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Thank you so much, dathai. Those links are fantastic!!!

This family has been an enigma for me for so long, it is just incredible to see it starting to fall into place with concrete details.

I can' make a connection to your person of interest at this time, but hoping something might come up.

Thomas CUNNINGHAM, a Coast Guard boatman from Rathlee, Sligo.
  born. c.1809 based on his age given at the time of his death.
  died. 15 July 1877 in Rathlee, County Sligo, aged 68.
  buried. Kilglass Cemetery, County Sligo.

The witness at his death was Sarah CUNNINGHAM, believed to be his wife who may have been formerly Sarah KILCULLEN. No details of their marriage or Sarah's birth or death are known.

Their only known child was:-
John KILCULLEN, born Patrick John CUNNINGHAM (1850-1916) at Larne, who joined the Royal Navy as an underage boy in 1864, with his father's permission, at Rathlee. John eventually deserted from the Navy in 1876, in Sydney NSW, changed his name, settled in Australia and thereafter claimed his parents were named Thomas KILCULLEN and Sarah CUNNINGHAM.

Looking to hopefully establish some definite information about the CUNNINGHAM and KILCULLEN connections from Sligo. I've opened a separate Topic with more information on this family if anything seems familiar.

Cheers,
Marc

Hi

I know this is an old thread but I have a John Sands McIndoe b.1853 in my family tree, he was the son of William McIndoe and Jean Sands (daughter of John Sands and Janet Morrison).

Would be interested to find out the connection you have to him?

Hi Tom,

To continue the world's most drawn-out conversation...

I am descended from Robert SANDS brother of Janet SANDS and son of John SANDS and Janet MORRISON. Robert and his two brothers John and William SANDS emigrated to Australia in the 1850's and settled in rural Victoria.

I'd be fascinated by anything you could share about this family.

Cheers,
Marc

Some biographical information on William SPRIGG relating to his life in Ireland:-

William began his life in England as an academic and lawyer, but due to his close connections with Oliver CROMWELL he was increasingly persecuted after CROMWELL's death, being driven out of several University positions, until eventually he decided to move to Ireland to start anew.

William married Margaret HAMILTON by licence in 1671 in Dublin. He was around 38 years old at that time. Nothing more is really known for certain about his wife and children. The children indicated are only associated by circumstance, no formal proof of their relationship has been sighted. However the circumstantial evidence is quite compelling.

The eldest of his identified children was a son named William who was said to have been born around 1682 in the port city of Cork, in the south of Ireland. A daughter named Lucy has also been identified, although her age and details of her birth are not known. It is also suggested that other children must have existed, since our own branch of the family does not appear to have descended from either of the two known children. Nothing is known of any of the other children, including our own presumed ancestor.

Discussing the growing class of protestant officials in Ireland who seemed to have been corruptly assuming local municipal offices in order to receive a fee without performing the duties expected, the book 'A New Anatomy of Ireland: The Irish Protestants 1649-1770' states, that "Galway during the early 1680s also suffered from a titular recorder, William SPRIGG, who was seldom available. Thomas YEEDEN, the deputy, did most of the work."

On his brother Joshua's death without an heir in 1684, William SPRIGG inherited his estate at Crayford, in Kent. He returned to England to claim the inheritance and thenceforth resided on the Crayford estate for a time. Joshua had also left a sum of £500 for the poor of Banbury, however William appears to have contested this in a drawn out legal saga that was not finalised until 1707, in the Chancery court, when he was finally forced to concede the payment plus interest to the selected charities in Banbury.

The brief biographical summary provided by the Oxford Alumni archives suggests that William SPRIGG eventually returned to settle in Ireland, and maintained a substantial estate around the townland of Clonavoe, in County Offaly (Kings County), and he appears to have thereafter engaged himself in a life of politics. He represented the nearby constituency of Banagher as a member Parliament (M.P.) from 1692 -1695, and again from 1695 - 1699. William entered Parliament in the aftermath of the Williamite War (1688-91) in which the Catholic Jacobite supporters of King James II were defeated after he was overthrown by William III. Loyalist protestants became increasingly dominant and Catholics were persecuted and restricted. He seems to have become a very wealthy and influential man, with his children being sought after as spouses by the local Irish nobility and political establishment. At least one son and a grand son later became members of Parliament themselves.

The fates of William and Margaret SPRIGG have not yet been determined.

Hey Esther,

A long time ago, but some information relating to your genealogical question is here...

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/Letter_22.htm

Maj. Abraham Augustus NUNN, was the son of John NUNN and Lydia NICKSON of County Wexford, Ireland.