Sproul family Ramoan Antrim

The 1803 agricultural census lists just 2 Sproul households in Ramoan. One was Andrew Sprowls and the other William Sprowls. Both lived in Moyarget townland. The name is not listed in the 1833 tithe applotment records for Ramoan, so that suggests that if they were still there, they were labourers rather than farmers. (The tithes were a tax on land, so listed farmers but not labourers, servants and others with no land).

No Sprowls in Moyarget or anywhere else in Ramoan, in Griffiths Valuation 1861 so possibly the family had moved away. Labourers can be difficult to trace as they often moved around to follow the available work.

You haven’t said what denomination your ancestor was though in this case I am not sure if it will help. Birth registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864. Prior to that, as in Scotland, you have to rely on church records where they exist. For Ramoan the Church of Ireland (Episcopalian) lost all it’s early records in the 1922 fire in Dublin, save for burials 1805 – 1831. (Copy in PRONI). Ramoan Presbyterian church has lost all it’s pre 1900 baptisms too. Ballycastle Presbyterian has baptisms & marriages from 1829.  (Copy in PRONI in Belfast). The RC church has no records before 1838.

I searched the statutory death records 1864 onwards, and statutory marriages 1845 onwards to 1901, for Sproul/Sprowl in the Ballycastle area. There weren’t any at all, suggesting the family had died out or moved away pre 1864.

There was a Robert Wilson in Ballycastle and a Daniel in Novally in the 1803 agricultural census. A common surname though and difficult to trace.