Sproston
Branches
The database you will find on this site has over 3000 individuals in it at the present time. This is not one large family tree, but a collection of a few large trees, several smaller ones, and a certain amount of unlinked information. This section of the site focuses on some of the larger trees, which may well eventually link into the smaller ones and indeed each other. The idea of this is to make the information in the database more accessible, and also to give a flavour of what life was like in the different parts of the family. You will find here the oldest member of the branch and some of their descendents - for the complete tree, just look up the oldest member in the database.
Please note - the names I have given these trees are purely my own and were introduced simply to make identification easier.
The
Old Middlewich Branch
The Stafford Branch
The Odd Rode Branch
The Challener Branch
The Shropshire US Branch
The Wolstanton US Branch
The Middlewich Tanners
The Newchapel Branch
The Harbury Branch
The Stanier Branch
The Shavington Branch
The Wybunbury Tailors
The Northwich Sawyers
This is, at the current time, one of the oldest branches in the database. It begins with John Sproston, born around 1630 in Middlewich, Cheshire, just west of Sproston village. John's descendents include both the Stafford and the Odd Rode branches, in addition to the Middlewich Tanners and Northwich Sawyers, which I have listed separately simply because the tree itself is now so big. Most of the marriages and births in this oldest branch took place at St Michael's and All Angels, Middlewich. Parish records for this church are not available for sale, so I have yet to visit Chester Register Office to transcribe all Sprostons from this register. Once this is done we may have far more information on John's descendents.
This is my own branch, which nominally begins with Job Sproston, born 1763. In 1801, Job was a boat builder on the Trent & Mersey Canal in the Rode Heath/Odd Rode area of Cheshire. The branch then continues through Samuel, born 1805 in Church Lawton, who married Elizabeth Furnival at St Mary's, Astbury, the church used by this branch for some time to come. Most of the men in this branch worked as miners in the pits in and around the area known as Talk'o'th'Hill (Butt Lane/Talke). Odd Rode itself is a small area of Cheshire between Scholar Green and Rode Heath, close to the Staffordshire border.
Again, the Stafford branch is part of the Old Middlewich branch, but begins with Thomas Sproston born 1789 in Sandbach and his wife, Ann Daines. The branch also moves into Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. There are a large number of people involved in the shoe-making trade in this branch, as well as some farmers at Colwich.
Another old
branch, dating back to John
Sproston born 1719 in Wrenbury, South Cheshire. The family at one
time lived at Sproston Wood, Wrenbury, and there is a family vault in
St Margaret's church nearby. The branch takes its name from the connection
with the Challener family, and the artist Frederick Sproston Challener.
Before 1881, the family appears to have moved away from Wrenbury towards
Birmingham and Warwickshire. Two of John's great grandsons were actually
born in Gibraltar (Hugh, born 1820 and Samuel born 1816). Hugh went on
to become an export merchant and owned 8 ships (see Sprostons of Note).
Another of John's great grandsons, Samuel Thomas Carr Sproston, born 1820,
emigrated to Avoca, Victoria in Australia, sometime in the 1850s where
he married and had several children (see Sprostons
in Australia).
John
Sproston (born Wrenbury 1753) moved to Stratford upon Avon after marrying
his wife, Mary Court at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. He became a farmer
locally and died in 1824, having had 10 children (view John's will here
- pdf).
The Challener branch is characterised by well-educated people who would
definately be called 'upper-class'; they include surgeons, clergymen (see
below) and even mayors, and this is perhaps why their history has survived
so well. The following is an extract from Crockford's Clerical Directory
for 1865:
SPROSTON,
George. Trimdon Parsonage, Ferryhill, Durham -- P. C. of Trimdon,
Dio. Dur. 1846. (Patron, Lieut.-Col. Beckwith; Tithe -- Imp. 184l 17s
2d ; Glebe 120 acres; P. C. 's Inc. 185l and Ho; Pop. 2975)
SPROSTON,
Samuel Thomas, Wednesfield Heath, Wolverhampton. -- Ch. Coll. Cam.;
St. Bees 1st cl. and Prizeman; Deac. 1845, Pr. 1846. P. C. of Wednesfield
Heath, Dio. Lich. 1852. (Patron, H. Rogers, Esq.; P. C. 's Inc. 160l;
Pop. 5049)
"P. C." = Perpetual Curate or Curacy
"Imp." = Impropriator
The next passage relates to members of the Challener branch who were educated as clerics at Oxford and Cambridge University:
Alumni Cantabrigienses
- Part II (1752-1900); Volume 5, p.611
SPROSTON,
GEORGE. Adm., as a 'Ten-year man,' at TRINITY, Jan 27, 1817. P.C.
of Oldbury, Salop, 1832-46. P.C. of Trimdon, Durham, 1847-84. Disappears
from Crockford, 1885.
SPROSTON,
SAMUEL. Adm. pens. (age 19) at MAGDALENE, July 1 1867. [Eldest] s.
of the Rev. Samuel Thomas (next), of Wednesfield Heath, Staffs. (and frances
maria, dau. of the Rev. George Sproston (above) of Trimdon, Durham). [B.
July 30, 1848.] Schools [Wolverhampton and shrewsbury.] Matric. Michs..
1867; Scholar; B.A. 1871. Ord. deacon (London) 1873; priest, 1875; C.
of St. Jude's, Manningham, Bradford, 1873-4. C. of St. Augustine, Queen's
Gate, London, 1874-6. C. of St. Augustine, Haggerston, 1876-8. C. of St
Faith, Stoke Newington, 1878-87. V. of Winterbourne Down, Gloucs., 1887-8.
Married May 7, 1878, Laura Helen, dau. of Charles Twyford, Esq. Died Dec.
7, 1921, at Hove. (Morning Post, Dec 10 1921; Wolverhampton Gr. Sch. Reg.;
Shrewsbury Sch. Reg.; Walford, County Families; Burke, L.G.)
SPROSTON,
SAMUEL THOMAS. Adm. at CHRIST'S, May 24, 1843; a 'Ten-year man.' [S.
of Samuel (and Mary Nelson, dau of Capt. King, R.N.). B. Mar. 24, 1817.]
Matric. Michs. 1864; B.D. (Stat. Eliz.) 1865. Ord. deacon (Chester) 1845;
priest, 1846; C. of Middlewich, Cheshire, 1845-9. C. of Wednesfield heath,
Staffs., 1849-52; V. there, 1852-72. Lic. Pr., dio. of Lichfield, from
1877. Latterly of Whitmore Lodge, Wolverhampton. Married, Feb. 17 1846,
France Maria, dau. of the Rev. George Sproston (1817). Died at Borth,
Cardigans., Jan 17, 1895. Father of the above. (Walford, County Families;
St James Gazette, Jan 22, 1895; Burke, L.G.)
Alumni
Oxoniensis (1715-1886) - Series 2; Volume 4, p.1337.
Sproston
William Manning Sproston, 2s. Samuel Thomas, of Wolverhampton, cler.
CORPUS CHRISTI COLL., matric. 28 Jan., 1882, aged 18; B.A. 1885.
William Sproston (born Wrenbury in 1763) was the head master of the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe.
Samuel
Sproston of Wrenbury, Cheshire lived to be over 90 and seems to have
been one of the last Sprostons to live at Sproston Wood in Wrenbury. The
engraving below of the village of Wrenbury was made by his relation John
Davies Challener on the occasion of Samuel's 87th birthday 'as a small
but lasting memorial of his unbounded liberality and the paternal care
exhibited to every branch of the family committed to him from the first
dawn of life by a vaulable but departed mother. His unshaken attachment
to his church, his queen, and his country and an anxious wish for the
religious, moral and profitable improvement of all around him'.
Many thanks to Christopher Challener for this engraving.
This branch begins with Leonard Sproston, born in Shrewsbury in 1832 (part of the Challener branch). He was a cattle dealer, and in 1883 he emigrated to San Francisco, California with his wife, Emma, and family (see 'Sprostons in America'). Leonard died in 1906, not long before the earthquake of the same year, which devastated the city and left Emma and her children living in the equivalent of a refugee camp (see under Leonard in 'Sproston People'). Nonetheless, Leonard has many descendents in the US.
Another emigrant to the US, John Sproston was born in 1779 and married both his wives (Sarah and Charlotte) in Wolstanton, Stoke on Trent (see 'Sprostons in America'). He is described as a brickmaker of Tunstall and it is possible he worked at the Tileries, a large brick-making area in Tunstall around that time. His first wife died in childbirth, and in 1832 he took his family to Canada. They did not settle there but moved on the Illinois and finally Iowa where they became farmers. Many of these Sprostons are buried in Hamlet Cemetery, Mercer County, Illinios.
Another Middlewich family, which has now been linked into the Old Middlewich branch. It begins with Charles Sproston, born in Kinderton (a village near Middlewich itself). Charles was the son of Samuel, tailor of Kinderton, and he and his wife Elizabeth owned the Tannery (which you can just see on the map at the top of the Home Page). Charles passed the business on to his son, John, who passed it in turn to his son Charles. The Tannery seems to have existed until at least 1918, when Charles' son Frederick was killed in WW1, but no longer exists today. Some of John's other sons moved further afield, to London and to Manchester.
Another Stoke on Trent branch, this begins with Robert Sprowson, born 1779 in Newchapel, near Wolstanton. The branch remained in and around Newchapel and Wolstanton and has connections with the Lovatt family. See also Frank Sproston, born 1887 in Burslem, under Sproston People.
This is another very old branch, dating back to around 1600 when Thomas Sprawson was born in Harbury, Warwickshire. His descendents moved to nearby villages Long Itchington and Offchurch, and then William Sprosen moved to Bradenham, Buckinghamshire to marry local girl Sarah Goodearl. The branch then continues in nearby Fulmer where William's sons are bakers and butchers. William's grandson, Henry Sprosen, took the Sprosen family abroad when he emigrated to New Zealand around 1860, where he worked as a carpenter.
William Sprowson married Maria Stanier around 1806 and then the couple moved into the Wolstanton area of Stoke on Trent. The name Stanier was used for their oldest son and was passed down the family for several generations. The family stayed in and around Stoke and many were potters.
Shavington cum Gresty is a village near Nantwich. The local church, Wybunbury St Chad, records Sprosons (rather than Sprostons) back as far as the 1600s. The Shavington branch begins (probably) with Samuel Sproson, born around 1770, a farmer in Shavington cum Gresty who died in 1840 (his will is available on the Wills page). The 1841 census shows his widow Mary and their children, next door to whom is another Samuel (born 1826), who is believed to be their second oldest son (the link is yet to be proven). Later generations of this branch moved to Moulton where they were involved in the salt industry, and then to the Durham area.
Wybunbury is not far from Shavington, so a connection between this branch and the one above is likely. This branch begins with Richard Sproson, born 1777, a master tailor in the village of Wybunbury itself. After tailoring, the branch has ties with the Crewe railway industry, and Walter Sproson worked on many famous engines, including the Princess Elizabeth, the Flying Scotsman, and the Mallard. They will also be some of the last to be buried at Wybunbury churchyard, now closed to all except those who still have family plots.
This branch begins with Joshua Sproston, born in Middlewich in 1765. Joshua was the youngest of 12 children of Thomas Sproston and Jane Beeman, not all of whom survived childhood. Joshua married his wife, Betty Holford in Middlewich but at some point the family moved to the Witton/Northwich area where several of their children were baptised. Joshua was a sawyer by trade as were most of his sons. Although the family lived in the Northwich area for some generations, several did move away - Joshua's grandson Job born 1844 moved to Runcorn where he worked as a sailmaker. Joshua's great-grandson, Frederick (born in Northwich in 1854) was a local hero; he gave his life in 1871 when he drowned trying to save the life of a fellow apprentice, aged just 17.