James, my 4x great grandfather, was from Duffus, near Elgin, Morayshire according to an entry in my great grandmother’s Speckled Notebook in which she documented all the family information that she knew.

I have found an entry on Ancestry of a James Russel born, in 1757, to John Russel and Isabel Urquhart. At present I have not been able to find his death as there are so many with this name on Ancestry and other genealogy websites. However I continue to look. The notebook says he went to London in 1776 which would be when he was 19, which sounds feasible. Then he went to Gosport in Hampshire.

I have not been able to find where he married Elizabeth, so I don’t know her maiden name, however the Speckled Notebook records they married on 1st July 1780. They had five children all born in Gosport except the youngest, James, who was born in 1789 in Deptford, Kent.

The notebook says in 1789 James went to work at the Deptford Victualling Office. When I researched this I found The Deptford Victualling Office was the British Navy Office department responsible for civil administration of Victualling Yards and the storing and supply of Naval Victuals for the Royal Navy from 1683 to 1832. The office was administrated by the Victualling Board and was located at the Navy Office. Unfortunately I do not know exactly what his employment was but I would have thought it was fairly secure and reasonably well paid. I have not found his death or burial record yet.