Spry Ancestors

 

The surname SPRY appears with a number of variants in the parish records of Devon and Cornwall, including Sprye, Sprie, Spree, Sprey, and it is sometimes recorded as Spray. Although the spelling changes, the families recorded below appear to be our Spry ancestors.

 

  • 1. Richard Sprye married Katherine Cottle on 22/11/1628 in North Tamerton, Cornwall. Children of the marriage were:
    •  
      • Walter, c 8/5/1631
      • William, c 24/3/1633; maried Joan Blake on 2/5/1677
      • Henery, c 19/12/1634
      • Joane, c 6/11/1636
      • Philadelphia, c 25/10/1640
      • Steeven, c 27/8/1643
      • John, c 27/3/1647

     

  • 2. Walter (Gualteri) Spry married Jane Arscott on 18/12/1654 in Launcells, Cornwall. Children of the marriage were born in Bideford, Devon:

 

  • John, c 22/1/1662
  • Ann, c 16/12/1664; married John Dinnes (Dennes?) on 6/10/1687 in Bideford
  • Thomas, c 17/4/1667
  • Mary, c 19/3/1668; married George Dennes on 26/6/1691 in Bideford
  • Gualterus (Walter), c 21/1/1675
  • Johana, c 18/8/1679; died 11 June 1680 in Bideford.

 

  • 3. Thomas Spray married Margarit Harde on 23/9/1691 in Bideford, Devon. Children of the marriage were:

 

  • Walter, c 17/7/1692
  • Henry, c 18/2/1693
  • Thomas, c 2/9/1696; died on 3/9/1696
  • Thomas, c 5/6/1698
  • Mary, c 6/9/1700; married John Chapple on 1/12/1726 in Bideford
  • George, c 25/3/1702
  • James, c 18/8/1704
  • Margarit, c 22/5/1707; died on 18/4/1708

 

  • 4. George Spray married Jane Jewill (Juel) on 18/4/1726 in Bideford, Devon. Children of the marriage were:

 

  • James, c 1/8/1726; died 6/1/1727
  • Margaret, c 2/10/1728; married John Tucket on 11/6/1753 in Bideford
  • Sarah, c 27/5/1733; married Henry Cadd on 26/8/1756 in Bideford
  • Mary, c 26/4/1735
  • Susanna, c 29/10/1737; married William Turner on 2/2/1763 in Bideford
  • George, c 11/10/1739; married Elizabeth Bartlett on 3/11/1761 in Bideford; died 2/11/1811
  • Juliana, c 16/4/1742
  • Thomas, c 1745; died 6/6/1808.
  • James, c 7/7/1748

     

  • 5. Thomas Spry married Ann Pascoe on 26 August 1767 in Bideford, Devon. Children of the marriage were:

 

  • Jane, c 5/3/1768; married Roger Wonnacott on 18/8/1790 in Bideford
  • George, c 12/4/1770
  • Thomas, c 22/11/1772; married Margaret Powell on 28/8/1806 in Bideford; died 24/1/1831
  • Ann, c 5/5/1776
  • William, c 14/2/1779

     

  • 6. William Spray married Elizabeth Prust on 5/3/1803 in Bideford, Devon. Children of the marriage were:

     

    • George, c 28/9/1803; married Martha Curtis on 9/3/1831 in Lanlivery Rural, Cornwall. Martha died on 11/3/1838. George then married Elizabeth Woon on 8/5/1845 in Bodmin and a daughter Elizabeth was born on 3/11/1845.
    • William, c 17/3/1805
    • Catherine, c 12/10/1806
    • Anne, c 8/4/1810
       
  • 7. William Spray married Dorothy Knight on 2/1/1832 in Stoke Damerel, Devon. Dorothy was the daughter of William Knight and Elizabeth Langdon of St Winnows, Cornwall. William and Dorothy then moved back to Lostwithiel, Cornwall. Their children were:

 

  • William Thomas, c 23/11/1832; died 29/7/1833
  • Charity Knight, c 18/5/1834 in St Mewan, Cornwall. She married Solomon Treloar on 29/12/1851 in Melbourne. they had six children, but only two survived - Thomas Reid Treloar, b 3/12/1852 and George Hedley Knight Treloar, b 15/1/1863. Solomon Treloar died in 1887 and Charity died on 2/7/1912.
  • Elizabeth Catherine, c 19/6/1836 in Lostwithiel; died in 1838
  • George, c 15/11/1839 in Penzance. He never married and died on 14/10/1893 in Melbourne, Australia.
  • William Thomas, c 26/10/1841 in Penzance. He married Florence Donnelly.
  • Elizabeth Caroline, c 8/7/1843 in Penzance. She married William Gardner on 11/9/1862.
  • Mary Ann, c 9/7/1847. She died in infancy.

 

William and Dorothy Spry and their 4 surviving children emigrated to Australia in 1848. He died on 28/6/1864 in Melbourne, Australia. Dorothy died on 3/11/1875 at the family home in Spry Road, Coburg, Melbourne.

 

  • 8. William Thomas Spry (known as Billy Spry) settled in Simpson Street, Hay, New South Wales where he established his own carrier business and worked a team of bullocks, which hauled heavy loads of supplies around the Hay district and to Melbourne. His brother George also operated a carrier business using horses. In 1870 he married Emaline Florence Matilda Donnelly in Bendigo and they returned to NSW to live in Hay. their children were:

 

  • William Henry Thomas Spry was born in October 1877 at Hay. Died 12 March 1878.
  • Edward Ernest Spry, born 20 March 1879 at Simpson Street, Hay, NSW. On 18 April 1912 at Narrandera, Ted married Elsie May Irvin, the daughter of James Henry Irvin and Mary Ellen Warren. He died in 1949 in Griffith, NSW.
  • William Henry Spry, born 23 December 1880 at Willow Cottage, Gunbar. He married Clara Jessie Anderson on 30 December 1907 at Narrandera, NSW. The family lived at Lake Cargelligo where he died on 22 December 1961.
  • Dorothy Patience Spry, born 18 December 1882 at Gunbar Hotel, Gunbar Run. She married Fred Tasker in Hay, NSw in 1900.
  • Florence Mabel Spry, born 23 August 1884 at Willow Farm, Gunbar. In 1901 in Narrandera, NSW, Mabel Spry married William Irvin, who was born on 19 February 1876 at California Gully , Victoria, the son of Samuel Irvin and Sarah Arblaster.
  • Alice May Spry, born 9 November 1886 at Willow Farm. On 23 May 1907 in Bendigo, she gave birth to a son called Thomas Charles Spry. On 7 October 1912, at Victoria Parade, Collingwood, Alice married Archie Walter Taylor, 23 years an American musician. The marriage to Archie did not last and Alice then married George Braddock and lived at 148 Crown Street, Sydney and remained at that address until her death. There were no children of the marriage. Alice Braddock, nee Spry, died on 12 June 1957, aged 70 years. George died four years later on 17 November 1961.
  • George Albert Spry, born 4 March 1889 at Paradise Farm. George married Isobela Brown in 1911 in Hillston. They had three children, Alec and Vince and a daughter Ruby, who died as a child in Wagga Wagga. Isobela died in 1941 at the Garrawarra Centre (a TB hospital) at Waterfall, NSW. George died in 1961 in Griffith.
  • Gertrude Eva Spry, born 20 January 1891 at Paradise Farm. She went to the USA and married John Hughes Pollard on 3 February, 1914 in Cook County, Illinois.
  • Selina Hilda Spry, born 8 February 1895 at Paradise Farm. On 18 January 1914, Selina married Robert Cooke, a boot-maker from the suburb of Collingwood.

 

 

Billy Spry died on 17 September 1933 and is buried in Griffith cemetery. Florence died in 1938.

 

If you have links to any of these families contact me