They
had a son CHRISEPHER (son of Peter Sparin and Margaret) christened
on 5 Feb 1756, and a daughter Ann christened on 22 Nov 1758, but are
believed to have gone to USA in 1760.
They
sailed for the New World in the Pery under Captain Hogan. The voyage
took 63 days. He first petitioned for land in Albany Co. in 1763.
William Peter became a schoolmaster, running a business school in
1767 in New York. A further 5 children were born in New York State.
A letter written on 7 September 1772 states that he “had been in
some measure helpful in settling this town” (Salem Twp) and were
pleading for further land nearby where two nephews, George and his
brother, could settle.
By 1773
the family had moved to Camden Valley, Charlotte Co, but left in 1775
with the Empire Loyalists (including a Henry Sparling of Philadelphia)
and were given grants of land in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, then moved
on to North Sydney. A married daughter joined them there, Anne and
her husband Bartholomew Musgrave, who had married in New York in 1778.
So were founded the Cape Breton Sparlings and Musgraves. William Peter
died on 4 February 1821 in Canada, his wife Margaret having died in
October 1820. [See Nova Scotia Chapter].
A HENRY
Sparling was living in Philidelphia prior to 1773. Palatines had been
emigrating to the United States from Ireland since 1756. Henry and
family joined Peter (see above) in his flight from New York to Nova
Scotia in 1775. Is it possible that these two were brothers? He must
have returned to the US as there are no further records of him in
Nova Scotia. A Henry Sparling is shown in the 1790, 1800 and 1810
Albany Co, New York census record. I wonder if this was the land which
Peter Sparling had been granted in 1773—and which he had abandoned
in favour of Nova Scotia.
Henry
must have been the father of Henry Sparling who was born circa 1807
in Albany Co, who married Lovina Luckey and migrated to Pennsylvania
then Illinois, and then to Iowa. JOHN, possibly born about 1726, first
married a Catherine. Her surname is unknown, as is the date of the
marriage as it did not take place in Rathkeale. [Most of the old Irish
Parish records were lost in 1922].
We now
believe that the first child of this marriage was PHILIP born in 1757/58
who lived in Graigue, Adare. He would have been christened in the
church where the wedding had taken place. Later children were all
christened in Rathkeale—CHRISTOPHER (chr 30 Aug 1761), son of John
and Catherine ‘Sparing’; PETER (1764); JOHN (1765), GEORGE (1768);
SAMUEL (1771); JACOB (1773); JAMES (1776); Frances (1778); WILLIAM
(1781) and Catherine (1783). John certainly was a freeholder in Killeheen
in 1755 & 1776.
Catherine,
wife of John of Killiheen died on 20 August 1784; and then, in October,
John Sparling married Elizabeth Teskey of Kilscannell. There was one
son HENRY in 1785. John died on 11 May 1786. He had been churchwarden
of Rathkeale for 1783, 1784, 1785 and 1786. After then, there is no
further mention of him—hardly surprising! His widow Elizabeth (nee
Teskey) married Adam Miller in February 1792. Then, on 21 March 1792,
the vicar records the death of ‘Catherine, daughter of John Sparling
and Elizabeth’. This girl was really the daughter of John and his
first wife Catherine; so the vicar must have made a slip, indicating
to me that it was the same John, who married twice—and the vicar,
9 years later, couldn’t recall which wife was the mother of the dead
girl.
The son
of John and Elizabeth, Henry (1785) turned up in Doonard, Kilnaughtin
Parish in the 1840s. I have succeeded in tracing him to Madras, India,
1812–1825. The descendants of George (1768) state that John had nine
sons, they omit any reference to Jacob (1773) but list all the rest.
The obituary of James (1776) states that nine brothers predeceased
him.
Elizabeth,
possibly born about 1728, married Tobias FISSELL of Courtmatrix on
5 May 1747. They migrated to the Castle Oliver Estate by 1761 where
they settled in Ballyorgan, Kilflyn Parish. It appears that there
might have been contact with nephews, sons of her brother John who
stayed in Rathkeale. It was quite normal for youngsters to be dispatched
to live with uncles and aunts. In this way they learnt the best practices
of husbandry and houswifery away from conflict with their parents.
I Catherine (chr 15 May 1748). II Adam (chr 7 June 1750), died at
Kilfinane 9 Oct 1820. III Margaret (chr 12 Feb 1753). IV Mary (chr
26 Oct 1755). V John (chr 25 Feb 1759). VI Tobias (circa 1762). Tobias,
parish clerk of Kilflyn, died at Coolfree aged 75 years and was interred
on 13 April 1837. Susannah, possibly born about 1730, married Christopher
Youngman on 9 Sept 1749. She is said to have died on 28 July, 1771.
[Dates of birth have been derived from supposition, based on men marrying
about the age of 30 and girls about the age of 20.]
