John, Jane, and William Savage

[Admi]

Hi,

I would very much like to trace the Irish roots of my great great grandfather William Savage (later known as William Service).

He is first recorded on the Scottish census of 1851 at 5 years old, living with his father John Savage (30) and mother Jane (Jean) Savage (35 - nee Sloan) and grandmother Margaret Savage (67) in Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire, Scotland. In the 1881 census his birthplace is given as County Down, Ireland.

They also had a stepson John Stewart (probably from Jane Sloan's previous marriage to one John Stewart). He was aged 12 in 1851.

The family name changed to Service around 1861. William Savage married Margaret Logan Walker in 1870 in Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire. He died age 91 in Lochfoot near Dumfries in 1937. Any help welcome. Thanks.

[BallyaltikilliganG]

 I looked at Ros davies website http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rosdavies/ only two had Wigtownshire  connections
Philip SAVAGE Esq. Inishargy of Glastry ; married Marenret Campbell of Glastry 18 Jul 1808 in Portpatrick, Wigtownshire, Scotland PRONI T1005/1
Thomas SAVAGE Esq. Ballytrustan of Parsonhall; married Ann Caddel of Belfast 4 Nov 1783 in Portpatrick, Wigtownshire, Scotland PRONI T1005

SERVICE, Ros Davies website has several but nothing showing any clues of the name change in 1861

I wondered about the change of name and what could bring it about?  Perhaps a family will or a persuasive mother, mother in law.
On the Savage Surname board at http://genforum.genealogy.com/ one of the contributors Bernard mentions “ Just for information: there is also a branch of the Savages from Ards in Co Down that settled in Scotland. Initially in Lanarkshire (where they were often confused with Usavages - or other variants - from Lithuania). Most of the descendants of this branch now live in Glasgow.”I searched for Service on this Savage board.
On the Service Surname board at http://genforum.genealogy.com/ I searched for Savage connections, nothing obvious except Service families lived in Scotland including nearby Ayr.
The most likely in my opinion is in a will, on PRONI Wills database the earliest Service will is 1865, the Savages have wills proven in 1850/60s but eg William a wealthy merchant died 1859

Could the grandmother Mrs Margeret Savage have been born Service?

good luck, Jim

[Admi]

Hi and thank you very much for taking the time to reply.

I followed the links you suggested and they have confirmed that there was indeed a separate family called Service from near Ayr, some members of whom moved to Wigtownshire. I have come across these before and have been led up a few false trails.

I must thank you for the mention of the PRONI Wills site, which I will certainly make use of for researching the Northern Irish connections of this and other family members.

I have a kind of a clue as to the name change. The 1861 census lists the family as "Sarvice".  I only recently (last few days) found the entry on Scotlandspeople.Since all the members at that time were illiterate, I am beginning to think that this was simply caused by the fact that the census enumerator misheard the name and nobody in the family could confirm the spelling. After that, it may have been easier simply to go with Service.

Once again, many thanks for our reply.