William SPRIGG (1633 - 1707+) of Clonavoe c.1690

[marc roberts]

Hoping somebody might be able to help make a connection in my family tree.

I have traced my ancestry back to the following family:

John SPRIGG (c.1710 - 1774), gentleman of Waterford, Waterford IRE, left a will.
his wife Lydia (c.1710 - 1784), both died in Waterford.
Their children include:-
  Samuel SPRIGG (c.1739-1832) attorney of Waterford, my ancestor, married Amy WOGAN.
  Catherine SPRIGG (c.1740-?) married Thomas DALTON.
  Anne SPRIGG (c.1750-?) married Thomas DELANDER.
  William SPRIGG (c.1753-?) married Mary McCARTHY.

I've also been looking at the man who is the subject of this message, William SPRIGG (1633-1707+), as he appears to be a very likely candidate for an ancestor of the above John SPRIGG. The SPRIGG name seems quite uncommon in Ireland around this time, indeed William SPRIGG is the earliest bearer of the name I can identify, so there is only a gap of a generation or two between him and my John. I have found quite a lot of interesting information on William SPRIGG and his ancestors, so bridging this gap, if possible, would be a great advance in my family tree. Unfortunately information on his children and descendants has been very sparse, so this is where I could most use some help.

What I have so far:-

William SPRIGG (b.1633 Banbury, Oxfordshire, England - d.1707+ place of death unknown)
  married 1671 in Dublin, to Margaret HAMILTON.
Their suspected children include:_
  William SPRIGG (born c.1682 Cork, Ireland) marr. 1708 in Clonavoe, to Catherine DENNY.
     They had two daughters only, Mary (1709) and Margaret.
  Lucy SPRIGG, marr. c.1705, to Peter HOLMES.

So neither of the identified children above would be my ancestor, however it is quite likely there are other children of William SPRIGG and Margaret HAMILTON yet to be found.

The only other bearers of the SPRIGG name I've been able to locate in Ireland from the relevant time period are the following strays, who possibly fit into the picture somehow, and may be useful points of reference:-

Mary SPRIGG married 1721, to Nathaniel HUNT, in Ireland.
Catherine SPRIGG of Limerick, married c.1736 in Farrahy, Limerick, to Stephen BOWEN.
William SPRIGG, died 1791, Newcastle, Limerick, Church Minister, left a will.
Bartholomew SPRIGG, married 1769, Cork, to Mary COURCY.

I'll include some biographical information on William SPRIGG (1633-1707+) in a message below.

[marc roberts]

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.

[marc roberts]

So to summarize my query, I was hoping that somebody might be able to help find some further information on the descendants of William SPRIGG and Margaret HAMILTON of Clonavoe which might connect them to the family of John and Lydia SPRIGG of Waterford.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.