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

'
'
,
162 THE WEDDERBUnX BOOK.
Part 11. when lie is uuteroJ heir to liis broiliLT John (D.l'.l!. u43, nt suj>.) and, 22 Oct 1691, in his
Chap. IV. fj^tijer's will, which describes hiui as " my only lawful sone," and roiistitutcs him " sole and
only execviter, uiiivirsall leijatouf and iiitiomittoiir." At this date he was under age, as
the will appoints "tutors for ruling and uiiidinp; him," and "failieing of him be decease
before he be m.ijor or marycd " appoints his uncle I'ctcr in his place (.S.W. 49(5).
He was rctoured hcirgencral to his father at Forfar, -t .March 1G92, being described
in the retour as now of Easter Powrie (.S.W. 497; ll.H 27). and, 24 March, 2.5 Ai)ril, was
also specially retoured as his heir in Eiuster I'owrie and Wester (iourdie (S.W. 4'JS ;
R.H.
14). of which he got sasine "done at the manor place of I'owrie " 6 May following
(S.W. 499 ; F.S. 72). His tutors then, 7, 27 .May. granted a factory to William Gray,
writer in Dundee, to uplift the rents of Powrio (D.D. 42), but were discontent with Gray's
management and replaced him by Thomas Milne of Mihifield, one of themselves, 20, 23
Nov. 1694 (DD. 4-5}.- A bond, 'l Feb. 1G9.5, by Gray to Ea.stcr Powrie and his tutors
•was, no doviiit, on account of his intromissions with the estate (ll.D. 236).
His tutors' accounts of his estate, 1691-94 (t6. 50.3-4) shew that, as a boy, he was
educated under a "govcrnour" as they include payment of £1. 4. 0. for "ane yoall to
ErroU for carrieing up of Alex. Weddcrburne and his goveniour's chists when they were
at Erroll " in 1692, and cilso payment " for Easter Powrie and Ids goveniour's boord from
Mertimes 1692 to Candlemas 16'94." These accounts are signed by him, 5 Feb 169-5 (see
facsimile of signature opp. p. 72 of vol. ii), in which year, 6, 14 Aug ,
there is a discharge
to him, on payment by the factor, of a bond granted by his father and grandfather to
Andrew Gray (S.W. 50-3). He chose his curators 11 May lti9.5 (D.Dec. 28) so that
he was then just over fourteen. It is thus that in 1696 his sister Rachel writes, 11 Sept.,
not to him, but to one of his tutors, for her annual rents (S.W. 507-8) ; 29 Sept., the
factor for his curators pays the interest on his father's bond for .7,000 morks to the sou of
James, the clerk [ib. 509'i ; and in 1697 payments continue to be made by the tutor, e.g
9 Jan., to the minister of Murroes of his stipend (jo. 510); 27 Jan., to his uncle, Peter
Wedderburn, of the interest on a bond (ib. 511) ; while 9 Feb., there is a set of "queries,"
i.e.. a case for counsel's opinion, as to changing the tenure of Easter Powrie {ib. 512).
In 1697 he matriculated at S. Andrew's (S.A.R. 29) the entry' describing him as " de
eodem " " of that ilk,"^ although the barony of Wedderburn was not then constituted, and
22 May of that year he got a precept of clare constat as heir to his father in Kingennie
(S W. 513 ; F.S."74), on which sa.sine followed 11 June (S.W. 514), whereupon he, witli
the consent of his curators, resigned Kingennie to the superior for a charter of "novo
damns," which was granted 12 July and on which sasine followed 30 July (S.W. .515-18).
"Wedderburn of Easter Powne " is named with John of Blackness, 7 June 1697, as
one of the commissioners of supply for Forfar (A.P.S. 53) although then only seventeen
years of a