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

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THE WEDDEllIiURN BOOK.
Fortunately, however, for the accuracy and completeness of the present
book, I delayed to carry out this intention until after I had chanced, eight
or nine years ago, to meet with the edition of extracts from the Lockit Bidlc
of Dundee, by Mr. A. H. ^lillar, which had recently appeared under the
title of the Roll of Eminent Burgesses of Dundee. On reading this I at
once communicated with him, and heard for the iirst time of the vast mass
of Wedderburn material in the charter room of the Town House in Dundee.
Of this, when next in Scotland, I made a preliminary investigation, and found
Mr. Millar had by no means exaggerated either its quantity or its
importance. I have given some account of it in the second volume of this
book (p. 187). As to its amount, the space occupied by the portions of
it printed there speaks for itself, while a very little study of the
present work, with its frequent references to the Dundee Records, will be
conclusive as to its value. It showed me at once that J.W.'s MS., however
useful as a collection of material, and for his own time as a record, was
not to be relied on in regard to anything like old history, and that, in
order to produce an authentic record, I must begin de novo, and ask myself
at every point, " How is this proved ?
Preface. For myself, without seeking for its cause, I am free to confess to the
feeling described by Stevenson as one long posses-^ed both by me and
more than one of my immediate predecessors. My grandfather spent
no little of his leisure on the genealogical work so often referred to in
this book; his father's interest in his name is shown by a pedigree which
he entered up at the Heralds' College a century ago while his father again
;
wrote a history of his wife's family—the Dunbars of Grange—which shows
him to have had a taste in this direction.
It is to the work of my grandfather that the present book may be said
to owe its existence. Among my earliest recollections is a thin volume, which I
still possess, consisting of the armorial illustrations containerl in the memoir
printed by him in 1824'. Of the origin of these plates, and of the existence
of any printed memoir to which they belonged, I then knew nothing, but
they stimulated my curiosity; and, encouraged in my inclination while still
at school by one of my tutors who had similar tastes, I began early to
collect material for a history of my name, copying into a note book (long
since lost) such mentions of it as I could tind elsewhere than in the
common books of reference on such subjects. It was not, however, until
many years later that I became aware of my grandfatb.er's small volume,
and of the MS. edition of it, enlarged and corrected, with which he
occupied himself from 1827 to 1839. Of this last I made a copy
in 1880, after which I to some extent brought it up to date, and continued
to add various notes to it from time to time with a view to its ultimate
publication.
The first thing was, of course, to collect the evidence on which the
history was to be founded, and this took time. I am conscious that the
publication of these volumes has been long delayed, but I believe that
the time occupied in their compilation (and it must be remembered that
they have been the work of my leisure) will not surprise anyone who gives
them even a brief attention. I am confident it will surprise no one who
has ever attempted or who may in future attempt a similar work. The
task of searching, collecting, and finally of arranging and selecting for
publication the most material portions of the collected evidence, has occupied
more than half the time spent over the preparation of the book. In this
labour I was, of course, largely helped, chiefly by the well-known expert,
the Rev. Walter Macleod of Edinburgh, and his efficient stall', two of whom