I have been doing research on the Ramsay family and possible connections to the early Spreull family. FOr some of this I have been using an online resource that has lots of obscure historical records available and makes them readily searchable. I thought I would share this with you.
The site is The Internet Archive. It is described as "a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public. Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge."
It really does have a tremendous amount of scanned and searchable material. Below is an url that links to a search for "Walter Spreull". I also include a screen shot of some of the useful and often obscure documents that came up in that search. Try it for some of your ancestors!
https://archive.org/search.php?query=Walter%20Spreull&sin=TXT