Wedderburn book; a history of the Wedderburns in ... - waughfamily.ca

tNTRODUCTIOX.
imi.
thougb true enougb, would, I think, be still more accurate, if in it for "lower" the introd.
word "upper" were substituted, for while I find various families and individuals of
the name, both in old records and at the present time, whom I cannot connect
with the Forfarshire house, I find no other family holding its own through history
and providing a good supply of persons well-qualified to serve Church and State.
In this sense there has, 1 think, been but one small family of the name.
The name is, however, less rare than I had supposed. Having in various
ways got information as to several families bearing it both in this country and
abroad, I made an endeavour towards still greater completeness bv a fhoroufh
search in the modern registers both in London (1837-90) and iu Edinburgh
(1855-92), and I thus ascertained, presumably, every e.xistiu" faniilv °of
whatever class, now bearing the name of VVedderbura in This country.
The net result of this search and of various stray notes from older
records occupies the last part of this volume. From the contents of that part
it will bo seen that there has long been a considerable Dumber of the name
in the county of Aberdeen. The name appears there as a
We^dderbums in ?'iiT>'"'^,'' ^' as 1544, and as a place-name in
T'^
about
CO. Aberdeen. lOUU, and may have existed there as both one and the other
at a much earlier date. It is possible that it was imported
into the North from Berwickshire viJi Dundee, and that the Aberdeen families are
descended from a member of the Forfarshire house. There is some little "round
for this suggestion, but nothinar is proved, and it may be that the°name
whether as place-name or patronymic, has an independent origin in the northern
county. There can, however, be little doubt of the couuectiou of all the
existing Aberdeenshire families with each other, as descended from a William
Wedderburn (died 1G20) and Marjory Annand, one of whose sons, Uavid
Wedderburn, was master of the Aberdeen Grammar School iu 1G02, a Latin
poet of some note, and the author of " a short and facile grammar " which was
at one time the recognized foundation of Scottish education. Another of their
sons was one William, minister of Bethelnay, and they had also two others
Alexander, and George. From one or more of these four no doubt descend the
families of the name at Fyvie, Old Meldrum, Tarves, Peterhead, and elsewhere
of whom an account is given in the second chapter of I'art vi.
Similarly, I have in a further chapter printed some accounts of families
of the name in and near Edinburgh and Glasgow. Here again
Wedderburns the descent may be from one or two individuals, of whom we
near Edinburgh, jo^e sight in Dundee, but once more there is no proof. Some
notes 01 a family at Coldmgham aud thirnesidi.\ co. Berwick,
descended, perhaps, of some collateral ancestor of the Dundee house who remained
The name
In Fiction
and in
reference to it, known to me. is in the old Scottli Killa.rd l-'p-dcruk ilainilUm
(Methueu, 1898), in which one of tlie stories, '"A Tribute oi .Soula " ire|.i into.1 fn.iii wmie
magazine), has a character called Dr. Wedderbuui. Still more recenlly I lij/lii..,! on a prito
story entitled, "Miss Wedderburn 's Will." iu the columns of Tit-Uitt (a May IM'/}, the author
of which wrote to me that he bid selecteil the name by mere chaiao for the wkc rn>ii»lurr,"
was played by Buckstone with much humour. I do not know if there in any nulhMniy f..r
Master Geoffiey'.s existence ; other characters in the play, however, arc rr.il. «iii h ai ihr Kjirl
of Kochesler aud Samuel Pc|iys. Of late year.s iu .Mr. riiicro'n cliuninn« cUy >.f Swrct
Lavender," one of the characters is an old Scottish gentleman of the n.ime. wi,:. h \\,r o.iih.ir
had happened to come across iu real life when on the iook-nut f^r scmo »urli .So.4U