a son called Lionel John Claydon.

    Friday 9th Jan 2015, 11:17PM
  • Hi,

    My name is Mike - long story short I am related to Rebecca Jane Sproule though her husband William John Gallagher. They moved out to Australia and settled in Kyogle. I have actually met Rebecca's decendants during a recent trip back home where they still live in the Kyogle area. I was given a disc with many photos etc on it which I'd be happy to share. I'm not entirely sure of everyone but there's pictures of Rebecca and William along with their children. Get back in touch if this is of any interest to you.
    Best wishes,
    Mike

    Ps here is the information I have about Rebecca from a document I made for my dad (my grandfather was William John's younger brother) -

    William married Rebecca Jane Sproule Born: 3/3/1884 Died 7/10/1961 (her father?s name was Robert) in Glenbush, Armoy which is at the top of Northern Ireland on the 12/5/1905.
    William John Gallagher's wife Rebecca arrived with her two daughters aged 3 and 1 from Cape Town to Sydney on board the "Moravian" on 13 Dec 1909.
    They had three children;
    Jemima Elizabeth Gallagher: Born: 10/6/1908 Kelleter, Co Tyrone Northern Ireland
    Died: 20/6/1948 Kyogle, NSW
    Isobel Mary Gallagher: Born: 1908 (quite possibly another twin)
    Winifred Vera Gallagher Born approx. 1915
    Died unknown Kyogle,NSW
    William lived his life as a farmer. His daughter Jemima married Arthur James Moore (1900-1961).
    Isobella married a man by the name of John Thomas Claydon (1908-1996) and they had a son called Lionel John Claydon.

    Friday 9th Jan 2015, 11:18PM
  • Hi Mike - I've been in communication with some of your people in Australia before and the lady sent me two pictures of Rebecca and her daughter and some of the details you have above. I was recently recommended to go on the Castlederg Family history facebook page - and have posted up this query and the pictures of Rebecca and Jemima as I was pretty sure from the communications I'd had with your relative that they are sisters or cousins. One of the potential leads they got me was for a Robert Sproule married to a Bradley. Our next step was to try to find a birth or baptism certificate for either Jemima or Rebecca....which you guys have here. There are a few people on that forum who have searched the Sproule family in a lot of detail going back to 16th century and know all the branches. They also found her Jemima's grave stone for me - pictures of all the graves in the catholic church in Aghyaran are online - which indicates she might have been a bit older than she said when she got married and could have been born in 1872 to 1879. I suspect now that Jemima is her middle name probably too, so I'm looking for a baptism between those two dates. They say their baptism records will probably be in the Church of Ireland Church in Killen and they posted a picture of the police barracks where she worked. One other thing you might not know - when I looked up your Rebecca in the 1901 census she is living with an aunt called Bella Sproule. There is a record in the 1841/1851 summary census which was used to calculate the pensions for Maghernageerah- with a Robert Sproule as a small baby who could be our one. His dad is called William - my granddad's name and his mum is called Bella. With Robert's sister called Bella it is possible these are our people.

    Saturday 10th Jan 2015, 09:07AM
  • Hi Mike - I've been in communication with some of your people in Australia before and the lady sent me two pictures of Rebecca and her daughter and some of the details you have above. I was recently recommended to go on the Castlederg Family history facebook page - and have posted up this query and the pictures of Rebecca and Jemima as I was pretty sure from the communications I'd had with your relative that they are sisters or cousins. One of the potential leads they got me was for a Robert Sproule married to a Bradley. Our next step was to try to find a birth or baptism certificate for either Jemima or Rebecca....which you guys have here. There are a few people on that forum who have searched the Sproule family in a lot of detail going back to 16th century and know all the branches. They also found her Jemima's grave stone for me - pictures of all the graves in the catholic church in Aghyaran are online - which indicates she might have been a bit older than she said when she got married and could have been born in 1872 to 1879. I suspect now that Jemima is her middle name probably too, so I'm looking for a baptism between those two dates. They say their baptism records will probably be in the Church of Ireland Church in Killen and they posted a picture of the police barracks where she worked. One other thing you might not know - when I looked up your Rebecca in the 1901 census she is living with an aunt called Bella Sproule. There is a record in the 1841/1851 summary census which was used to calculate the pensions for Maghernageerah- with a Robert Sproule as a small baby who could be our one. His dad is called William - my granddad's name and his mum is called Bella. With Robert's sister called Bella it is possible these are our people.

    Saturday 10th Jan 2015, 09:07AM

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