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Topic: Service family at Duns and Coldstream (Read 1259 times)
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Geordie daughter
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 52
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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I have just discovered that my mum's great-grandfather, John Service, was born in Coldstream, 1840, to parents Christopher Service and Christian Brown. The couple were married in Duns a year previously, however, and family rumour has it that the Service family were employed on the Duke of Roxburghe's estate at Duns for several generations. How true this is, I do not know, but I would love to find out more about the family and their supposed connection to the Duke. Can anybody help regarding record sources or avenues to follow?
Thanks.
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Geordie daughter
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 52
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Oh Beckey, that's wonderful! Thank you for including Christopher's employer. I hadn't (stupid me!) thought of using the Scottish census to find the family, Scottish research being unfamiliar territory for me. Christopher's birthplace raises some doubt about the story that the Services were employed by the Duke of Roxburghe down the generations!!
However, it's lovely to finally discover John's siblings. I now know why John's only son was called George Christopher Service. While hunting for Services on Family Search yesterday, I jotted down the details of a Christian Brown, parents John and Janet, christened in Ladykirk, Berwick. There are two christening dates, one of 16 Jun 1811, and one of 25 May 1811 but I suspect the earlier one might actually be the birth date mistranscribed as a christening. 1811 isn't far off the date of 1814 calculated from the census, and the birthplaces tally so it looks like a match!
John married Janet Lothian in Duns in 1868, and their eldest daughter was born there early the following year, but it may well be his parents had gone elsewhere or died, possibly? By 1874, John had settled over the Border in Hebburn, where the couple's two younger children were born.
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Geordie daughter
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 52
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hmm, that's interesting. Thanks for going to all this trouble, Beckey! I haven't had much joy with possible John Brown and Janet marriages either, apart from one in 1805 and one in 1808, both in Duns, or with Christopher's birth, although I could conjecture that George was the name of Christopher's father, if Christopher and Christian followed the Scots naming tradition.
Never mind, I'm amazed to have got this far...I've gone from knowing almost nothing about John's Scottish background except his year of birth and marriage details, to discovering his entire family, in three days ! 
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Geordie daughter
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 52
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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ev
Thank you so much for those death dates and the census details. As far as working for the Hays family goes: it's a strong possibility as I can't find any mention of the Duke of Roxburghe in connection with Duns, specifically. It would certainly make more sense, geographically. I was given a link for the Roxburghe estate website today, and have contacted them with my query, so will see what they say. The Duke of Roxburghe story came via my uncle, some years before he died, and I've no idea where he got that info from, which is why I thought it would be worth following up now. It's always tempting to claim connections with royalty and the peerage, but not much good if it can't be proven!
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Geordie daughter
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 52
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Oh, well done Beckey, your persistence paid off! There's another brother to add to the tally, and there I was thinking John's family wasn't very prolific. I wonder if any of them married and/or came south of the border? Maybe my mum has Service cousins out there somewhere.... It seems really weird that my mum never heard anything much about her gran's side of the family.
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Geordie daughter
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 52
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Oooh, in that case I've got loads of rellies with 'royal' connections.... 
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Geordie daughter
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 52
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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I've just found a marriage for a George Service and Margaret Lindsay, 3 Dec 1875, Duns, Berwick, but nothing for Robert, though he may simply have married after 1875, in which case it won't show. James appears to have remained a batchelor, judging by the 1881 census, unless he married very late, ditto Thomas.
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Violetta
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 29
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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 Hello Geordie Daughter
Like you I am mewcomer here - Ladykirk Farm. You may be interested to know I have connections with Duns a the Hay family. My great great uncle Charles Clements was butler to Mr Hay after the !st World War. I believe he was his batman.
That is how a Hampshire man ended up in Duns.
Quite seperate family to the Scottish /Norham ones.
I wish you good luck in your search.
I started less than a week ago too, so not likely to offer any advice. like you I have had so much help here.
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Geordie daughter
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 52
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Thanks for your message, Violetta. It's most appreciated! Your great great uncle must be a fascinating research subject...he must have led a really interesting life!
It will be interesting to see if my lot have connections to the Hays, like yours, rather than the Duke of Roxburghe, or if it's all smoke and mirrors. Although I'm a newcomer to this forum, I've been researching my family tree on and off for the last twenty years, but I still feel like an amateur! Forum members have helped me to solve so many knotty problems, and pointed me to the things I've stupidly overlooked, more times than I care to remember.
Good luck to you too!
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