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The Beveridge name is a pretty common one in Scotland. Some may have been noble and wealthy.My line came from Dalgety Crossgates Fifeshire. They were coal miners, as wer their ancestors. The history of coal mining is not pretty. Coal miners and their families (wives and children) were OWNED by the coal mine which resulted in them being called mining serfs. Up until the end of the 18th century when the mining serfs were set free. But the coal mine owners, (Aristocrats) still didn't allow them to leave as they said they owed money for the food and housing that had been provided. Any mining serfs that escaped were brought back, beaten and put back to work in the mines. the whole family, husband, wife and children had to work in terrible conditions. I would like to seek out the owners of these mines and know who their descendants are. My ancestors, John and Margaret Beveridge and their 5 young children left Scotland in 1868 and went to Australia where they lived in Bendigo. John and his sons worked in the deep gold mines there.