Hi Evelyn, My great grandmother was Ellen Cheeseman, daughter of Frederick & Lydia Cheeseman. In the late 1800s Lydia was a lady's maid and Frederick a coachman to the same London family. Ellen (and her sisters, I assume) were educated with the daughters of the family until they were 10 years old or so, when they started work in the kitchens and worked their way up through the servant hierarchy before getting married. I suppose it made sense to employ people whose backgrounds were already known, rather than advertise for potentially risky people to work in your household. Researching my friend's ancestry I also found a gamekeeper whose son and grandson later became gamekeepers on the same estate. Again, the employer would be getting a worker of known provenance and skill, and the worker could stay in familiar surroundings, so everyone benefitted. I don't know whether servants would move away when family members left the nest, but it might make sense for a daughter to take a trusted family servant with her when she married and left home. Regards, Ellie > Message: 4 > Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 19:09:28 EST > From: MissEv1017@aol.com > Subject: [LEI] > To: LEICESTERSHIRE-PLUS@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <cce.228ffb4b.34aed338@aol.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" > > Could anyone who may be familiar with this subject tell me if it was common > for people who had servants to keep the offspring of those servants as both > families grew? > Also, would it be logical to surmise that children of the original servants > would be sent to serve in the homes of the landowner's offspring? > If so, what are the chances that the same servant's name might be attached > to the family surname for 100 years or more, even accompanying them to the > States? > > I know I'm wording this awkwardly but I'll send it anyway, hoping someone > can understand me. > Evelyn